Iowa - Day 8 - Dubuque, Pike's Peak, Effigy Mounds

Volga River State Park, West Union

Tuesday, 8 November 2022

I woke up during the night at 1:30, tried unsuccessfully to get back to sleep, then got up at 2:30.  This is the same thing that happened the night before, and I'm tired of it.  Tired by it too.  Some of it may be that my body's not on regular time yet, as opposed to Daylight Savings Time, which ended on Sunday.  Whatever it is, it's a real nuisance.

Today's election day, and since I'm so late in posting this I hope everybody went to vote who hadn't already voted early.  And I hope my absentee ballot passed muster with the bizarre Texas laws that allegedly protect the citizenry from election fraud, but in fact just knock out otherwise perfectly valid votes.  I really wanted my vote to count this election, though I'm not sure how much good it did, since I believe a woman has a right to say what happens to her own body, even in reproductive matters, and many Republicans in this Republican state don't agree.  In this election, for the very first time in all my years of voting, I was a single-issue voter.  I looked up candidates to determine where they stood on that issue and voted for those who supported my views.  Strange concept for me since in the past I've always tried to determine which candidate was responsible enough to govern reasonably.

Having so much time available, thanks to not sleeping in, I edited some of the photos from the Hoover museum, though I still have 130 to go.

today's route

We left last night's campground just before 8:00 this morning.  I saw a deer while we were still in the campground, and driving out Dext and I saw 2 more jump a 4½' tall fence and race off.

Iowa has a town named Monticello.  And I passed lots of farms that looked like the classic ones we've all seen in paintings and photos of Iowa farmyards.  Very attractive.

I wanted to come to Dubuque because of a bit in a very old song by The Association.  I drove through the campus of the University of Dubuque, which reminded me a lot of Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX, where I spent my first 2 years of college.  As it happens, Univ. of Dubuque is a Presbyterian school and Southwestern is a Methodist school, so maybe that's why they remind me of each other.

I saw a gold-domed building not far away but the route I'd chosen didn't take me past it and I was afraid of getting lost.  I've learned that's the Dubuque County Courthouse, and the gold leaf on that dome has caused a lot of local controversy.  But it's pretty.

I drove around a bit in the neighborhood of St. Luke's Methodist Church on Main Street.  It was very old fashioned and, to my eyes, very attractive overall.  Dubuque has about 60,000 residents.

From Dubuque I took country roads with a great deal of trepidation, Google not being reliable about these roads in my opinion.  To lessen the chance of getting lost, I spent some time with that program Google's got that lets me see the street view, so I could see what's actually written on the highway signs instead of the names Google claims they have.  And that worked except for once, but I wasn't lost for long.

I drove through the tiny town of Balltown, where an establishment called Breitbach's had a sign saying it's Iowa's oldest operating restaurant/bar, in continuous operation since 1852.  Millard Fillmore, then US president, issued the liquor license.  The original building burned down twice, but the restaurant kept operating in a building across the street while they were rebuilding.

I passed signs for the turn to the Cassville Car Ferry that crosses the Mississippi River.  I was surprised about that because I've seen bridges built to connect Iowa with Illinois and Wisconsin all the way north.  But I guess some people feel as I do about bridges and some just enjoy ferries (as I do).  Hard to tell online, but it looks like in non-tourist season, the ferry runs only on weekends.

I'm sure I saw a round barn and realized I'm back near that part of the country where I used to see a lot of them

The small town of Guttenberg, which bills itself as a "Historic Rivertown," is actually pretty old.  It was once the site of encampments for the Sac and Fox tribes, and after they left German settlers moved in in 1832.  The town probably doesn't put this fact in its publicity, but Guttenberg is far above the Iowa average for earthquakes and 85% above the national average.  I'm surprised there's still much of the town left, if those are their chances.

I've seen several sand & gravel quarries today, surrounded by farms.  I've also see quite a few pro-Trump and anti-Biden signs.

We made it to Pike's Peak Overlook and state park by 10:30.  It was named for Zebulon Pike, who came through this area in 1805 to decide if it was suitable for a fort.  But much earlier, it was visited by 2 Europeans, who paddled down the Wisconsin River to this location, where the Wisconsin joins the Mississippi.

mouth of the Wisconsin River

the Mississippi River

Pere Marquette and Louis Joliet were here in 1673.

There's a little bit of historic explanation of their expedition, helping to put it in context and explain its significance, at this website.   https://wisconsinhistory.org/Marquette-and-Joliet

I had a hard time taking these photos because that observation deck had me out over thin air.  And it was a shame the day was overcast.

I was able to take 2 more photos at an informational kiosk before my camera ran out of battery.

There were several trails, some of which led to waterfalls, and I'm sure Dext would have enjoyed checking them out.  But the wind was blowing, and with the sun not out, the temperature didn't have much chance of getting up to the low 50s that were forecast.  So I took us back to the RV, where I turned on the generator so I could at least partly recharge my camera.

Out of the park, we were back on the Iowa Great River Road, and headed north to the tiny town of Marquette, where I saw a casino and a paddlewheeler. and a baby blue bridge over the Mississippi to Prairie du Chien in Wisconsin.

From there it wasn't far to the visitor center for the Effigy Mounds National Monument.  I'm sad to report that they forgot to post current hours online, and when I got there I found that the visitor center is now open only on weekends, which Tuesday isn't.  I was disappointed because I hadn't planned on hiking to any of the effigy mounds and hoped just to learn about them at the visitor center.  With this setback, I didn't get to do either.  It was still too cold and raw for me to want to go for a hike to the mounds - a shame because they say they have bear effigies - a whole pack of them - and bird-shaped mounds.  I still remember seeing the Serpent Mound in Ohio and wished I could see some of these here.  But that'll have to wait for another visit.

As I've been driving around, I've seen several towns with signs by the road that designate them as "Home Base Iowa Community," but I haven't seen anything to explain what that means.  I don't know how many states have this, but in Iowa this group seems to be making a concerted effort to find appropriate jobs for veterans and their spouses.  A worthy cause, I'm sure.

I turned on US-18 and found myself on the River Bluffs Scenic Highway.  I'm not sure exactly what river these bluffs are supposed to be on, though.  Just getting on this road was a challenge because Google once again refused to tell me the actual name of the road I was turning on and instead just said to go this distance and then turn right and then turn right and then turn left.  Except half those directions were wrong.  Very frustrating.  But I managed to make it through town and on the right road just to spite them.

I heard on the radio that absentee ballots in Iowa were down 40% compared to 2018, the last midterm election.  This was being attributed to a new, much shorter window of time for folks to request, complete, and mail their ballots.  You know how extra time just gives those old fraudsters a chance to do their thing.

I passed a sign telling me I was missing a tractor museum, and I found it online.  It seems to be open only during tourist season, and it's dedicated to the Froelich tractor, the first gasoline tractor to propel itself both forward and backward.  In 1892, this was hot stuff, and this became the precursor to the John Deere Tractor Co.  I'd like to visit if I can make it back here in the summer.

The town of Monona bills itself as the "Garden City of Iowa."  Sorry I can't confirm, but this isn't the best time of year for gardens.

I passed the Prairie Farms cheese plant.

Postville claims to be "Hometown to the World."  

I started seeing horse-and-buggy warning signs on the highway.

At the town of West Union, I saw a sign that asked "Why do birds fly south in the fall?" and answered "Because it's too far to walk."  Not having had children, let alone grandchildren, I have to admit this was one I'd forgotten since my dopey childhood.

The campground wasn't too many miles down the road, and we were once again the only ones there.