Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Halsey, NE to Harlan,IA
Prairie Rose State Park
Nebraska Route 2 is also known as the Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway. It was a very pleasant drive as we followed it southeast to Grand Island and the Platte River. Instead of hopping on I-80 we elected to continue to follow the two lane roads northeast to Blair and re-crossed the Missouri River for the last time on this trip and into Iowa. The river was very high as we discovered when we stopped at the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge. It was late in the afternoon. However, the Visitor Center contains an archeological collection of over 250,000 artifacts from the buried wreck of the Steamboat Bertrand. The Missouri River was the major highway between St. Louis and Fort Benton, MT during the 1800s. More than 400 steamboats sank or were wrecked by snags in the Big Muddy during the 19th and 20th centuries. On April 1, 1865 the Bertrand wrecked and sank in the mud on the refuge. It lay undiscovered and mostly intact until 1968. The cargo contained all manner of goods needed by the Montana Territory gold mines, logging camps, farmers, and households. Tools, equipment, food, and clothing were all recovered from the wreck and are displayed in the Visitor Center. We continued through the corn fields of Iowa to a delightful campsite overlooking a pond in Prairie Rose State Park.
328 miles today
Thursday, August 1, 2019
Harlan, IA to Montpelier ,IA
We continued to cross Iowa through corn that was getting taller and taller. Now we can’t see much past the roadside ditch, just like snowbanks in Maine! Most of the small towns seem to be making ends meet. The hanging baskets on the street lamps are well watered and the parks are mowed. The County Courthouses are impressive old structures and well maintained.
About mid morning we came to the little town of Winterset (southwest of Des Moines). This is the birthplace of John Wayne and they have a very nice museum and his restored birthplace home here. We didn’t feel we had the time to spend to justify the $15 entrance fee but what we could see was very well done. At least one of the guys bought the gift shop tee shirt saying, “A man’s gotta do, what a man’s gotta do!”
Many (perhaps all) Iowa counties have a Freedom Rock which they decorate to honor Veterans, POWs, etc. Here we all are next to Madison County’s Freedom Rock.
Yes, THE Madison County and it does have a number of covered bridges.
Not long afterward we passed a village that claimed it was the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk. We were glad to reach our destination on the mighty Mississippi in the late afternoon. We are camped at an US Army Corps of Engineers campground on the west bank of Pool 16. The Corps divides the Mississippi River into pools. These are the areas behind the dams and locks. The dams are used only to maintain a 9’ deep channel. They are not used for flood control. It is a very nice campground. Note the train just behind the trees behind the camper! Two longs, a short, and another long ….. all night long very loud train music!
294 miles today
Iowa Trivia Quiz: No Google!
1. What Broadway Musical is the lyric in the subject line from?
2. What is the next line?
3. Which other Broadway Musical has a song entitled All I Owe Ioway?
If you get all three right I owe you a beer. NO GOOGLING!
On the road
Rory and Luci
Blog: https://roryandluci.wordpress.com/