Day 11:

When I first moved there in 1988, I was told there are two seasons in Iowa: Winter and Road Construction. The evening of Day 11 was a solid reminder of this. I was trying to drive from the extreme northwest corner of the Des Moines metro area to its extreme northeast corner. I tried taking the fastest and most direct route (the Interstate). Due to ongoing road construction, pouring rain, and sheer darkness, I couldn’t tell what lane I was in, or even where the edges of the road were. So, I left the Interstate and drove “surface roads” the rest of the way. This took a while, and I still had to deal with several construction zones and poor lane markings, but the lighting was better, and I could drive slower.

Day 12:

The plan for Day 12 was to spend the afternoon at Ledges State Park, then continue north to my next Holiday Inn Express. Ledges is probably best known for Canyon Drive and its multiple stream crossings. Y’see, rather than doing something stupid like building a bridge, they just laid the roadbed directly on the streambed. This forces the stream to flow over the road, which in turn requires park visitors to ford the flowing stream. I feel like I’m not describing it very well. Someone completely unknown to me has posted a video on YouTube that shows what I’m talking about. You can skip the first 2.5 minutes.

Given the downpour I had experienced the night before, I was unsurprised to find Canyon Drive closed. However, it was only closed to motor vehicles; hikers were still allowed (encouraged, even) to walk the non-flooded portions of the road. Not remembering any of the hiking trails from my high school days, I decided to hike the promisingly named Hog’s Back Trail to Table Rock. Then I would backtrack to the parking lot and walk Canyon Drive as far as the first stream crossing. The map said the Hog’s Back Trail was just a half mile long, but that it was “Hard”. The map was right. This was the nastiest trail I’ve tried in a while. Most of this trail was very steep, wet pavement. I tried a parallel trail for the return hike. This one was nothing but stairs for almost its entire length, yet I found it easier than the steep pavement. In any event (except a Dalek invasion of Earth), I somehow tweaked my back on this hike. Since it now hurt to walk, I did not proceed to walking Canyon Drive. But I did drive around the rest of the park, and took the following few pics from the driver’s seat of my rental car:

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Day 13:

I did not pack for this. When I left North Carolina, the weather forecasts for Iowa were calling for high temperatures in the 70s and 80s for the whole trip. So, I didn’t bring any kind of jacket. Luckily, I bought a couple of thick, heavy sweatshirts at Adventureland, because the forecast had changed for Day 13. They were now calling for highs in the 50’s and wind blowing like a Kansas…um…cyclone.

I awoke just a few miles from the “Iowa Great Lakes”, a.k.a. the Okoboji (pronounced OAK-uh-Bo-jee) Lakes (pronounced LAYX). The plan was to visit Arnolds Park, which is a lakeside amusement park and home to The Legend, a 95-year-old wooden roller coaster. I rode this coaster a couple of times, probably about 20 years ago. It hurt me. But now, VENGEANCE IS MINE! Well, maybe not. Y’see, I once made myself really sick by riding a coaster repeatedly in cold, windy weather for which I was underdressed. This time, I decided not to risk it. I wandered the park a little (admission is free; it’s pay-per-ride), then wandered to a place nearby that a friend informed me of just a few days earlier: the Spirit Lake Massacre Memorial. See Wikipedia to learn more about that.

After the visit to the memorial, I headed out for my next destination: Council Bluffs. But I went the long way. I went through Sioux City, just because I’ve never been there. It turned out to be a decent-looking little city, one with a sense of humor at that. As my only example, their airport’s three-letter code is SUX, and they embrace it!

When I arrived at the Council Bluffs Holiday Inn Express, I was surprised to find that it’s right next door to a casino! Apparently, Council Bluffs legalized casino gambling at some point, because there were at least two major casinos along the Missouri River. After some fast-food dinner, I went to the Ameristar next door, where I placed a bet consisting of my sweet bippy. I lost.