Wisconsin/Iowa/Field of Dreams

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Headed south on the Great River Road.  Stopped at Lock and Dam # 8 (I think DeSoto or Genoa) and got to watch another phase of the barge in the locks.  In the parking lot we spotted 3 Amish men with fishing poles walking across the road and sure enough, there was their buggy and their horse. We took pictures.  Later I was able to get some pictures of them sitting in their fishing boat as the barge came out of the locks.  Very cool.  As we were leaving, there was another, nicer buggy and 2 horses in the parking lot and some boys and their dads down by the river.  I would love to see an amish community but it is in a different direction.

Also stopped at the National Fish Hatchery in Genoa and saw thousands of baby lake sturgeons that they will soon be releasing into 4 different rivers.  They actually tag them somehow with a little piece of metal.  The man working there showed us how they can identify them later as a hatchery fish by waving this wand over the snout and a light comes on.  Interesting.  Stopped briefly in Prairie de Chen and drove to Villa Louis but didn’t go in.  Very large home on the river.  This town is the second oldest in Wisconsin.  Headed over the bridge into Iowa (Marquette/McGregor) and drove 3 miles north to Effigy Mounds National Monument.  There are hundreds of very old mounds dating back thousands of years from ancient Native American people.  Some were circular, some oblong and some like bears or eagles.  We took a 2 mile hike to see some and view the Mississippi again and also watched a movie about the mounds.  It seems very few people visit this little part of Iowa.

  I was so pleasantly surprised at how lovely Iowa is if you just get off the Interstate.  I would recommend this backroads travel to anyone who has the time.  Stopped briefly in McGregor and said hi to someone who is in the travel club.  Jack had tried to arrange us staying with her but she is getting her house ready to sell and having a big garage sale.  Drove on to Dyersville and saw the movie set from “The Field of Dreams”.  It was so much cooler than either Jack or I thought it would be.  It is free and quite beautiful.  It is not advertised much on the road, just a few simple signs.  It tells the story of the people who actually own the farm and how they really did not benefit financially and do not get any film proceeds but just keep it going because people still come to see it, 65,000 a year.  Jack and I both read the book “Shoeless Joe” that the movie is based on and also recently rewatched the movie.  I would highly recommend both.

We went to the farmer’s market in Dyersville.  Luck strikes again, it is only on Thursday afternoons, right when we were there.  Bought some cucumbers, apples, tomatoes, and a melon from some farmers.  One of them recommended that we drive to Manchester, 14 miles west and stay at Bayley Ford County Park.  It is really nice with a river and trout stream, showers, playground, animals for the kids to look at and only cost us $9.00!