Head Out On The Highway, Looking For Adventure

Road Trip!

Iowa sure likes their structurally unsound bridges. A ways down the road (is that even a structurally sound sentence?) from Bentonsport is this span at Oakland Mills. There's a little café here known for their tenderloins and I so want to do this trip again. But Mt. Pleasant and Jerry's pizza is just a ways down the road from here, so what is a fella to do? Answer: both, of course.

This view would certainly be better during the autumn when the leaves are turning. Must put that on the "to-do" list.

I wonder why bridges are fun to explore? Must be some form of instinctual ability to get from point A over across treacherous waters to B. Here one can grab one of those juicy loins and stroll down toward the picnic table.

This is the bucolic Skunk River - a body of water I almost drowned in once. As a young'un freshman I was riding on the Phi Delt frat raft we built for homecoming. Speaking of structural integrity, that little weighted-down bobber of a craft sank and with me on it. Back in those days one had to pass a swimming test to graduate and most people took that test during orientation week, but I decided to wait until I was a senior. So, I couldn't swim a lick when the raft went down. As I was touching bottom I felt someone come down and bring me back up. I was still shaking as I was returned to campus and took a long warm shower to contemplate proper boat structure and my God.

A couple of pictures of the old hydroelectric plant that was built in the 30's and kept this part of Iowa well lit for 40 years. Also around here is a walking trail and camp grounds. I admire towns that take what they have and turn into something fun. New Boston has done that with their river front and why K-Burg doesn't is a real puzzler.

Comments

Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless. Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001. It was one of those things that can generate crime: two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job. Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things. Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold. But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find. His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead. He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds. He will be paralyzed for life. None of this is pleasant. Reading the f...

The Mary Davis Home - Part 2

None of these pictures were taken by me, they came right from the MDH website. I am posting these so that friends who have never seen inside where I worked can gain access. After 27 years I have many stories, tales and acquaintances. But, I wouldn't know how to express them appropriately in a few paragraphs. I enjoyed 98% of my stay there and hope I made a difference in the lives of a fraction of the kids who entered. The original MDH at this site was just the front part. The large red-roofed area in back was added on in the 90's. This is the Jerry Carlton library. It was unofficially named after one of the counselors who truly loved the place. He passed away around 2002, I think. Mr. Farber looks like he is explaining a few things to a client. The classroom. Activity area with the gym behind the windows. Another shot of the classroom. It was a little different area to teach since we had 2 classes and 2 teachers i...

Flashback Friday - Cold Case - Part One

53 years ago today, Gordon "Peel" Duncan walked into the dark post office in Seaton Illinois and was brutally assaulted by an individual or individuals. He died two days later. The murder was never solved. Gordon Duncan was one of the publishers of the Seaton Independent, a weekly newspaper in town that started in the late 1800's and stopped publishing in the 60's. We boys were just young children when this took place, but we have been fascinated by it ever since. The imagination of kids, I suppose or maybe the fact that it was unsolved. Regardless, this was a big deal in our little lives. For our parents it tended to shatter the idea that Seaton, our town, was safe. That it could fend off the forces of evil in the world, that in our little universe we would be impervious to harm was gone forever. For us kids I don't suppose we were old enough to know real fear. Fear for us was not getting our list ...

Existing In BFE

Search This Blog