When Mary and I left Minnesota, our plan was to head
straight for Nebraska so we could fill in one of the three remaining states on
our map of the lower 48, but we got side-tracked by some interesting
diversions. We spent the night in
Iowa so we could experience…..
Britt, Iowa, the home of the annual Hobo Convention and Hobo
museum. The term Hobo comes from
the greeting “Ho! Beau”, as men traveling for work would great each other
during the great depression. We
also learned (from the brochure-the museum was not open when we came through)
that the definition of a Hobo is “one who wanders and works”, whereas a Tramp
is “one who wanders and dreams”, and a Bum is “one who neither wanders nor
works”. I guess Mary and I are
Hobos aspiring to be Tramps, and hoping we don’t end-up Bums.
We visited the Grotto of the Redemption, a wonderful
Catholic shrine built entirely of stones, petrified wood, stalactites, crystals
and gems that were gathered throughout the western states. Father Dobberstein gathered from 1900
to 1912 and then began a 40+ year obsession to build a very large rambling and
strangely beautiful labyrinth of walkways and alters and caves to honor
Jesus. The site is literally out
in the middle of nowhere (Iowa) and includes thirteen great statues made of
Carrera Marble from Italy. The
grotto kind of reminded Mary and I of Coral Castle in Florida. The adjacent church has a 300lb amethyst
and a carved wooden alter with stained-glass windows from Germany.
We also learned that Iowa produces a greater percentage
(20%) of its electrical energy from Wind than any other place on the planet,
though they are not the largest producer of wind power in terms of total
megawatts. The wind blowing across
Iowa seems almost constant, and there are very large windmills almost
everywhere. There were also lots of semi’s carrying huge blades on I-80.
On our way to Nebraska City, one of the tires on Harriet
separated. When this happens the tread rips off and sometimes can do great
damage to the trailer. Luckily, only some of the lower sheet metal was bent and
I was able to pull to the side of the road (I-80) safely. Our motor club dispatched someone to
put on our spare for us (it takes a pretty hefty jack), and we were on our way
again in about one and one-half hours.
I was able to get a new tire and borrow a jack in Nebraska City to put
it on in the RV park.
Nebraska City turns out to be a pretty interesting small
(7,000 pop) town. We really enjoyed Parker’s BBQ – a must if you are ever here.
The area was a prominent stop for Lewis and Clark, a major starting off point
for the westward migration, and thanks to J Sterling Morton, a significant
player in the country’s appreciation for trees. The Morton family settled just
outside of Nebraska City on a large tract of grassland and proceeded to plant
trees of numerous species. The
patriarch was the US’s first Secretary of Agriculture (under Grover Cleveland)
and was the founder of Arbor Day.
A day to celebrate and plant trees, and as the literature points out,
one of the few holidays that is not political, religious or commemorating some
past event. Arbor Day is a day to
look to and invest in the future by planting a tree. One of Morton’s sons went on to become the owner of the
Morton Salt Company and another son, the Argo cornstarch company.
We visited a fairly new and well-done Lewis and Clark
interpretive center that included some trails overlooking the Missouri
River. In a little over two years
the expedition went from St Louis to the Pacific Ocean (and back!) via the
Missouri, Snake and Columbia Rivers.
They recorded over 100 new plant and 122 animal species and learned of
the migration of the salmon from the native cultures that they
encountered. We biked along a
trail called the Steamboat Trace that ran along the western edge of the
Missouri River (before it was channeled). The Missouri, as we learned, used to
flow wide, up to 3 miles, and shallow along Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri. Spring floods added fertile silt to a
broad stretch of “bottom land” and the river wandered a very curvy path before
modern channelization and dredging deepened and straightened its course.
During the great westward migration from 1846-1866 Nebraska
City was home to several “freighting” companies who would outfit the wagon
trains with livestock and supplies for their journey on the Oregon, California
or Mormon trials. With the advent
of the transcontinental railroad the overland route was obsolete and Nebraska
City was no longer a major commercial transportation hub.
We successfully waited out hurricane Isaac up here in
Nebraska and were able to learn a few things to boot! We are heading out tomorrow to Oklahoma - another of our
“not visited before” states.
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