Memorial Day Weekend

With most of our soybeans to plant and plans to travel to Bloomfield on Saturday, we were grateful to get back in the field on Tuesday and commence planting.  We put in some long days and with minimal setbacks, we were able to finish our last field on Friday night.  It was a relief, knowing that a rain system was moving in over the weekend.

We left for Iowa late morning and as I usually do, we took the scenic, two lane, small town route.  This is the route that we have traveled since I was a little boy.  There have been a lot of changes over the years, but a lot of familiar landmarks that we watched for as kids are still there.  It made travelling much less boring as we kept track of our progress on the 4 hour trip.  Some of the biggest changes are the farmsteads; some have grown and progressed and others have fallen into disrepair and are no longer active.

This trip was especially interesting as we drove through the small towns and saw how they decorated their cemeteries for Memorial Day with flags and flowers.

Farmington, Iowa cemetery on Sunday evening

We named many of the landmarks ourselves so they only make sense to us.  Many of them no longer exist except in our fading memories.

Our trip started when we crossed the Illinois river on the Cedar Street bridge.  This put us on Route 116 in the south side of Peoria driving past the "projects", a different world for us farm kids.  Just past Hanna City was the Hanna City Air Force Station, part of the Air Defense Command radar network, built during the Korean War.  It was closed in 1969 and became a minimum security prison work camp.  The work camp was closed in 2002 and now is mostly unused.
Just past Farmington we entered coal country.  From the highway you could see the large strip mining shovels operating in the distance.  Along the highway, there was a steam railroad that was used to haul coal to a storage yard.  It was one of the last operating steam railroads in Illinois, running well into the '60s before it was replaced by the large mining trucks.  It was a thrill if we got to see the train operating as we passed through.

A few miles past Roseville we take the Raritan shortcut and drove past the tall, red, impressive old Celia Meade barn which is now in great disrepair.  In Raritan is a beautiful, tall steepled, large columned, old white church reminiscent of a church you would see in New England.  Just west of town is a stately old farmhouse that overlooks a valley pasture dotted with cattle.  Just around the curve on Route 97 is the "gingerbread house".  Also, later along Route 97, you pass the "Lincoln house" (an antebellum style mansion), and the "Washington house" (similar style to Mount Vernon).

Lomax has the hot pink two story tavern in town.  On the west side of town there used to be a canning factory with a long row of small white buildings that were used to house the migrant workers.  As you entered Dallas City you came to the old L. Burg Carriage Company Building.  The old buggy factory had been closed for years, but had been turned into a supper club and restaurant.  I had eaten there several times, then a few years ago when I was coming through town just before sundown, I arrived at the old factory just as the police and fire trucks were arriving.  The building was on fire, and it burned down that night.  From Dallas City, you follow the Mississippi River to Niota where we cross into Iowa.

We cross the river on the 1927 built Fort Madison toll bridge.  It is one of the last remaining swinging span truss bridges on the Mississippi. It is a double decker with car road on top and rail road on the lower level.  Owned by the BNSF railroad, up to 100 trains a day cross the bridge, including Amtrak's Southwest Chief.  The bridge opens an average of 5 times per day to let barges through with an average wait time of 15 to 20 minutes each opening.

Just across the river in Fort Madison is the old Sheaffer Pen Company with its large ballpoint on the roof (water tower?).  Having closed in 2008, it now sits empty.  Up the hill and across the street is the old Iowa State Penitentiary, established in 1839.  Along the river is a park with a large old steam locomotive and coal car on display. Beyond it is the replica of old Fort Madison, the first permanent U.S. Military installation on the upper Mississippi.  Just outside of town there was a farm that had twin green silos.  The farmer later built two blue Harvestore silos.  The farm has disappeared because of development.

Between Fort Madison and Donnellson we would pass Faeth Apple Orchard, which is the oldest continuously operated orchard owned by the same family west of the Mississippi.
As we would near Farmington, Iowa, we would see who could spot the Smokey the Bear sign (Only you can prevent forest fires!) as we passed through Shimek State Forest.  In Cantil is the Dutchman's General Store, run by Black Bumper Mennonites.  Around Milton and Pulaski you start seeing Amish farms and businesses along Highway 2, along with watching for buggies on the highway.  The old church used to be in Pulaski, but we would keep driving west to Bloomfield to Uncle Russell and Aunt Karoline's farm on the South edge of town.

Our time there was always enjoyable and this weekend was no exception.  We had a great time celebrating Uncle Russell's 90th birthday and fellowshipping with the family that gathered together.  We had a blessed day in church Sunday; the first time we have been back to the new church since Aunt Karoline's funeral.  After church, we walked out to the cemetery to visit her grave. We were shown great hospitality all weekend and would have loved to have spent more time.

Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.
Deuteronomy 1:7