My month in Iowa

My take on Iowa

where I went this month

This is going to be a less organized assessment than usual, mainly because my month in Iowa was much less organized than usual.

In fact, my month in Iowa started in May 2021.  I went to the Newton/East Des Moines KOA for the first week then, just as I did this time.  But the whole time I was there I was really sick and just couldn't seem to shake it - low fever, diarrhea, low energy.  At the time, my cabin door kept flying open unexpectedly and I couldn't find anyone in the area to fix it.  So I finally gathered up the tatters of my health and my RV door and went back to sponge off my poor brother and sister-in-law.

My month in November 2022 wasn't really much better.  The weather became quite cold very soon after we got here, no campgrounds in the state had water/showers/laundry available, and then my graywater tank froze halfway through the month and I couldn't empty it, when more snow and more very cold weather were on their way.  I spent 5 days traveling to and from a warmer part of the country to thaw things out.  So it turns out those 5 days I was gone were supplemented by the 5 days I spent here in 2021.  I didn't get to see anything Iowan either time, but at least I was here.

So with my physical presence fragmented, it's not surprising many of my impressions are too.

One thing I can say for certain: Iowa is a farming state, and Iowans take pride in that.  The state of Iowa also points with pride to its increasing manufacturing and tech industries, a good thing for everyone given the hurdles farmers face in getting a good crop to market.

I got the impression Iowa was also trying to figure out how to encourage tourism, which may be an uphill battle since few people think, hey - let's take our vacation in Iowa this year!  But they're trying hard to develop things people might be interested in visiting, and I was sorry to miss out on so many of them.  Iowa is very much a tourist season/not tourist season state and most attractions were closed beginning in the early fall.

As I pointed out somewhere during the month, Iowa's got quite a few cities, but I think most of them would be classified as large towns in a more populated state.

Iowa is defined by its farms and its rivers - specifically the Missouri River and the Mississippi River, the 2 largest rivers in the country.  And Iowa and Missouri are the only states that have both of them.

I'm guessing that in every season but winter Iowa is beautiful, not least because of its agrarian nature.  I'm sorry I couldn't see it in May of last year as I'd intended, because I think it would have been perfect.  But in November - the end of fall and beginning of winter - it really didn't have a lot of physical beauty, I'm sorry to say.  Just miles of fallow cropland and lots of trees (especially nice after a month in treeless Nebraska).

This same weather kept me from seeing what Iowa insists are hordes of enthusiastic bicyclists.  Which is just as well as the roads don't seem big enough to accommodate them and traffic.

I was surprised to find that Iowa is an enthusiastic collector of recycling - I found drop-off stations all over the state.  Conversely, I was also surprised to find such terrible roads.  And I don't know why they would be.  Online they say that Iowa ranks 25th out of the 50 states in household income, which makes it sound like they could afford better roads than they have.

Speaking of roads, Iowa has 3 official license plates.

Actually, this is the main state plate, but most people have the one with the yellow.

Iowa puts the resident's county's name
on each plate.

Not quite as common as the yellow one.

I took this photo in a hurry, not looking at the plate
but instead just taking a pic before the owner came
back and got mad.  Now that I see it, I'm glad I did.

In general, drivers here were nice.  Actually, the people in general here were very nice.  The Iowans I talked to were usually very glad to be living where they were.  Some commented on the bad weather, but I didn't hear anybody say they were planning to leave because of it.

Just a decade ago, Iowa was considered a swing state; now almost everyone agrees it's turned red.  What they don't agree on is whether it might stay that way or swing back again.  I saw quite a few Trump-type signs and flags in the state, but not as many as I expected in a red state.  I wondered if the Jan. 6th committee hearings might have had an impact, or maybe the news of him stashing away top secret documents in his Mar-a-Lago desk, which wasn't exactly a secure location.  My impression is that these folks are solid Americans living a traditional American life and glad to be doing it.

Iowa - Days 24 - 30 - in the campground, freezing

Des Moines West KOA, Adel

Thursday, 24 through Wednesday, 30 November 2022

I spent this week mostly in the campground, though I did make 2 trips out - one to Des Moines and the other to nearby Adel.  But first, Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving

I bought a turkey breast to put in the slow cooker, but when it was thawed I realized it wasn't going to fit.  They hadn't just sold me the breast, but instead they'd removed the dark meat and sold me everything else.  So I separated the breast from the everything else and stacked them in the cooker, and they fit like that - sort of spooned into each other.  And I used a longer cooking time than I would have for just the breast.  And it worked out fine.

Of course, I watched Schindler's List, my usual homage to things I feel thankful for (thankful that my country's not at war, that my home hasn't been taken from me, that I have food to eat, that my family hasn't been killed in a concentration camp - like that).  Except for that last bit, those are the things Ukrainians are dealing with right now; their courage is stunning and inspiring.

