Hawkeye Point

Hawkeye Point – View from silo platform

Heading west across southern Minnesota on I-90 there isn’t much to see or do other than enjoying the peaceful rolling hills and seemingly endless farm fields. To break up the monotony, I took a small detour south back across the Iowa border and headed to a small town named Sibley to visit Hawkeye Point, the … Read more

Big Springs Nature Park

Big Springs Nature Park - Guttenberg, Iowa

My final destination for the day was at Big Springs Nature Park in Guttenberg, Iowa. From Hazel Green, Wisconsin I followed IA-3 and US-52 along what they call the Great River Road National Scenic Byway. The drive itself is pretty fun and shows the Iowa side along the Mississippi but often times goes inland. Either … Read more

Trans Wisconsin Adventure Trail – Lansing to Potosi

Trans Wisconsin Adventure Trail - Flexing shenanigans at graffiti rock on Dugway Road

Starting off from Mount Hosmer Park in Lansing, Iowa, our goal today was to explore the southern section of the Trans Wisconsin Adventure Trail. This is a popular route leading over gravel roads and through scenic areas of the “driftless region”. This is definitley not a comprehensive photo journal of the trip, just some shots … Read more

Mount Hosmer Park

Mount Hosmer Park - Views across the Mississippi River valley

Heading out from camp at Wyalusing State Park we quickly encountered some ominus rain clouds. We often joke that it wouldn’t be one of our normal outings if rain wasn’t involved (oh, if you only knew how true this is). Today we were actually welcoming precipitation to keep down the dust on gravel roads. Crossing … Read more

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site - Gravesite

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic my travels in 2020 were nearly non-existent until August when I would launch a road trip to New Mexico for a socially-distanced elk hunt with my father. I drove nearly straight through but did find time for a few distractions along the way to break up the monotonous 1,700 mile … Read more

Effigy Mounds National Monument

Effigy Mounds National Monument - View from Fire Point

After making a mistake with campsite reservations at Wyalusing (and a less than restful stay at the last motel available), I woke early and headed to the Effigy Mounds National Monument in Harpers Ferry, Iowa.  I didn’t know much about this park, but it was on my list simply to check off another nationally-managed area. … Read more

World’s Largest Truckstop Iowa 80

Iowa 80 - Worlds Largest Truckstop

Pulled off for my (hopefully) last stop before home near Walcott, Iowa.  Lots of corn here.  LOTS.  Apparently I found myself at Iowa 80 Truckstop (the world’s largest truck stop) so there’s that.  My life accomplishments may have just peaked… Lat = 41.6175071 , Long = -90.7816946 — Show at Google Maps