Sunday October 5th. The day dawned bright and sunny and stayed that way almost all day. We drove north on I 29 all the way to Sioux City on the Missouri River. This is about 95 miles. From there we took the Loess Byway all the way back along the spine of the Hills. GAs in Sioux City was $2.89/gallon (sic) .
Before we arrived we did make one stop to see a replica of the Keelboat that Lewis and Clark used on their "Journey of Discovery"across the USA in 1803. A fun and short stop.
The keelboat reached Fort Mandan for the men in the winter of '03, and it held 2 1/2 tons of equipment and supplies. It is about 60 feet long and12 feet across and has many storage compartment. In the rear are the sleeping quarters if needed. The men used sail (seldom), oars (some) and a towline (most of the time) when 30 men would pull it walking along the river banks. This model had just beenbrought out of the water at Lewis and Clark DSatte Park near Owana, IA
But back to Sioux City, the home of the song "Sioux City Sue" ("swap my horse and dog for you") which was published in 1945 and a year later the movie with the same name came out starring Gene Autry the "Singing Cowboy". They play the song all day long at the City Hall visitor center and I'll bet it drives them insane by the end of each day. We, however, did visit a different visitor center on a riverboat that was placed there after many years of service.
This is the boat "Charles Floyd", named after the only man to die on the trip west of Lewis and Clark
It is a Visitor Center at this time. Having served on the MIssouri River since the 1930's it was decommissioned and did a "farewell tour" when 350,000 people visited her up and down the Missouri River. It is a museum as well and all her paraphenalia are intact (engines, crew quarters, etc). A must see stop if you are in the area.
Then we headed for the Loess Byway which runs along the spine of the Loess dunes for more than 100 miles. It winds around the farmland, through tiny villages, and past many silos and barns, and for a ways it skirts the the eastern edge of the Missouri Valley (the flatland formed by the floodplain over centuries.) This was flooded heavily in 2011 and some areas are still recovering with new infrastructure being built.
Coming down off the Loess hills, on I-80, into the Missouri Valley, NE of Omaha NE.
The Missouri River is on the far side where the tree line is seen.
A verygoo question! "What are the Loess Hills' and why are they so important? A couple of things have contributed to that, But let me add a few statements from the data.
A good look at one of the Loess hills with a cliff that is quite intact. Because the soil came from glacial blow deposited after the glaciers and the westwind blew for millenia to create this, the shape of the grains of sand forms a network of tight soil that does not erode easily. This is one reason why they have lasted so long (Since just after the ice ages). This view is just below the ridgeline of the hills. The soil is also excellent in nutrients where it is tillable providing a good soil for crops. In some places it is 60 feet thick and more and stretches away form the hills some distance.
The road winds and twists, around hills and through the continued corn and bean fields. In one place the corn was planted so steep on the hill that I did not know how the driver of the machines could have kept from tipping over. They use every available space to plant crops. You may be aware that the bean crops (called 'pulse crops') are filled with nitrogen and return the same to the soil .So they make a great rotation crop with corn and other grains alternating other years.
We continued on the main road until we ran into a stoppage at a bridge that was out and in repair. There were no warning so we had to back track like a few others there. A decision as to how to do this as we were in"uncharted road territory". A guy in a red MG convertible didn't want to take the gravel roads so he headed out on the pavement. I took the first road possible (gravel) ("Hey, I'm driving a Toyota Tundra") and was about to turn when a stake truck was turning the same way. I stoped the driver and asked him is this road would take us around the bridge. He said yes, he was going there, so just follow it to the "back door of Pisgah" (his words, not mine) That was the next town beyond the bridge. I started out ahead of him and at a "Y" in the road went left and looked in the rear view mirror and saw the truck going through the intersection. I turned around and followed him which eventually did lead to Pisgah and around the bridge. There were three places where other roads were blocked from the 2011 floods which added to the mystery of the afternoon.
We did continue on our way with one other stoppage, but enjoyed the difference in the shape of the hills and the way they have grown over all these years. In years past the fires kept the trees at a minimum but since man has moved in, the trees have filled in the empty spots quite thoroughly and we have controlled the fires.
One of the stoppages on the Loess Byway. Fortunately after a stoplight, we could go on green.
It was a fine day and we ended it with a treat at the "Corn Crib" restaurant where "Grandma's Chicken dinner" was the fare of the day. (It was Siunday , right?) We both had the chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy, a veggie, biscuit, and drink for $6.99 .The meat was hot, tender and juicy! we bought an ice cream treat at the DQ, and Ruth stored hers in the freezer, I ate mine.
Tomorrow's move to Waukee IA, will be a short one as will be the trip (90 miles).
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