Trips out of camp

I really hated to leave the campground so soon after I'd gotten there, but I seriously wanted someone to look at my tires and tell me if they're why the steering wheel shakes so badly when I'm driving.  The local tire shop told me their equipment couldn't deal with the extra weight of my RV and told me to go to Des Moines.  A Discount Tire shop in Des Moines said bring it on in and they'd take a look.  I learned when I had tire problems in Reno that I needed to be there about when the shop opened (at 8 AM), so we left the campground before 7:30.

One of the tire guys said the problem wasn't with the new tires on the rear but with my 2 front tires - that they had "cupping."  I hadn't heard of that, but he showed me that my tire tread wasn't all one level but instead different pieces of the tread were higher or lower than the ones next to them.  While I was waiting my turn to be worked on, I looked it up and learned this was an actual thing, and that if it happened again I should get the suspension system checked.  The guy here didn't mention that, just that I needed new tires, which I knew he was telling the truth about because even I could see it.

We got out of there early enough for me to stop at a PetsMart to get more kitten food (incredible how much those guys eat - and I can't find kitten food at grocery stores), and a grocery store, and then went on to the one theater in the Des Moines area that was showing Glass Onion, the 2nd Benoit Blanc mystery.  Actually, they bill it as Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, but I can assure you that it has absolutely nothing whatever in common with Knives Out, so they should have billed it as "A Benoit Blanc Mystery," which it is.  I saw the first movie in Alabama and left the theater feeling absolutely charmed and somewhat stunned because it was such a convoluted mystery.  I didn't feel that way this time.  It was a good movie, and it was convoluted, and I'd like to see it again, but I don't expect I'll ever develop the same fondness for this 2nd one that I did for the first.  I've read that they've already started production on the 3rd.

That was on Friday, and I'd planned to stay at the campground until we left Iowa on Thursday the 1st, but sadly I came close to running out of propane again, and it was clear I didn't have enough to last until the 1st.  Most of the campground was closed off, and they had those of us who were guests separated into a section I think must usually be used for long-term stays.  I think that because most of the sites had their own propane tanks, including mine.  But nobody ever explained it to me and there was no amount of money that could entice me to pump my own propane under these circumstances, so I got on the phone.  The nearest RV dealership said they could fill only portable tanks but they recommended the Tractor Supply across the road.  I went there and they filled my tank no problem.  Thank goodness.  

The Tractor Supply guy also had to relieve some air in my propane tank before he could fill it.  I mentioned what had happened down in Wellington, KS, and he said it was the cold weather that was causing it.  He said several people had brought in the propane tanks for their bbq grills and they'd had the same problem.  That was a different kind of relief for me, to learn that it wasn't just my equipment that was experiencing this problem.

Across from the Tractor Supply was a pet training business called "Heinz 57" and it's a measure of how spacey my mind can get that I couldn't figure that name out at first.

From there I went on into Adel to a grocery store, and then to a nice local park for Dext to have someplace new to walk.  And then we drove around town a little bit.  Nice, attractive older town.

Dallas County Courthouse, built 1902

The entire county has fewer than 100,000 residents, so this courthouse seems a little much - but this area might have looked different more than 100 years ago when the courthouse was built.

I got gasoline for $3.29/gallon.  The price is definitely coming down.  I'm surprised all those folks who were blaming Biden for the price of gas before the election aren't praising him now that the price is going down.

From there I headed back to the campground, only to discover that Google told me the wrong mileage - by a lot.  Instead of finding the road to turn on in 1.4 miles, I finally found it after 2.9 miles.  Finding places to turn around on those narrow country roads ain't easy, and I kept turning around thinking I'd missed seeing the right road.  But I hadn't.  Good old Google.

Back in the campground, I filled my water tank and dumped my waste tanks, though I'd dumped them only a few days before.  I just figured it was better to do it now than to wish I had when it was less convenient in some other campground.

Life in the campground

Iowa has some really beautiful red sunsets.  I've been noticing them all month and really enjoying them.  I don't know if it's a function of the weather or if they're typical for here, but I can see that they'd be a real advantage for living here, if you like sunsets, which I do.

On the other hand, my asthma has been terrible all month, and I wondered if it too was a casualty of the cold weather.  Though one of my theories is that it's the dry air that's causing it.  Yes, I know that lots of people say dry air is good for asthma and they all move to Arizona.  But I still remember that I used my inhaler a lot when I was in Arizona and wondered why on earth everybody kept saying how great the climate was for asthma when it clearly wasn't for mine.

Not that Iowa has an Arizona climate, because it doesn't.  But when it's seriously cold, I keep the RV closed up as tight as I can get it and turn on both the electric portable heater and the RV's propane heater.  I figure those circumstances are making the air in the RV a lot drier than it might be outdoors.

I found it reassuring that all my critters seem to be starting to accept each other.  Here are 2 photos I wouldn't have thought possible for another year.

Of course, they're all trying to stay warm
in front of the heater, which is why they've
allowed the others to be so close. 

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw
Lily was allowing the kitties to be so close.
But here's the proof.

