Driftless

After two nights in Prairie du Chien's Motel Six (Oh, boy!  Do we ever miss the bed in the RV!  But we've got to stay within our budget even if it means a couple nights in less than desirable accommodations.  Did I mention the police who knocked on our door in the middle of the night?  They were responding to a 911 call made from the motel.  Such an adventure!  But back to my point), we crossed the bridge to its sister city, Marquette, Iowa, to travel through the Driftless Area in the northeast corner of that state.

The Driftless Education and Visitors Center where we stopped in Lansing describes the terrain this way:  "Can you imagine this landscape at the bottom of an ocean?  Or as the only dry land surrounded by a sea of ice?  These geologic events shaped the Driftless Area long ago, and each dramatic epoch left its mark on the land.  Their legacy is this hilly landscape built from soluble rocks like limestone.  Geologists call this karst topography.  In Iowa, we call it The Driftless."

Up early due to a less than restful night, Tim and I arrived at the center at 8 a.m. just as the wildlife ranger was unlocking the door.

His assistant was absorbed in feeding the amphibians and snakes in their terrariums so we spent a quiet hour there learning about the ecology of the area, especially the conservation efforts of the wildlife service to replenish the freshwater fish and mussel populations.

Photo on display at the Driftless Education & Visitors Center

I was also interested in the exhibit about local farming techniques.  To keep harmful pesticides and sediment from washing into local waterways that drain into the Mississippi, farmers have left natural buffers, small tracts of land with permanent vegetation, to serve as filters.  We saw these as we drove to Lansing.  Such buffers reduce the migration of pesticides and herbicides by half.

After climbing Mount Hosmer to another scenic view of the Mississippi, we drove across the Black Hawk Bridge at Lansing into Wisconsin.

A visit at the Genoa National Fish Hatchery, another Great River Road interpretive center, gave us a first-rate introduction to more than two dozen species of freshwater fish the hatchery is attempting to save.

I found it impossible to capture the many ponds where the hatchery is raising the fish.

Photo courtesy of the Great Road Interpretive Center near Genoa, WI

This aerial view of the Genoa National Fish Hatchery on display at the center gives a much better view of the scope of the hatchery.

 Some of the fish they ship considerable distances.  For example, the lake sturgeon they raise here are sent to stock streams from New York to Tennessee while the Higgins' Eye Pearlymussels (isn't that a great name?) go as far south as Gainesville, Florida.

Charles Bird King, Sauk Chief Makataimeshekiakiah or Black Hawk, 1837, Public Domain

Besides its obvious mission to educate the public about aquatic wildlife, it also has an excellent exhibit regarding the Battle of Bad Axe, the final battle of the Black Hawk War fought in 1832.

Map courtesy of the Genoa National Fish Hatchery Interpretive Center

This battle, if you can call it that, occurred just south of the hatchery.  It's another tale of broken treaties that led to the wholesale slaughter of almost all Black Hawk's band.

Then it was on to La Crosse, Wisconsin, where our attention shifted from the environment and the Black Hawk War to Catholicism.  At the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we joined other visitors in a pilgrimage to the Shrine Church which was constructed in 2004.

Along the way, we stepped into the Mother of Good Counsel Chapel.

Beautiful stained glass windows on three sides of the chapel formed a semi-circle around this pyramid of lit votive candles.

Statues like this one of Saint Joseph the Workman, a tribute to the earthly carpenter father of Jesus, drew our notice as we continued to climb.

When we reached the Shrine Church, we learned that a celebration of mass was in process so we hiked up to the Stations of the Cross.

The bronze relief sculptures like this one of Pontius Pilate washing his hands after questioning Jesus were especially moving to me.

The Shrine Church of Our Lady of Guadalope

By the time we returned to the church, the service had ended and a tour guide welcomed us to join him for a closer look at its architecture and ornamentation.

That was not the only church we visited in La Crosse.  Later in the day, we stopped at the beautiful Mary of the Angels Chapel on the grounds of St. Rose Convent, the motherhouse of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.

Mary of the Angels Chapel

Since August 1, 1878, at least two sisters have maintained a 24-hour vigil here to pray for the Church, the community and the world.  This group of nuns have contributed so much to the city in the arenas of health care, social welfare and education.

The order opened St. Francis Hospital in 1883, now the Mayo Clinic Health System--Franciscan Healthcare in La Crosse.

In 1890 the sisters began St. Rose Normal School to prepare sisters to teach in elementary schools.  Today it's known as Viterbo University, a Catholic liberal arts university.

So in less than eight hours we went from being driftless in Iowa to examining the roots of Catholicism in La Crosse, all in a day's trip on The Great River Road.

We're Baaack!

We're baaack!  On The Great River Road, that is!  After a detour to the Winnebago Factory in Forest City, we rejoined the The Great River Road at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.

"Prairie of the Dog?"  That made little sense to me until I learned that early French traders named it as a tribute to Chief Alim, whose name meant Dog in the language of the area's Fox Indians.  This small town (population 5,911 at the 2010 census) was first established on the strategic triangle of land where the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers join as a trading post by French fur voyeurers who sold goods to the Fox in exchange for pelts.

One of the jewels of this pretty town is Villa Louis, the estate begun by fur trader-turned-entrepreneur Hercules Dousman in the mid-1840s and expanded by his son, H. Louis Dousman.  When Louis inherited the property upon his father's death in 1868, he dismantled the earlier home and replaced it with this Italinate mansion built to reflect the family's wealth.  He began to breed and race horses and even built a race track on the estate.  His wife Nina was an accomplished hostess who held lavish entertainments in the elegant home.  I could almost picture the lawn and dinner parties held here.

