Iowa

A glorious and beautiful day. And...and...this is a big country. I passed through Des Moines in the morning , then left the freeway southward, so that I could follow more closely the route of the Mormons as they crossed Iowa in 1846. I also had stumbled on something on the map as I was looking things over last night - the John Wayne Birthplace in Winterset, Iowa. I don't know how I missed that in all my planning. They have preserved the little cottage where he spent his early years and have a little store\museum next door. Interestingly enough, they are celebrating the 100th anniversary of his birth next week with a big celebration. All of his children are coming and they are going to break ground for a larger museum and store. I found some nice things for my John Wayne basement that I didn't have (yeahhhh). The little downtown of Winterset looks like it hasn't changed since the 1940's - probably hasn't. Courthouse in the middle of the block, surrounded by a Ben Franklin, a drugstore with a soda shop, the theatre "Iowa" with the large neon sign, and the Masonic lodge (Wayne was a Mason by the way). The main street in Winterset is John Wayne Drive.

As I left Winterset and headed west, I could see how the Saints 161 years ago must have felt as they slogged across Iowa, just about this time of year. The hundreds of streams and creeks that furrow this land....all the mud. They stopped and built many substantial bridges that were used for many years by the later settlers of Iowa. Such beautiful farms now. The lowest gas prices on the trip so far are in Iowa. A John Deere agency in every town. Flat country, but no sign of a tornado so far.

As I approached Council Bluffs (Kanesville for the Mormons), about 8 or 10 miles out I passed the edges and entered the area of what was in late summer 1846 the "Grand Encampment" that stretched all the way in to the Missouri River. This was the gathering place of the Saints in small groups that stretched for 10 miles on the edge of Iowa. Later these groups massed in today's Florence, Nebraska and built Winter Quarters for the winter of 1846-47. Winter Quarters was occupied by the Saints until 1852, then abandoned. I passed through Council Bluffs on the Iowa side (there are actual river bluffs, hence the name), then swung west, crossed the Missouri River on Mormon Memorial Bridge, and at the first exit in Nebraska, left the freeway at Florence. The Winter Quarters site is just as I imagined it. Of course, all of the log cabins are long gone, but the grid of the town is flat and the later streets appear to follow the alignment of the original settlement. You go up the original road to a small hill to the west, and there sits the new Mormon Trail Center, a pioneer cemetery, and the new Winter Quarters Temple, all very beautiful and peaceful. The exhibits in the Center are first-class. If no one else is going to tell our story, I guess we have to do it - but of course, maybe we don't WANT someone else telling our story. For some reason, they never seem to get it right. Oh yes, welcome to Nebraska (State #8).

By going north to Florence, I actually bypassed Omaha. I could see the downtown in the distance as I headed west. Went through Lincoln (University of Nebraska), and checked out the SAC Museum nearby. Stayed near Grand Island for the night.