Both the kittens are developing their specific characteristics.  For instance, Jimmy turns around and around like a toy top when I'm setting the food bowls down.  Bucky often trills.  Not for any reason I can see, I guess it's just his commentary on something.  But it's very sweet.

I've been noticing more and more that I no longer have any floor space to speak of.  There wasn't a lot to start with, and the stack of dog beds under the table and the stack between the seats both tend to protrude into the open area and I have to shove them back now and then.  Plus the pets' water bowl on its plastic mat.  And recently I've added the portable heater to the space.  But with the kitties I now also have a horizontal scratching pad and a vertical scratching post, and what seem to be proliferating kitty toys.  Add to all that the kitties who seem to be constantly in motion and haven't yet figured out that they bear some responsibility for staying out from under my feet if they don't want to get hurt.  So I spend much of my time shuffling across the floor, trying to keep from stepping on something.  It's weird.

In the 5 days I was actually in the campground, I wrote 11 daily posts for Iowa - most of the month, in other words.  I really hated to be so far behind, but between the weather and Iowa's rural nature, I just had trouble getting things done.  Anyway, I was glad I'd be leaving with only the last 2 posts to do for this state, which is much better than my recent record.

And through all this time, we were getting hit with increasingly cold weather.  Actually, the daytime temps weren't bad, considering this was the end of November - in the 40s and low 50s.  It was the constant, very strong wind that made it feel so cold.  And by Wednesday, our last day here, the forecast was for a high of 29° (which got knocked down to 14° with the wind chill) and tonight the low temp would be 15°, not counting the wind.  Kind of crazy.

On the other hand, I heard the Deep South had a heavy dose of tornadoes and 2" balls of hail.  If that's my choice, I guess I'll take the cold - especially once I got a propane refill.

I heard on the radio that almost 90% of recent covid deaths are people 65 and older.  And I heard that many of those catching the virus have been vaccinated, which apparently means most of them are getting a mild case and recovering with few problems.  But being a senior citizen, and one with asthma, I get really worried about that 90% statistic.  I'm still very careful about wearing a mask always indoors anywhere and hoping that will help.  I even wore it throughout the movie.  I figured I was already taking a big chance just being in a theater with a bunch of strangers who had who knows what attitudes about vaccines and covid.

Iowa - Day 23 - a bridge of Madison County

Des Moines West KOA, Adel

Wednesday, 23 November 2022

I'm sorry to say the kittens think poop is a good toy.  They scoop their own out of the litter box and bat it around - I can't tell you how disgusting this is.  All I can do is assume this is part of their general exploration of the new world they've been born into.  And hope they grow out of it quickly.  And keep the litter box as clean as I can.

I saw a Hairy Woodpecker in the campground - always a welcome sight.

today's route
(not that long line in the north, of course -
the route from the south heading up that way)

As we were pulling out of the campground at 8:45, we saw deer where we'd been walking a few minutes before.  I assumed that's what Dext was alerting on when I couldn't see anything - I doubt if he could either, but I'm sure he smelled them.

Heading east toward Mount Ayr, I saw 2 horse-and-buggy warning signs.

On the local radio station I heard a long list of health-related jobs that were open in this area.  I wondered if the local doctors and nurses had just been worn out during the pandemic - because it didn't look like there was a particular population boom going on, and I hadn't heard of some health epidemic I should worry about.  And I wondered if their wages were competitive, after I spent last month up in Minnesota where the nurses were striking to get better working conditions and wages.

Iowa has a town named Diagonal, and I wanted to go there, but it looked like I'd have to take an unpaved road, which of course I didn't want to do.

I saw lots of Trump signs in the area.

In Mount Ayr, I bought gas for $3.28/gallon - regular unleaded ethanol gas.  And Bedford - less than 30 miles away - was selling it for $3.59.  I was really glad I'd waited.  From there we turned due north.

On the radio they announced that it's now annual bobcat trapping season in Iowa.  That's actually something I didn't want to know.

Mt. Pisgah is mentioned in the Bible and is a fairly common place name in the US.  But I was still surprised to find that I could turn right to get to the Mt. Pisgah Mormon Cemetery Historic Site.  That turns out to be the cemetery for a settlement during the mid-1800s of LDS folks traveling the Mormon Trail.

We passed through the town of Lorimor, "Where the Mississippi and the Missouri Divide" they say.  I was skeptical, but the town's website points out that the watershed to the west of town runs to the Missouri and the watershed to the east of town runs to the Mississippi.  I tend to forget that Iowa is bounded by both big rivers.

And still another horse-and-buggy sign.  I don't see Amish farms around, but they must be here.

I've been seeing a lot more snow still on the ground around here than I'd've expected.

My original plan had called for me to spend last night in Pammel Park, once a state park but now a park of the town of Winterset.  That park is home to Iowa's only highway tunnel - the Harmon Tunnel - and I wanted to see it.

Harmon Tunnel

I don't know if you can tell, but the road makes a very sharp left turn immediately on the other side of the tunnel, and I may have the maximum RV size that can go through this space.

