A year with my sister, a lesson in survival, sanity and/or stupidity: Big Men and Bridges

Hermann the German

Before leaving New Ulm we stocked up on our new favourite brew – Schell’s Firebrick. Took in a couple more of the tourist sites in New Ulm, the largest being a 102’ statue of Hermann the German (his ambush of the Romans way back when being credited with the halt of the Roman expansion into Europe) then headed south to Blue Earth then east to Harmony.

Drove through Winnebago on our way to Blue Earth – felt just a tad nervous driving through a town called Winnebago in a Rockwood RV.

No lightning bolts came down to smite us so we continued on to Blue Earth, stopping for lunch by the Jolly Green Giant. Apart from a cold wind blowing it was a lovely spot. The Jolly Green Giant is a 55’ tall mascot for the Green Giant canned and frozen vegetable company. Something about big men in our travels today …

Jolly Green Giant from our
lunch table

Didn’t quite make it to Harmony. We pulled into an RV park in Lanesboro with the intention of unhitching the RV and driving up the road to a museum. As we were setting up one of our new neighbours came over and introduced herself to us (Hi Karen!) so, instead of going to yet another museum, we chatted with some new friends over a beer. A much better option I thought.

Sue assisting Jean with her Ice Challenge
- apparently Sue was tipping the icy
water too slowly for Jean's liking

Next day had us call in at the museum in Harmony. Sadly it was closed for the day as the owner’s wife was ill and he was looking after her. That gave us more time to get to our overnight destination of Walmart in Waterloo and for Jean to prepare for her Ice Challenge. For those not familiar with the challenge, people get nominated via social media (Facebook) by someone who has done/is about to do their own challenge. These people then have 24-48 hours to douse themselves in ice water or pay $100 to charity.

It didn't go straight onto the ground - honest!

From what I understand it was originally set up by a woman whose child has cancer and was to raise funds/awareness specifically for child cancer but these things have a way of evolving. I’ve seen some that are 24 hours, others 48. Some to donate to child cancer, others to a charity of choice.

Drank some Tennessee Fire to
balance out the ice

Some where you douse yourself with ice and pay $20 to charity, only paying $100 if you renege on the ice part. Either way, Jean was nominated and chose the ice water. She did well.

From Waterloo we headed to Waukee, west of Des Moines where we’re parking up for a few days to explore the surrounding area. Murphy (from Murphy’s Law) found us – we left

The train is but a blur in the middle
of this Washington DC scene

Waterloo quite early but the two Roadside America attractions we were planning on visiting weren’t open until after lunch. We weren’t planning to stick around that long so drove down to Colfax where we visited Trainland USA. For those familiar with Lilliput in Napier, Trainland is along the same lines. For those not familiar with Lilliput in Napier, Google is a wonderful tool. Just kidding,

The night time scenes looked
pretty good too

Trainland is a model train set with lots of Lionel trains going around tracks that are built around models of some of the cities and states of America. It’s very well done and worth the effort to see (Railway kids can never completely leave trains alone).

Went out again late that afternoon to visit a couple of bridges. The first, the Highest

The old and the new double track rail
bridges. I'm guessing the new
concrete bridge now shares the
claim of being the tallest.

Double-Track Rail Bridge in USA could’ve been seen any time but the second, which is in the same area, the High Trestle Trail Bridge, is best viewed at night. The bridge itself spans the Des Moines River, is 13 storeys at its highest point but best of all, has blue neon lights that make funky patterns. Quite a hike to get to it but well worth the trek and the thousands upon thousands of night time insects.

Jean on the High Trestle Trail Bridge

Sue on the High Trestle Trail Bridge

The bridge is 13 storeys high at its highest point as it crosses the Des Moines River

Our next visit in the Des Moines area was to a town named Stuart.

Stuart Water Tower
and Hotel Stuart -
the Strictly Modern under
the hotel name relates
to when indoor plumbing
was installed in the 1920's

Stuart’s claim to fame (apart from being our brother’s name – BTW Happy Birthday for the other day bro – and our mother’s maiden name) is that Bonnie & Clyde robbed the local bank back in 1934.

Would you really want this
as your claim to fame?

After visiting Stuart (and taking a dozen photos of things with the name Stuart on them) we drove past the Freedom Rock in Menlo. Every year the rock gets a new patriotic painting. The guy doing the painting is planning to paint a Freedom Rock in every one of Iowa’s 99 counties. Not a small undertaking.

Every surface on the Freedom Rock is painted

We then spent the rest of the day at Winterset. After lunching in the City Park we had a bit of fun in an English Victorian-style maze …

Hmm, do I go this way or that way?

Catch me if you can

… then a gorgeous drive through the park to Clark Tower – a 3-storey limestone crenelated tower with some great views of … trees.

Clark Tower in City Park

Saving the best until last, we then drove around Madison County, locating all the Covered Bridges of Madison County. There are 6 in all. Just have to watch the movie now.