Crossing Iowa, part two.
There’s not much to tell
About my hometown
Life is easy and the tempo’s slow
But if you really want to find what’s in it
You’ll learn in a minute
All you have to know
Let’s go!
By just walking down
In these Iowa sets, if you see a photo of a road – either a country road or main street – chances are you are looking at the Lincoln Highway. In my final state of the drive eastward on the Lincoln I stayed off the interstate for the entire drive: some of it on US 30 and much on the original streets and roads off US 30 with the occasional unpaved country road, as you will see in these last three posts from the road trip. Every so often it would abruptly end, and I had to turn around (a closed bridge or the road being repaired). Given the almost complete absence of other cars on so much of the drive, I didn’t have to worry too much about oncoming traffic when I did do a U-turn.
I read that about 85% of the original highway is still drivable in Iowa. The combination of the old highway and the historic farm towns made for an absolutely wonderful drive, if a little cold and wet. Truly the roads less traveled. It sure wasn’t top down weather in the TT! On the wet drive back I got to be an expert at getting pictures without getting soaked. Good thing the Fuji cameras are weather resistant.
The drive in this second Iowa set started out in Nevada, Iowa, after my first overnight in Ames, and continued through a succession of other Main Street America towns, including Colo, Marshalltown, State Center, LeGrand, Toledo, Tama, and Chelsea. Here’s the route. I was on my way to Cedar Rapids for the night.
I stopped in little Colo for lunch at the classic Niland Café. It’s right next door to the old L&J Service Station (dating back to 1923) and the Colo Motel which has six restored rooms.
Most of these places were in remarkably good shape. Not all but certainly the majority of them. The secret sauce seemed to be widely available in Iowa.
At the beginning of the set is Nevada (just after Ames) with a fine main street. When I was photographing the theater, someone came out and invited me in to see the interior. An open and seemingly thriving vintage theater is usually a sign of a town doing OK.
State Center had another one of my favorite main streets. It’s aptly named – State Center is just about at the geographical center of the state. When I was taking pictures there, someone walked up to tell me about the town, including all of the work they have accomplished there under Iowa’s “Main Street Program”. Did you know it’s the “Rose Capital of Iowa”? I didn’t either! The original path of the Lincoln Highway went through State Center’s Main Street.
I googled the Iowa program; you can read more about it here. Also, here’s a link to the umbrella Main Street America site.
In Tama, that concrete bridge with the words “Lincoln Highway” cut out of its guard rails dates back to 1915. It crosses Mud Creek. The Lincoln Highway was rerouted around the town just 11 years later (in 1926), but amazingly that little orphaned highway bridge still survives over 100 years later.
In the third (and final) Iowa post to follow, we will start out in Belle Plaine (near Cedar Rapids) and take the Lincoln all the way to DeWitt where I got off the Lincoln and got on the interstate for the drive home.