I'd been worried about clearance, even though online sources assured me it was a bit over 12' of height in there.  But I came through from the other side and was suddenly at the tunnel's entrance before I could see it, and with a road that was only barely 2 lanes wide and extremely winding - I couldn't have backed up or pulled off or turned around - I had no choice but to trust those online sources.  And I guess they were right, because we didn't scrape.

That's supposed to be a 2-lane tunnel, but I don't believe it.  Unless maybe if you were driving 2 Minis or Miatas or something tiny.  My photo is taken from the road that runs through the park, except just to the left of that photo I was forced to stop because the road ran over a low-water crossing that was covered pretty thoroughly with water.  No chance I'd be going over that.  I tried turning the other way and came to the campground I'd planned to stay at.  Good thing my plans changed because the campground was closed.  I'd've been stuck if I'd tried to stay here.

So we parked near that low-water crossing and Dext and I took a short walk.

detail enlarged below

This explains that a miller, Harmon, and his 3 sons
hand-dug the precursor to that tunnel named for them.
They wanted to route part of the Middle River over to
here for the mill they wanted to set up in 1858.

Incredible that these men managed to dig through the rock and ground soil to make a tunnel big enough to channel part of a river.  But they did.  

Dext and I took a chance and walked through the tunnel to the plaque I'd noticed on the other side.

That plaque must be 8' up -
I don't know why they set it so high.
Enlarged below.

The mill was only open about 10 years.  In 1928, the state came through and widened the tunnel the Harmons had made and created a space big enough for people to drive through.  And it remains Iowa's only roadway tunnel.

There really wasn't much of anywhere we could walk because there wasn't any extra space beside the road, and people were actually using the road while I was there.  So we left to come back into town.

Winterset is the Madison County county seat and the font of covered bridge information.

Madison County Courthouse

I'd already gotten all the information I wanted online, which basically told me most of them were down unpaved roads, except for the one that was smack in the middle of town.  Which was where we went first.

the Cutler-Donahoe Covered Bridge - 1870

Here's the plaque that explains it.

Inside I saw something I don't remember seeing before, and I'm not sure what they area.

These yellow things were hanging at intervals - as you see
here - all through the inside of the bridge.
Enlargement below.

It looked to me like these wires were hanging loose.
They were like that on all these cylinders.
My only guess was some kind of water spray in case of fire.

The bridge sits in a nice park, and Dext and I walked around a little, but the wind was very strong and cold so I didn't want to stay out long.

As we were heading back to the main street, we passed John Wayne's house.  I hadn't intended to go looking for it though I'm glad to have found it.

I went on through town to a grocery store, which had everything I wanted for Thanksgiving dinner except one important thing.  I was bemoaning my loss to another customer and said rhetorically, now what do I do, and she said, go to the other grocery store.  I felt like I'd met the lady from Philadelphia (The Peterkin Papers).  And I went to the other grocery store and they had what I wanted.

From there it was only about 20 minutes to tonight's campground.  Once there, I emptied the waste tanks yet again and filled the water tank, in case a low water level was why the water pump seemed to be straining.  I also arranged for a dog groomer in Mt. Pleasant, TX, to get Dext cleaned up before Christmas.  And I tried to find a place for tire repair, but it was too late on the day before Thanksgiving to find anyone.

That was another thing that's been going wrong: when we drive at anything close to highway speed, the steering wheel shakes so much I can hardly hold it.  I've been ending each day with very sore shoulders and arms from dealing with that thing.  And actually, it doesn't seem to need to be a high speed - almost any speed is a problem.  I thought maybe something had gone wrong when I got those new tires last month and wanted someone to take a look.  That'll be soon I hope.

Iowa - Day 22 - southwestern highlights

Lake of Three Fires State Park, Bedford

Tuesday, 22 November 2022

I knocked 40 miles off today's drive because of that campground mix-up yesterday, and that made me feel more complacent about how long this trip would be, which was a mistake.  I'd forgotten that I'm still combining travel plans - this is the 2nd day of the 3 days I'm trying to cram 4 days of traveling into.  I'd been thinking I only had 2 or 3 hours of driving when, in fact, I have more than 4.  But they'll mostly be back roads instead of interstate, which means I won't be penalized on Google's estimates because of not wanting to go interstate speeds.

Anyway, we didn't leave the Lewis & Clark State Park until 9:45.  Definitely a late start.

today's route -
the southern line, not that more northerly one

In this part of Iowa, I've heard several folks mention the Loess Hills and I guess that's what I started seeing as I drove south.  "Loess" is a type of soil created by the Ice Age glaciers grinding up the rocks they traveled on, and the soil has accumulated along the Missouri River in 200' hills (which is pretty high for Iowa).  These hills are primarily found in Iowa and South Dakota, extending south into upper Missouri and west to Kansas and Nebraska.

Anyway, as I drove south this morning, I saw low hills behind flat cropfields and farmhouses and small towns.

