Let's go for a Drive

I’m at the tail end of my vacation. I took three weeks off as soon as classes were over. It’s been one hell of an academic year and I needed a serious break. (At one point, I may have referred to this last year as a “motherfucking doozy.” And it was.)

The first two weeks were in Iowa. My niece graduated from high school earlier this month. My nephew graduated three years ago and I took the train (Empire Builder, specifically) to Chicago, saw Hamilton, and then made my way to Iowa. It was a good trip (and maybe I’ll blog about that later). I would love to’ve Been there for G’s graduation, but the timing didn’t work. And I wanted to take some significant time, rent a car, and see all the different folks I wanted to see. Also, after the last Motherfucking Doozy Year, me, a car, an Iowa highway, and no schedule seemed like fucking paradise. Because there is something about being on a two-lane Iowa highway: it's time to think. It’s time to not think. It’s a level of freedom that can be difficult to explain.

I suspect it’s a rural thing to get into your car and just drive. Sundays in the Midwest? Church, Sunday dinner, and a drive. You'd check out the crops. You'd look at your neighbor’s houses. I didn’t grown up in a totally rural town and we didn’t regularly go on Sunday drives, but we still drove. In CF we cruised, like you do, up and down University Ave. It’s where you went to see and be seen. Same thing in my Dad’s town, but you drove around the high school. In the summer, you hopped on the back of a motorcycle and drove: around town, in the country—whatever. It was all a form of freedom.

That’s what I wanted. And that’s what I got.

I hit a good chunk of eastern Iowa: Davenport to Iowa City with a quick trip to Brooklyn (Iowa, not NY, duh), Des Moines, Reinbeck, lunch in Cedar Falls, Decorah, and then back to Davenport. I took one quick trip back to Iowa City for the evening.

My Route

Much of my time was spent drive back and forth on I-80. But I drove on some state highways, like 330, 14, 218, and 61. I also hit numerous county rounds that I don’t remember, or that go by names like, Zaneta, or simply “the black top.” 

I was on my way to Reinbeck (Google it, there are two of them, the one in Iowa, and the Reinbek that’s a suburb of Hamburg, Germany). Reinbeck is one of those towns where everyone knows everyone and I'm related to about 75% of them. I was going there to visit the cemetery, to see some family, and try to reconnect/repair some relationships, but that’s a different story. 

Iowa, off HWY 14, driving towards Reinbeck 

There’s no doubt that Iowa is flat. But it has its own beauty. When I was back in Iowa to take are of things after my dad died, I remember driving to to Reinbeck (via Zaneta) and seeing a truck drive down a gravel road. It was September. It was harvest (or just past harvest) and everything was a different shade of gold (literally, Harvest Gold). So, the truck was hauling ass on the gravel road and throwing up all this dust, and I remember being struck by the absolute beauty of it. I grew up here. This is part of who I am, even if I’m not here anymore.  

What a lot of people don’t realize that parts of Iowa are hilly. Iowa is bordered by the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and there are bluffs on both sides. But extreme northeast Iowa is part of the Driftless Area, meaning it’s unglaciated. When I lived in southwest Wisconsin, I was in the Driftless Area. It’s hilly and has bluffs and is all around lovely—and unlike what most people think of when they think of Iowa (if they think of Iowa at all). Decorah, where by BFF lives, is in the Driftless Area. 

BFF lived with my mom and I one summer, and we used to drive all over Grant County, Wisconsin, getting lost on county roads and just taking in all the terrain. I spent one night in Decorah with BFF, and she drove me around town, giving my some of the local history, showing my some of her favorite places. And I also found out I have lost all tolerance for twisty, turns gravel roads. 

Decorah

Decorah is one of those towns that isn't on the way to anywhere. To get there you need to take a series of county roads. I drove from Decorah south to Davenport--a three-ish hour drive. County road to county road took me through the unglaciated hills of Iowa. I got a glimpse of the Mississippi as I drove into Guttenburg. I was able to avoid the black sucking hole that is Dubuque. I took a couple of wrong turns but still got to where I was going.

And it was awesome. While it was great seeing friends and family, one of the best parts of the trip was simple driving through the countryside.