Day 12: Iowa

Build it and they will come.

From Winona I continued south on the Minnesota side of the Mississippi river, more stunning views. At one point my GPS sent me over to the Wisconsin side.  I recognized it was going to put me on the same hour-long detour I got caught on yesterday, so I doubled back and was able to continue down the Minnesota side until after the detour.  After a short run through Wisconsin I passed over to Iowa.  At first it looked like a light had been switched as hills and trees gave way to nothing but corn.  I did get a glimpse of the Mississippi again from the Iowa side and it was back to hills and trees, before once again going over to all corn.

My destination was Dyersville, the location from the movie Field of Dreams. It was worth the stop; people were playing catch and shagging fly balls. The Farmhouse from the movie has been preserved as well.  Major league baseball has built a brand-new field a cornfield away and plan to have a game there with the Chicago White Sox and an opponent next year, but that field was off limits, you could see the lights, and that is about all. The Field of Dreams location was not in any of my guidebooks, but my former colleague, and friend Megan, who is well travelled, reviewed my plan and suggested I add the stop.  Megan also told me her Mom is obsessed with my blog as is my other friend and former colleague Dorian’s’ mom, who the cool thing is, lives in Belgium. It made me think of my mother, who was Danish, but loved to travel in the United States.  I can feel her with me on this trip.  She would say “Oh isn’t this intriguing.” Intriguing was her favorite word for seeing something new.  When you would ask her when she travelled if she slept in the car or on the plane she would say “I couldn’t sleep, I didn’t want to miss anything”.  Her other favorite saying which I carry with me on all my travels was “If you don’t have a good time, it’s your own fault”

After the Field of Dreams, I headed to Des Moines for the night. Des Moines is a nice small city, lot of building both residential and commercial. Traffic was light, but a lot of people out walking and biking on a very pleasant Saturday afternoon.

Song of the Day: Centerfield: John Fogerty

Podcast: On Something. Colorado Public Radio about marijuana since legalization – interesting discussion on how drug laws have been enforced to hurt minorities, staring with Opium and the Chinese that came to build the railways in the 1800’s.

Book on Tape:  My download didn’t work, hopefully a new one tomorrow

Beer of the Day:  Des Moines IPA, Confluence Brewing Company

Total Miles 370