I saw one building with lightning rods and started wondering why most buildings didn't have them.  Don't they work?  So I looked it up and apparently they do work just fine.  I think if I lived in a state with the kind of weather Iowa can have, I'd have lightning rods on my barn or 2-story house.

I took an unplanned side trip into Council Bluffs to stop at a grocery store I knew was there.  Except the traffic was pretty aggressive and the highway signs weren't very clear, so I took the wrong exit and had to try to find my way to where I was going - and very proud that I managed without much problem.  And I found a recycle dropoff site next door to the grocery store.

Then I tried to get back on the highway except a stretch of highway that Google claimed was temporarily closed but the Iowa DOT assured me wasn't closed was, in fact, closed.  So I had to do some more scrambling around to find the right place to go to get out of town.

When I finally left the interstate to head to some small towns, I found a positive side to Iowa DOT: Burma Shave type signs.  This set read:

     When you drive

     If caution ceases

     You are apt

     To rest in pieces.

          Iowa DOT

The small town of Tabor (fewer than 1,000 residents) was my first goal, because there was a house there that had been a stop on the Underground Railroad.

The Todd House

This sign doesn't provide much information - and maybe there isn't much information still available after all these years.  But some that isn't on the sign is in this article.   https://who13.com/news/the-todd-house  The park mentioned in the article where John Brown's men trained is the same park where Dexter and I took a walk and we all had some lunch.  Nice little park.  But I can't say I'm a fan of John Brown's work, because violence isn't a solution for anything (although self-defense, as Ukraine is doing, is a different matter).

A few miles away is the town of Randolph, named by early settlers coming from Randolph, VT.  (Actually, the town's website says they came from "Randolph, Vernant" but I can't find that "Vernant" is a geographical name anywhere, so I'm going with "Vermont" because it makes sense.)  It had 189 residents in 2020.  And this is what one of the main streets looks like:

That white building was originally a bank.

This looks like an active little town, proud of its heritage, and I'm basing that assessment to some extent on this sign:

From Randolph I headed south and then east and came to Shenandoah.  It seemed like yet another bizarre Iowa detail that I'd see huge cutouts of the Everly Brothers alongside the road.  I didn't know then that the family lived here in Shenandoah, singing early in the morning on the local radio show, while the boys were growing up.  Their house here is now a museum.

Not far down the road in Clarinda, I saw a sign pointing me to the "Glenn Miller Birthplace and Museum."  Apparently southwestern Iowa is the place to get your start as a musician.

When I was passing through Council Bluffs, all the gas stations were charging at least $3.35/gallon, and I didn't want to pay that, knowing it was only $3.16 farther south.  Well, I'd forgotten that I wasn't going to go that far south today, so I ended up in the tiny town of Bedford with my get-gas-immediately light lit up.  I had absolutely no choice because there was only 1 gas station in sight - and they charged $3.59.  I guess it served me right.  But I bought only $50 worth because I was sure I could pay less farther north, where I'd be going tomorrow.

Tonight's state park wasn't far from that gas station and we were in our campsite by 3:15.

Lake of 3 Fires is a small lake, mostly used by fishermen I think.  But the history of the area is interesting.  This area was used for many years by the Potawatomi people, known as the Fire Nation.  It's believed they formed a loose association with both the Chippewas and the Ottawas, and the group was known as the Three Fires.  Legend has it these three held a great conference urging other nations to join them in protecting against invading tribes.  Runners to these other nations told them the location of the conference would be marked by the smoke from 3 fires built on the highest hills, so the smoke could be seen from any direction.  The three fires would be kept burning until one of the three tribes left the area.

We were yet again the only overnight campers in that park.

Iowa - Day 21 - Council Bluffs, Sgt. Floyd, Sioux City

Lewis and Clark State Park, Onawa

Monday, 21 November 2022

today's route

As you can see, we pretty much went straight north.  My plan had been to stay tonight up there in Sioux City, but that got derailed when I found the campground closed.  So I headed south again.  More on this later.

I intended to compress 4 days of travel that I'd already planned into 3, and I did some heavy editing of the driving directions I'd already written up, and today started where I'd intended to end up on Saturday but was in Kansas instead.  (If that sounds confusing, you should see my directions.)

We left the campground at 9:15, because I thought today would be an easy drive, and started off to Council Bluffs, where my first order of business was to replenish my propane supply at a U-Haul.  I got there just as the propane refill truck was leaving, so I knew they had some.  I warned the woman about the air problem from a few days before, but she didn't have any trouble filling it up, which was a relief.

I drove a couple more miles farther into town and arrived at the historic Squirrel Cage Jail.  Here're the signs I found outside.

That's the current county courthouse behind.

This sign is a fair distance from a metal 
fence, and I couldn't get a photo without
the shadows.

And this is the outside of the historic jail (no longer used as a jail though I think there are offices in the building).

I have no idea what that turquoise horse is doing there.
(It suggests not all the squirrels were in the jail.)

