It's amazing how quickly your fortunes can change.

Darryl Ingram isn't a guy who plays the lottery very much. As a matter of fact, he told the Iowa Lottery that he's probably only bought tickets about ten times in his lifetime. Buying them for back-to-back Powerball drawings ended up being one of the best decisions he's ever made.

Ingram, who lives in Mapleton, made the short drive to Danbury last week and bought some Powerball tickets for the drawing on Saturday, October 15. He won $11 that night and decided to use that money to buy additional tickets for the Monday drawing.

Ingram went to bed Monday night not knowing what the winning Powerball numbers were. In the middle of the night, he woke up and something told him to check his tickets. The late hour apparently played tricks on Ingram's eyes. When he looked at his ticket, he thought he'd matched four numbers, for $100. So, he went back to sleep.

When Ingram showed up Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. to turn in his ticket to claim the $100, he got quite a surprise. He didn't have four numbers correct, he had five. He had won a million dollars.

2022 has been quite a year for Ingram, who told the Iowa Lottery that he'd suffered a heart attack earlier in the year, as well as another health scare. The 62-year-old retired trucker, who still farms, says he'll pay off his house, invest, and continue to travel with his girlfriend Joan.

After leaving the Iowa Lottery headquarters in Clive on Thursday, Ingram was planning on spending another long day in the field, continuing the harvest. Hopefully, he'll take a little time to celebrate, as well.

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I know Iowa may not be the most popular state to visit, but we still have plenty to offer! Using countless article, websites, lists, and maps, we put together a list of some of Iowa's best and biggest events, venues, and attractions using every letter of the alphabet (which wasn't easy)! Unfortunately, we couldn't include EVERY awesome place in the state (there aren't enough letters!), but here are our Iowa ABCs:

 

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