May 14, 2007 – Travel thru Iowa

Today was our travel day thru Iowa. We had steady winds of 25 MPH with gusts up to 40 MPH. What a white knuckle experience for me. Andy did a wonderful job of keeping the MH on the road when the gusts would hit us.

The eastern part of Iowa is much the small as Illinois but once we went past Des Moines, the scenery changed to rolling hills.


Off the interstate and state routes, paved roads are few and far between. Most are gravel and the dirt roads are marked.

We are definitely in the central US farmland. And it is baby time at the farms (they are so cute!!!)

We stayed at Spingbrook State Park above Guthrie Center, IA and even had dinner at one of the small local restaurants.

One of the main reasons for being here is “Freedom Rock.” About a year ago, I received an email about the rock. Now, like most of us, I don’t believe everything I receive on email but this looked so interesting, I had to check it out and, lo and behold, it was real. This rock is at an intersection in the middle of many farms (in other words, in the middle of nowhere). In 1999, Ray “Bubba” Sorenson was so inspired by the movie “Saving Private Ryan" that he painted a sincere thank you to our veterans. The work was so moving, that the local veterans asked Bubba to keep on painting the rock every year for Memorial Day. So as of today, this rock is only partially finished. The pictures are below and I also put a link to the web page under “Our Links”.

It is an emotional experience to stand at the rock. It is an emotional experience to read the notes left for the artist. We thank God for all the freedoms we have and we thank all our servicemen for defending those freedoms.



Miles Traveled: 230
Routes Traveled:
Iowa
SR 22 (Scenic Byway), SR 61, SR 38, I-80, SR 25