I'm showing these photos because this is all I've got.  They're open only on weekends during the off-season months, so I had to miss out.  But this is what I found online:

These squirrel cage jails were built as a sort of "lazy Susan" and the pie-shaped cells rotated somehow.  You can see why I wanted to see inside this thing.  The designers (from Indianapolis) got a patent in 1881, and this version was built in 1885.  There were only 18 of them built in the US.  Of those, only 3 are left, all preserved as museums.  One, a 1-story jail, is in Gallatin, MO; another, a 2-story jail, is in Crawfordsville, IN; the third is this one in Council Bluffs.  It's the only one ever built that had 3 stories, so it was unique even before the 15 others were demolished.

I'm really sorry I had to miss it and would definitely plan a visit if I ever get here during tourist season.  I just can't see in my mind how these jail cells revolved.  And especially not 3 stories of them.

I was walking Dexter around when I took these photos, and we went across the street to Bayliss Park, which took up a city block.  I saw 4 black squirrels all at the same time (which is why I'm sure there were so many).  Black squirrels aren't common and I wondered if these were all related.

The park had some unusual features.

I guess the gauzy looking stuff is lights,
and the snowflakes made me think they
were Christmas decorations.  But it seems
really elaborate for just one season.

I think this is the center of a really large fountain,
which of course was turned off this time of year.
I guess that gauzy looking stuff hanging on the
fountain is more lights, but I also think some of this
is part of the permanent display.

And then there was this:

I think Dext is trying to decide if these are statues or real squirrels.
I've seen him look like this before in these situations.
Or maybe he's wondering why the squirrels are so big.

We walked back to the RV, passing a building that said it was the Free Public Library.  But now it's the Union Pacific Railway Museum.

The Free Public Library was built in 1905 with the help of Andrew Carnegie.
Nearly a century later, the library moved into a modern building,
and the museum opened in 2003.

There was an unusual piece of art outside.

titled: "Van Gogh in the Bluffs"

It's part of the UNsculpture Project (you see the "UN" in the design?) by which Council Bluffs has installed 10 pieces of art around town.  They say it's to celebrate how Council Bluffs is "Unlike anywhere else.  On purpose."

The route I'd picked took me through the Kanesville-Tinsley Historic Neighborhood.  Not by planning - I just saw a sign telling me that's where I was.  Most of the houses I saw were old working-class houses - small, wood.  And I'm sure that's exactly the income level those houses were built for.  But the current neighborhood association seems to be very active.

Back on I-29, I was pleased to see a Bald Eagle fly across the road.

I saw a sign telling me to exit soon to go to an unnamed ski area, which seemed as bizarre as a 3-story squirrel cage.  But I've since learned that Iowa does indeed have a few ski areas, and one of them isn't very far north of Council Bluffs (which you remember is just across the river from Omaha).  The word I saw was that, though it's a converted cornfield, it almost feels like a New England ski area.  And it turns out that Iowa has several others, the best being in the Dubuque area.  I'd never have thought it.

Farther north I passed an enormous RV park at the junction of the Missouri River and the Little Sioux River.  It had a whole lot of RVs parked there and I have absolutely no idea why.  There's nothing whatever anywhere remotely close to this area besides the rivers.  Even across the Missouri in Nebraska.  And even if they all wanted to come here for the fishing, surely they wouldn't flock in droves at this time of year.

My radio's not working right for some reason.  For the last few days, I'll pick up a station, getting good reception, and then the sound gets lower and lower until I can't hear it at all.  But I'm still tuned in to the station.  If I change the channel, I'm picking up connections to bunches of stations and I can't hear a peep from any of them.  Usually when I run out of sound, it's because a mountain or something is interfering with the signal.  But aside from the fact that there aren't a lot of even decent-sized hills in Iowa, I can tell that's not what's happening now.  All I've been able to figure to do is turn the radio off and wait a while.  If I wait long enough, when I turn it back on I'm picking up signals and sound just like I'm supposed to.  I'd think it was Iowa, but this happened to me when I was driving south in Kansas too.

Speaking of hills, the land I was driving through was really flat along here - maybe because of the Missouri being so close by - you know, flooding and so forth.  I saw almost nonstop farmland interspersed with small towns.

I pulled off the interstate to visit a monument to the only person of the Lewis & Clark Expedition to die during the trip.  But on the way there, I passed a sign telling me to turn right for the First Bride's Grave.  Now that sounded weird to me - really strange - so I looked it up.  

And it still sounds a little strange.  People can go down a complicated and wandering trail and arrive at the reputed burial site of a woman reputed to have been the first white woman married in this area.  According to the monument there, she was 14 or 15 when she got married to a man twice her age, and she died after giving birth to their 4th child 12 years later.  Now those facts make her no bride.  She was a full-fledged woman after that sort of life, and history shouldn't be diminishing her.  Poor thing.

Instead of visiting her purported grave, I went to the monument for someone else, whose remains were moved here when the monument was erected.