Across the Mississippi are the Effigy Mounds now maintained by the National Park Service.

These bear-shaped mounds best seen from the air march in a line along the top of the limestone ridges in Iowa just across the Mississippi from Prairie du Chien.  Created by people now known as Woodland Indians between 800 and 1,400 years ago, they were possibly religious sites or burial grounds.

To Tim and I, they appeared as gentle rises barely discernible until we looked closely.  Then you could see them take shape.

The park also has some of the most scenic overlooks of the Mississippi we've seen.

That's also true at Pikes Peak State Park just a few miles south.  There one can easily see where the Wisconsin River flows into the Mississippi.  Tim and I enjoyed the view before hiking to Bridal Veil Falls just a short distance away.

On our back to our hotel room, we took advantage of the free wine tastings at Eagles Landing in Marquette, Iowa.  We walked out the door with two bottles of Sassy Cindy's Wild Rhubarb Wine which that sort of negated the "free" come-on placard on the sidewalk, but it was delicious.

So we're back on track with 350 miles to go before we reach Minneapolis, miles that will unroll, I'm sure, with many more Great River Road attractions.

 

Going Off The Road

Tim and I left the Great River Road temporarily for a detour to Forest City, Iowa where Winnebago RVs are manufactured.

Tim wanted to tour their factory and I had no choice but to come along.  Not that I'm complaining; it's pretty amazing to see how these homes on wheels are made.  Plus, Tim allowed me to plot our course to some interesting places along the way.

With our first stop being the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch, Iowa, we added another presidential library to the list of those we've already visited.

Cartoon on display at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.

I think we Americans have denigrated Hoover as the president who failed to bring the United States out of the Great Depression, but after visiting here, I have a new respect for him.

This two-room cottage is where Hoover was born.

I never knew that he was raised by his maternal aunt and uncle after his Quaker parents died.

Herbert Hoover, Age 3
Photo on display at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum

Nor did I know that after graduating from Stanford, he made a fortune as a mining engineer working for companies in Western Australia and China and later as an independent mining consultant who traveled the world until the start of World War I.

Herbert Hoover
Photo on display at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum

By 1914 with wealth more than $4 million, Hoover used his a portion of his fortune to organize an unprecedented relief effort for the hungry citizens of Belgium who were caught between the warring nations of Germany and France.  This earned him world-wide recognition as "The Great Humanitarian," notoriety that brought him to his first elected office, the presidency in 1928.  Yet, within a few short months, the global hero had become a scapegoat in his own land eventually losing his bid for re-election in 1932.

President Harry Truman with former President Herbert Hoover
Photo on display at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum

Still, when President Harry Truman invited Hoover to undertake a post-World War II global relief effort, Hoover did what he did best, rescue those ravaged by war.

Next stop, Cedar Rapids, Iowa!  There Tim accompanied me to see the loft studio of Grant Wood.

Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930 [Oil on beaver board], The Chicago Institute of Art,.

This was where the artist painted American Gothic in 1930, a painting that reminds me of my grandparents.  The farmer above is almost a dead ringer of my paternal grandfather.

Famous for wearing farmer's bib overalls, Wood lived here with his mother and often his sister as well while he created the paintings that soon linked his name with other Regionalist artists like Thomas Hart Benton and John Steuart Curry.

After seeing Wood's studio, who could resist visiting Cedar Rapids Museum of Art where the world's largest collection of Wood's paintings may be found?  Tim, that's who!  A little dose of art is enough for him, but he graciously allowed me 30 minutes to visit the museum while he sat in the car, checking his email.

Grant Wood, Young Corn, 1931 [Oil on masonite], Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

My favorite was Wood's bird's eye view of a corn field in his Young Corn painting.  The precision of the corn plants on the rolling hills vies with the puffy trees for your attention and almost overwhelms the farm family figures below.  After traveling halfway across Iowa with its miles and miles of corn fields, I could understand why Wood would choose corn for his subject.  Such fields are everywhere!

Grant Wood, The Mourner's Bench, 1921-1922 [Oak, carved and stained] Cedar Rapids  Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

His "Mourning Bench" especially caught my eye as an example of his sense of humor.  He carved the three woeful and crying children's heads for the bench while the rest was made with the help of his art students from McKinley Junior High School.  As a former middle school teacher myself, I could imagine the warm relationships he forged with his students.

The Historic Park Inn Hotel

Passing through Mason City, Iowa, we stopped at the Historic Park Inn Hotel, the last remaining hotel designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  His commission here was to build a bank, a hotel and law office in one unified building that would anchor a downtown corner in this small county-seat community.

The result is vintage Prairie School: a long, low look with an overhanging roof and his signature windows.

Windows, however, are what's missing from the ground floor of the bank he added to the east side of the structure.  That ploy gives the bank a vault-like appearance, a "strong box," indicative of the building's purpose.  The hotel reopened its doors to the public in 2011, following a 18.5 million-dollar renovation that added en suite baths to rooms where no two are alike.

Finally, the law office on the second floor is now a quiet spot for hotel guests to read or work.

Then on to the Winnebago factory tour, the main reason for this side jaunt.  There we were tempted to buy this new Class B recreational vehicle, a miniature model of the real van.  At least, its price fit our pocketbook!