DORIS & I -DESTINATION LOESS HILLS

      In the fall of 2010, my sister Doris and I took a day trip from Marshalltown, Iowa to western Iowa and the Loess Hills area.


     We could not have asked for a more perfect fall day. It was the end of October, a Saturday with an early morning temperature in the low 50's. It was a bit chilly and crisp, but, blue sky with bright sunshine. And, just for added  flavor a few white puffy clouds dotting above as if you could reach up and touch them. You knew it would be a glorious day.


     Doris was on cue arriving at my home around 7:45 a.m. and we were ready to begin our journey to western Iowa and the heart of the Loess Hills that stretched from the state of  Missouri border north along the Missouri River on the Iowa side to near Sioux City.


     We simply followed highway 30 through Ames, Boone, Ogden, Jefferson, and so on. I could never remember driving this simple route as an adult so it was like a new adventure. The big surprise was driving through Carroll. For a population of 10,000 or so, it felt  like a much larger city with the continuous display of businesses along highway 30.


     We continued on, angling down to the town of Logan, where it was recommended that we stop to visit the Museum of Religious Arts. It was worth the stop and for further detail, they have a web site. While in Logan we stopped and had lunch at a quant little café called the Bunk House. 


     From there, we headed west and north along 127 then 183 to Pisgah then to the heart of the Loess Hills forest. North of Pisgah, we went through Preparation Canyon (3900 acres) with an overlook built in 1997, that you could see north and west for miles and miles to the Missouri River.  Viewing and taking in this immense river was quite impressive. We went north sometimes along country gravel roads following the ridge of the Hills.


     Then, we continued west through Onawa across the Missouri River into Nebraska to Decatur. We went across the toll bridge and back to I-29 at exit 89, to Mondamin and over to highway 44 to simply follow a different route home.


     Two observations at this point were 1) traveling down I-29 in Iowa, we could look east and view the "Hills" and appreciate their  beauty looming down on us and how they were formed. 2) Also, to witness all the harvesting of corn and soybeans with the huge equipment that was not in existence when I was young-especially the huge semi-trucks in the fields taking in the grain to storage or market. 


     Around 5 p.m. on the way home, we stopped at Darrell's Place in Hamlin south of Audubon for supper. Their tenderloin was voted best in the state by the Pork Producer's in 2003 and the Best Tenderloin by the Des Moines Register in 2004. And, it was very good!!!


     I will always feel I experienced something very special that October day, with my sister, in 2010. Sometimes, our best experiences are close to home. A very special memory in just a one day, twelve hour road trip. To experience not only the Loess Hills, but, just viewing the absolute beauty of the endless waves of landscape in western Iowa with the various shades of golden color between just two crops-corn and soybeans.   Truly a beautiful state.