Monument to Sgt. Charles Floyd,
died 1804.

Looks like the Washington Monument, doesn't it?  That one was built in 1848 and is 554'; this one was built in 1900 and stands at 100'.  (I was curious.)

Sgt. Charles Floyd was one of the first recruits to the Expedition.  Today's doctors think he likely had a ruptured appendix, though back then they said he'd died of bilious colic.  He was 22 when he died.  I think it's almost miracle territory that he was the only one of all those folks who died during the 2-year trip, considering the primitive state of medicine and the physical hazards they encountered.  His original grave was washed into the Missouri by erosion, but interested folks saved most of the skeleton and the skull and buried them in a safer place.  Then this monument was built and his remains were moved here.  In 1960 the US Dept. of Interior designated this site as the first National Historic Landmark.

There are informational signs that have eroded almost as much as his original grave.  Here are a few that are mostly legible.

info about the monument itself

text enlarged below

A description of Floyd's illness and death.

These were on the monument itself.

sunstruck - but maybe legible

And finally, these were views from the bluff down to the Missouri.

Not even counting the interstate, I still doubt this is what the expedition saw when they were here.  The incoming farmers would have made a big difference.

The Expedition stopped at the grave on their way back east, by the way.  In 1806 they stopped and tended the grave, said they'd filled it in completely (maybe erosion had already started?).  But it was nice of them to do that.

In Sioux City, I fought hard with Google to drive around town a bit.  I saw 3 overhead walkways downtown and figure there may be more.  The town seemed to be a combination of old and new, and here they didn't try to sweep the old under a rug as many towns do.  I liked it.  They've got a Hard Rock Hotel and Casino downtown.

There are several references to War Eagle around here, including a park with that name.  I've since learned that War Eagle was one of the founders of Sioux City, that he was part of the Yankton Sioux tribe and had been elected chief, and that he represented the tribe in Washington, DC, to negotiate peace treaties.  Historians think it's ironic the name white people gave him - War Eagle (his Indian name means Little Eagle) - because he spent his life promoting peace.  There's also a monument to him in the park - a statue of him that stands at the confluence of the Missouri and the Big Sioux Rivers.  I'm sorry I didn't know this.

War Eagle City Park was only a few miles from Stone State Park, where I'd planned to spend the night.  Online they said it had only 7 sites that had electric plugins, so I knew there was a chance I wouldn't be able to stay here if all the electric sites were taken.  On the other hand, my experiences earlier in the month when the weather was better and I was still the only RV in various campgrounds made me think it'd be fine.  What the park didn't say on their website was that they'd closed it.  The whole park.  When we got there the road was blocked at the park's entrance.  No explanation.

I drove down the street to a large city park I'd spotted on the drive there and got on the computer to find a campground that could take us tonight.  Because of that 7-sites-only thing, I'd already identified 2 other campgrounds within a reasonable driving distance, and I checked them out.  One had apparently decided recently to close up for the season - which wasn't what they'd said when I checked them before.

Which is how we ended up driving almost halfway back to Council Bluffs for the night.  We stopped at Lewis & Clark State Park - I called their office before I went to be sure they were open - and we were the only ones there.  It was a nice campground, probably very popular during the summer, but the water was turned off of course.  Still, that meant I paid only $12, and I had electricity, and I had my choice of campsites.  I kept telling myself it was going to make tomorrow's drive an hour easier, but it was nearly 4:00 by the time we got settled in.

Several things have been not quite right recently.  Of course, there was the air problem in the propane tank.  And the radio problem I mentioned earlier.  But also the water pump is sounding not like it usually does - it seems to be working extra hard.  And the toilet's not flushing quite as usual either, though thank goodness it's still performing its function.

And then my asthma's been getting substantially worse.  It started in Nebraska, when it got so bad several times that I needed to use the inhaler - first time in many months.  And I've had to keep using it here in Iowa.  I'm going to hope that all these problems are related to the weather getting really quite cold.

I never thought of Iowa as a plains state, but the wind sure does blow here like it does on the plains - i.e. almost constantly.  I guess I expected it in Nebraska, which after all is in between the Dakotas and Kansas and Oklahoma - plains states all.  But Iowa is between Minnesota and Missouri - would you have thought it'd get all this wind?  I didn't.  And I was wrong.

That means that all the cracks my poor almost 5-year-old RV has developed are getting cold wind blown through them.  I guess I'm glad Gracie isn't still around, because she'd be absolutely miserable.  Dext doesn't like it but he's still just 7, so it's not so bad for him.  Anyway, wind makes things harder.  Age makes things harder.  Cold weather makes things harder.  And we've got all 3 dumping on us now.  I guess it's no wonder if appliances aren't working in tiptop shape.  But we'll be heading south soon.

back to Iowa - Day 20 - Wellington, KS, to Pacific Junction, IA

I-29/Hwy 34 Campground, Pacific Junction

Sunday, 20 November 2022

Google said today's drive would take 5½ hours, but we still didn't leave until nearly 8:00.  I guess there's just so much I can take.

