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.

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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...

Florida Air Museum - Part 3

Welcome back to a pretty neat tour of the Florida Air Museum in Lakeland Florida. There's a lot to see and a couple of the old Geezer Gold Wing guys are already sitting down instead of walking around looking at the exhibits. That's John who is wore out and making a call to his wife. In all honesty, John was pretty well bushed before the ride. He told me his daughter's family was down from one of the Carolina's with the grand kids and he must have played with them too much. He's about to take off on his own and head for home, but he's going to miss a couple of neat things out on Hangar A. But, before we walk over there, we have lots yet to see here. If you saw The Aviator with Leonardo DiCaprio playing Howard Hughes, you'll remember that he went up in a plane during the filming of one of his movies to prove a point about flying. He crashed trying to execute a roll and this is a picture of the plane he crashed. No...

Summer Swim

It's Monday and the start of another work week. Except for me. I have the week off because the parents of my daycare charges are taking the week off, too. This is one of those wordless posts I love on Mondays so I can put my laziness in full view of loyal readers. These pics need no words. Why muddy the waters? They were taken at the pool at Sinkhole Estates aka Death Valley. The nice thing about this pool is it is heated in winter. If one must find positives in one's situation, I suppose that is one. But, please, no more.

Existing In BFE

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