For the past several years, my wife and I have taken a day trip on Memorial Day weekend to a part of Iowa we haven't explored much in the past. My wife keeps her eye out for new shops to stop at, and this old farm boy just enjoys seeing the lay of the land.
I often share these trips, because I find out later that I drove past, or nearly past, many of the posters on this board. I also like to share my observations of what we saw:
--Been to Jefferson before, but my wife loves towns with town squares, so we headed west from Ames on Highway 30. Didn't realize 30 was closed due to bridge or bypass construction east of Jefferson, so took quite a detour to Boxholm. This was fine, because I enjoy getting off the main roads. Ended up taking the old Lincoln Highway from Grand Junction into the back side of Jefferson, which was fun. Always love seeing how the Lincoln Highway curves and bends through the countryside. There's even an old roadside motel still standing on the west edge of Grand River, which was cool to see. Jefferson's square was clean and attractive.
--Headed south on Highway 4 to Panora, which was a wonderful stretch of road. It always amazes me how much nicer the roads are in western Iowa than they were back in eastern Iowa, and they never seem to carry a lot of traffic, which makes the drive very enjoyable. Panora was very attractive...I'm sure there's a lot of money floating into the area to keep the town looking very nice. We stopped in at Ben's Five and Dime. My wife loved it! A real throwback to the old Five and Dime stores we remember as kids. That place was stocked with just about everything imaginable that you can't buy anywhere else anymore, including the old cheap toys we played with as kids. I met the owner, who I found out is the mayor of Perry, and who owns a sister store in Perry just like it. The most enjoyable part of the stop was meeting the young, personable cashier. She was the recent valedictorian at IKM-Manning High School (I believe that's right). She seemed sharp as a tack, and told me she is headed to ISU this fall. She seems like the kind of kid who will accomplish anything in life that she sets her mind to. I was impressed with her!
--Began raining as we headed west for Guthrie Center (it was on Saturday) and it poured heavily for almost 2 hours. Drove around GC for a bit, but didn't stop, but that community has also done a nice job updating their business district.
--I mentioned here back in April that I had been out to Darrell's Place in Hamlin to try one of their excellent tenderloins. Well, I was actually there that day to interview Jeff and Diana for a story I wrote in the latest issue of Our Iowa Magazine. It was my goal on this day to have another tenderloin and let my wife experience one too. We got there at 12:30, and it was standing room only until a table cleared. Jeff later told me that the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend is their busiest day of the year. But once we got our food, we were not disappointed. The tenderloin was once again awesome.
--Drove north on Hwy 71 to Audobon. Interesting hilly community. You can kind of tell it's more agriculturally based than tourism based. But they are doing some nice things in some sections of town. Stopped at a nice shop on their "square". It was kind of a square, anyway.
--Continued driving north on 71 to Hwy 141. It was fun for this farm boy to get a whiff of cattle feedlots again.
--Headed west on 141 for the short drive to Manning. Again, 141 is such a nice road. Manning is an outstanding community. Not a blade of grass out of place anywhere...very impressive! And the downtown is outstanding with the restoration and development going on there, considering it's a town of only 1,500. Stopped in at a really neat store called The Market Place, and got to visit for a while with the owner, Jamie England. She and her husband left jobs in Des Moines to develop this store in small-town Iowa to get back to their roots. The place was very busy for a Saturday afternoon. My wife dropped some money during the experience. We also stopped at the great park and historical site on the east edge of town. Took a selfie at Carroll County's Freedom Rock, then toured the German HausBarn and the historical farm next door. Loved walking through that old farm house...not sure now what family used to live there. But it was a worthwhile stop. Wanted to walk up to the old Lutheran church up on the hill, but a wedding was being held there. Kudos to Manning!!
--It was time to start winding our way back to Ames, so headed east on 141. Took time to drive through Templeton, which is also a very well-manicured community. Huge new convenience store on the south edge of town with a name I've never run across before. Another wedding being held at one of the churches (we actually ran across 5 weddings being held that Saturday afternoon...we should have stopped and had supper at one of the receptions). Question: there's a lot of ground being moved to the north of Templeton Rye. Is that an additional T Rye development, or something new coming into town?
--Continued driving east on 141, and drove around briefly in Dedham, Coon Rapids and Bagley. For some reason, I thought Coon Rapids would be larger and a bit more updated than it is because of the Garst connection. The coolest thing I saw in this area was a farm just as we were leaving Coon Rapids...it was on the south side of 141. It was a large tract of land, almost mountainous for Iowa, all seeded to grass with a lot of cows grazing on it. I'm sure that land has never seen a plow, and it was a very pretty Iowa scene. Maybe it's one of you guys' farms?
--We'd been to Perry before, but they seem to continue developing and rebuilding their city after some economic setbacks. Very nice stores in the business area of town. Another wedding reception at Hotel Patee. We found the mayor's Five and Dime store and make a quick stop there.
--Wound our way on back roads towards Huxley, and arrived there at 7:00 p.m. to take in a graduation reception before heading back to Ames. All in all, it was a very interesting and enjoyable day!! Got the chance to talk to a lot of interesting Iowans, which I enjoy.