But if anybody'd dropped by our campsite before we left and asked if I'd give them one of the kittens, I might well have agreed to dump Bucky on them.  He was seriously persistent about eating out of everybody else's bowl no matter how many times I pulled him away or yelled at him.  He drove me crazy.  

Then he started biting and clawing Dexter who finally yipped and snapped at him and then moved away and wouldn't come back to his place in front of the heater, which seemed really unfair that Dext should be paying the price for Bucky's bad behavior.

Then when it was time to go I couldn't find him.  I called (no answer), checked the bathroom thoroughly before closing the door, checked the upstairs and under the driver's seat (I've closed off the opening under the passenger's seat with rolled up towels because of a terrible draft) - he was nowhere.  Then I finally concluded he was still in the RV, so I wouldn't be leaving him behind if I just got us rolling, and I'd figured out where he was at the first stop.  Except he suddenly appeared on Dexter's bed between the 2 seats with Jimmy once we got underway.  I have no idea where he'd been.

The last few days we were on the road, I noticed Dext was refusing to use that between-the-seat bed when the kitties were on it - he'd try to fall asleep on the passenger seat instead - and I've decided he's gotten spooked.  After watching that performance earlier with Bucky biting and clawing him (probably just trying to play with him, but Dexter's not a cat, let alone a kitten), I think he's afraid of getting too close to them.  Besides, once a week or two ago, he stepped down onto the bed and accidentally stepped on one of the kitties who yowled.  So I think the poor thing is just afraid of doing the wrong thing - and he was here first.

today's route
(the eastern blue line)

I decided to take the toll road part way north, but then to break off so we could go through a town to a nice park I found online and then go on regular highways from there.

I passed Fort Riley, both a fort and a town, and both proclaim themselves "Home of the Big Red One."  This is the Army's 1st Infantry Division, formed in 1917 to support Gen. Pershing in France in WWI.  And apparently they've been going strong ever since.

I saw a whole bunch of Apache helicopters (I guess) - the kind with a rotor in front and another in the rear - sitting on the ground.

We stopped at a rest area, and when we got back on the road, it narrowed to just the shoulder because a crew was cleaning up a huge mess from a semi's trailer being completely destroyed.  It looked like there'd been a big fire, though I wouldn't have thought a fire would leave so much debris scattered over such a wide area.

I saw a sculpture high on a hill and did some detective work to figure out what it was.  It's called Guard of the Plains (not to be confused with Keeper of the Plains, which is a statue in Wichita that kept popping up in my search) and it's out in the middle of nothing but Kansas landscape.  I found this photo on the internet.

Guard of the Plains

This was the only photo I could find that wasn't copyrighted.  But maybe you get the idea.  Odd sort of sculpture, isn't it?

A sign told me the next 8 miles of road were the 1st section of interstate built in the United States.  I think I remember being here 2 years ago.

I was long off the toll road by then and on I-70.  There was a very strong crosswind there and I had a really hard time keeping on the road at times.  And I was only going 65 mph in a 75 mph zone.  But I noticed some big rigs were also having trouble and were also going slower than usual, which means it was a real problem.

At Mayetta I saw a sign for Prairie Band Potawatomie Nation, and then signs telling me I passed through the Potawatomie Indian Reservation.

A highway sign told me "1 Kansas farmer feeds more than 155 people + YOU!"

And I saw another sign that said, "Whatever you do, don't give up - be brave - reach out."  I'm guessing that's for suicide prevention.

I came to the Kickapoo Indian Reservation and then I was leaving Kansas - "Come Again" they said.

I remember that Nebraska didn't welcome me.  They just said "The Good Life."  And they also said they're the "Home of Arbor Day."  It began in the early 1870s as a proposal from an influential Nebraskan.  An influence to his thinking was the 1870 effort to plant trees in treeless Nebraska - $50 would be the 1st prize for the largest grove planted in this competition.  And from that, this gentleman convinced others to set aside one day as Arbor Day, the day when everybody would plant a tree.  So yeah, I guess the state gets to claim the name.

I didn't stay long in Nebraska but cut across the Missouri River to Iowa in the far southwestern part of the state.  "The People of Iowa Welcome You" they told me again.

I stopped for gas at a Cenex station where they charged me $3.16/gallon for unleaded with ethanol.

And we got into the campground at 3:20.  So once again a long day, but for some reason not as long as on our way south.  I dumped my tanks again, just in case I had trouble finding a dump station farther along the road, and filled up my water tank for the same reason.

This was an odd campground.  The name for one thing.  The only name I ever found for it was I-29/Hwy 34 Campground, and the owner calls it "the campground."  Nobody in management was on the site as far as I could tell, but the space she'd told me would be available was - even though it wasn't reserved.  She said it'd be first-come-first-served, and a sign said this site was for one-night guests only.  And she was right that availability wasn't a problem.  But I'm always a little nervous on those no-reservation situations.