Near a small town in eastern Iowa, a John Deere hauls a scoop of black soil. The grass and weed infested hill behind the driver is a set aside mound of premiere Iowa topsoil from some past project. On this day, a vintage JD takes a scoop and tracks across the road to town for whatever project he has in mind. No questions asked. Know that.Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Near a small town in eastern Iowa, a John Deere hauls a scoop of black soil. The grass and weed infested hill behind the driver is a set aside mound of premiere Iowa topsoil from some past project. On this day, a vintage JD takes a scoop and tracks across the road to town for whatever project he has in mind. No questions asked. Know that.Monday, 30 May 2011
Monday, 23 May 2011
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| Photo courtesy of King Tower Cafe Facebook's site. |
Tama, Iowa’s King Tower Café has been in operation since 1937 on the historic Lincoln Highway, which was also known as Highway 30 until a few months ago. Now a four lane Tama Toledo by-pass has opened connecting the two lane Highway 30 just east of town with the four lane state wide project near the Meskawki Casino just west of Tama.
What the new Highway 30 by-pass effectively does is routes all traffic just to the north of the King Tower Café and historic Lincoln Highway bridge, built in 1915. The bridge is one of the few remaining original structures of the early nationwide highway.
The by-pass result is a quicker ride through the two mid-Iowa cities but has dramatically reduced traffic to the café and surrounding businesses.
In its day, the King Tower Café offered food, overnight lodging (18 cabins), a service station, wrecker service, and native souvenirs to motorists on the Lincoln Highway. The last remaining cabin is located just behind the café, north of the gravel parking lot.
The café was closed for the day when I went to see it last week. I decided to photograph the café’s exterior. Prominent are the King Tower
Saturday, 21 May 2011
Monday, 16 May 2011
Cold War tensions may be over but a few artifacts remain like this one. Had the Soviets lobbed a nuke missile towards 42N country, this sign would have pointed the masses to an official government shelter. In this case, the shelter was rated to hold 100 souls. These signs can still be found in various towns usually on older buildings but are becoming increasingly harder to find. Know that.
Sunday, 15 May 2011
Houby Days 2011 ended this evening after a wet weekend. Near noon today the weather cleared. People headed to the Czech Village area to taste authentic Czech food, drink some beer and experience the carnival rides. The iconic Czech symbol, the lion, gazes over the nearby Cedar River that flooded to a historic level in June 2008. The city is still recovering, but the celebration of the mushroom, adjacent to the river, is a good sign of cultural comeback. Know that.
Saturday, 14 May 2011
Friday was the last day of the 2010-2011 school year at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. A day earlier students pass Old Capitol on their way to study for and take finals during two days of summer-like weather. School resumes in three months - just in time for football season - now that is a coincidence. Know that.
Today the weather rained pretty much all day. But the misty, rainy conditions did not stop hundreds of bargain seekers (like above) from attending the Gene Anderson estate auction north of Stone City in rural Iowa. Today was also very different. In the past 15 years or so the number of farm house auctions have all but disappeared. Around the 42N area you now experience auctions at sale houses that are often made up of multiple family estate belongings. Rarely do you have the opportunity to walk on private land held by the estate, that may have been in the family for generations. Today we were treated to be present on a farm long held by the same family.
Auctioneer Ed Shover (seen in the window of the covered trailer) called the sale of farmhouse and machine shed items to the mostly farm community audience. It is hard to believe that only two days ago we were in the 90Fs. Today the temperature struggled to get to 50F and people dressed for the conditions.
If you get a chance to attend an estate auction, be it on a farm, plantation, warehouse or large house, talk to the local people about who owned the items, get their impressions about the person, the land and way they lived. I certainly got an earful today. Know that.
Monday, 9 May 2011
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