The West Tour
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Day 4: June 22, 2017 The West Tour Comment via blog |
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I once again got on the bus without taking a picture then snapped the
first one in a mirror. This time it was of author and historian Jim
Ranniger who occasionally shared some childhood stories with us.
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The bus followed the original 1913 alignment through towns like Arion and
Dow City. My previous Lincoln Highway drives here were on later alignments
so these were new to me and I started thinking a little more strongly
about beginning my drive home at Iowa's western edge and seeing these
towns from a lower point of view.
Even though our first stop was along what is now US-30 and is something I've certainly driven by, actually visiting was new to me. The Harrison County Historical Village & Welcome Center has a sizable museum, great views, several restored buildings, walking paths, a gift shop, and other attractions. I found my failure to stop here in the past hard to believe. |
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Our next stop was one I had made before. It was a 3-in-1 in Council Bluffs
bluff that included two museums and lunch. The sequence was optional. I
started at the rotary jail which I visited in
2014.
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I then did a fairly quick walk through of the
Union Pacific
Railroad Museum which I also visited in
2014.
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Then it was off to enjoy the provided box lunch in nearby Bayliss Park
which I did not visit in 2014 or any other time. Those first three photos
may look overly similar but they are included to show the water columns,
the lovely domed shelter next to the fountain, and the oversized squirrels
frolicking around it. Apparently some of the metal rodents occasionally
frolic just a little too much as I spotted a smallish one
doing a timeout in the rotary jail.
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The tour crossed over into Nebraska for a bit and I took one picture from
inside. The feature prompted this rare through the windshield shot was the
long stretch of brick pavement at Elkhorn, Nebraska.
This shot from inside the bus is not the only way today's tour differs from yesterday's. Today we got lost at one point and our bus relinquished its lead position to follow the other bus back to the proper route. At the Harrison County Welcome center the chair lift on that bus failed while lowered and was temporarily left behind while we drove on. There were plans for our bus to return to pick up the passengers and bring them to the lunch stop to await a replacement but some of the LHA's more mechanically adept members got the lift retracted so that was not necessary. |
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Dinner was back at the fairgrounds but this time it was accompanied by a
rather nice little car show. There were even some doorless vehicles on
display.
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The meal's centerpiece was one of the best breaded pork tenderloins I've
ever had. This being Iowa, that's certainly not surprising. I suppose it's
only slightly less surprising that I got into gobbling so fast that I
didn't get a picture of my sandwich. I also missed out on another photo
op. As I went through the food line, I learned that the fresh tenderloins
were being breaded just outside the building. I headed to the spot as soon
as I was done eating only to find things being cleaned up after the final
batch was breaded. I had to settle for a shot of one of the last of that
batch going into the fryer.
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