I often share these trips, because I find out later that I drove past, or nearly past, many of the posters on this board. I also like to share my observations of what we saw:
--Been to Jefferson before, but my wife loves towns with town squares, so we headed west from Ames on Highway 30. Didn't realize 30 was closed due to bridge or bypass construction east of Jefferson, so took quite a detour to Boxholm. This was fine, because I enjoy getting off the main roads. Ended up taking the old Lincoln Highway from Grand Junction into the back side of Jefferson, which was fun. Always love seeing how the Lincoln Highway curves and bends through the countryside. There's even an old roadside motel still standing on the west edge of Grand River, which was cool to see. Jefferson's square was clean and attractive.
--Headed south on Highway 4 to Panora, which was a wonderful stretch of road. It always amazes me how much nicer the roads are in western Iowa than they were back in eastern Iowa, and they never seem to carry a lot of traffic, which makes the drive very enjoyable. Panora was very attractive...I'm sure there's a lot of money floating into the area to keep the town looking very nice. We stopped in at Ben's Five and Dime. My wife loved it! A real throwback to the old Five and Dime stores we remember as kids. That place was stocked with just about everything imaginable that you can't buy anywhere else anymore, including the old cheap toys we played with as kids. I met the owner, who I found out is the mayor of Perry, and who owns a sister store in Perry just like it. The most enjoyable part of the stop was meeting the young, personable cashier. She was the recent valedictorian at IKM-Manning High School (I believe that's right). She seemed sharp as a tack, and told me she is headed to ISU this fall. She seems like the kind of kid who will accomplish anything in life that she sets her mind to. I was impressed with her!
--Began raining as we headed west for Guthrie Center (it was on Saturday) and it poured heavily for almost 2 hours. Drove around GC for a bit, but didn't stop, but that community has also done a nice job updating their business district.
--I mentioned here back in April that I had been out to Darrell's Place in Hamlin to try one of their excellent tenderloins. Well, I was actually there that day to interview Jeff and Diana for a story I wrote in the latest issue of Our Iowa Magazine. It was my goal on this day to have another tenderloin and let my wife experience one too. We got there at 12:30, and it was standing room only until a table cleared. Jeff later told me that the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend is their busiest day of the year. But once we got our food, we were not disappointed. The tenderloin was once again awesome.
--Drove north on Hwy 71 to Audobon. Interesting hilly community. You can kind of tell it's more agriculturally based than tourism based. But they are doing some nice things in some sections of town. Stopped at a nice shop on their "square". It was kind of a square, anyway.
--Continued driving north on 71 to Hwy 141. It was fun for this farm boy to get a whiff of cattle feedlots again.
--Headed west on 141 for the short drive to Manning. Again, 141 is such a nice road. Manning is an outstanding community. Not a blade of grass out of place anywhere...very impressive! And the downtown is outstanding with the restoration and development going on there, considering it's a town of only 1,500. Stopped in at a really neat store called The Market Place, and got to visit for a while with the owner, Jamie England. She and her husband left jobs in Des Moines to develop this store in small-town Iowa to get back to their roots. The place was very busy for a Saturday afternoon. My wife dropped some money during the experience. We also stopped at the great park and historical site on the east edge of town. Took a selfie at Carroll County's Freedom Rock, then toured the German HausBarn and the historical farm next door. Loved walking through that old farm house...not sure now what family used to live there. But it was a worthwhile stop. Wanted to walk up to the old Lutheran church up on the hill, but a wedding was being held there. Kudos to Manning!!
--It was time to start winding our way back to Ames, so headed east on 141. Took time to drive through Templeton, which is also a very well-manicured community. Huge new convenience store on the south edge of town with a name I've never run across before. Another wedding being held at one of the churches (we actually ran across 5 weddings being held that Saturday afternoon...we should have stopped and had supper at one of the receptions). Question: there's a lot of ground being moved to the north of Templeton Rye. Is that an additional T Rye development, or something new coming into town?
--Continued driving east on 141, and drove around briefly in Dedham, Coon Rapids and Bagley. For some reason, I thought Coon Rapids would be larger and a bit more updated than it is because of the Garst connection. The coolest thing I saw in this area was a farm just as we were leaving Coon Rapids...it was on the south side of 141. It was a large tract of land, almost mountainous for Iowa, all seeded to grass with a lot of cows grazing on it. I'm sure that land has never seen a plow, and it was a very pretty Iowa scene. Maybe it's one of you guys' farms?
--We'd been to Perry before, but they seem to continue developing and rebuilding their city after some economic setbacks. Very nice stores in the business area of town. Another wedding reception at Hotel Patee. We found the mayor's Five and Dime store and make a quick stop there.
--Wound our way on back roads towards Huxley, and arrived there at 7:00 p.m. to take in a graduation reception before heading back to Ames. All in all, it was a very interesting and enjoyable day!! Got the chance to talk to a lot of interesting Iowans, which I enjoy.
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