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.