WIOTA, IOWA

Why-I-Otta!!!! The sign struck me as funny as we were driving home today. It is a name of a town just outside of Council Bluffs. I won't write much about Council Bluffs, I will simply let the photo tell the story.

We left today and drove out of Nebraska. Honestly, Nebraska was a wild and wonderful kind of place with great people. It was wildly beautiful, but harsh and unyielding. Iowa strikes me as more hospitable.

Iowa is the second largest wind turbine state in the USA. We passed several pieces going down the road. There are hundreds of them.... look at how large just one spoke of the turbine is.

Here is one assembled.... HUGE.... most of them were not turning today. It was raining and supposed to storm. Perhaps they shut them off.

Speaking of storming... it was when we left town today. Here is the van and trailer loaded down. The trailer is 18 feet long. The winds were horrific. I drove for a couple hours today, and during the worst of the wind, the steering wheel was turned about 40 degrees to the right to just try to keep the van on the road... UGLY. I have a whole new respect for truckers....

And, lastly on this blog.... check out the price of PREMIUM GAS! My Caddy would be in heaven and so would my check book. Premium gas is always 20 cents cheaper or so than the regular! Go figure.... finally someone told me that it was because it is 10% ethanol out here and so it is cheaper.

Final Thoughts on Nebraska

Note the warning label on this bottle of wine..... it was one of the raffle prizes tonight at the farewell banquet.... Nebraskans do have a sense of humor.....
The people are amazingly resilient and are very, very down to earth and resourceful. Today while wandering around the fairgrounds, I ran into a group of people preparing for a Holstein cattle show. They brought them in and set up right behind our building. This was a scene that I found when I wandered into the barn. These children were so PROUD to show off their calf "Mooey". She was even in good humor with a ball cap on her head! Those cows are pretty darn tolerant too, as I saw several being washed with a POWER WASHER! I am pretty sure that my horses would never stand for that.

This is a common site along the country side. This is where they hook up the irrigation systems. Pat explained to me that the propane powers the generator to pump the water up, but once hooked up, the water actually powers the large irrigation operation. WOW... again, this shows the character of the farmers out here. I can't imagine the amount of work that must go into the growing a crop where rain is not all that common in the summer. They have to move the irrigation around, and cultivate often between the rows of crops. Ohioans have it relatively easy once the crops are planted.

Tomorrow we will head out on our way home. I have sure enjoyed this trip and have learned an awful lot about another part of our country. The windmillers were very welcoming and all were extremely helpful. I saw many of them lead around newbies and people who wandered on the scene and patiently explain how the mills work and why. I can honestly say I abandoned my purse, camera and cell phone for long periods at a time in the merchant hall and no one would dream of bothering any of it. The people are honest, hardworking, and not afraid to jump in and help one another. I sure wish more of America still shared those values.

Wrap Up

So today has been the wrap up of the trade fair. The last bits were sold and the guy that bought that beautiful windmill you saw photos of came to get it. I am now relaxing in the hotel in blessed air conditioning. Patrick and I spent about 2 hours loading up the trailer with windmills and parts to come home. He is delivering it for someone in Ohio. They brought in a front end loader bobcat to help the process. Somehow I am still tired and a little sunburned. Tonight is a banquet for the windmillers at a fancy place here in town. I am sure hoping for some prime rib after today's activities!

I did look up a wildflower guide today, but have not had time to really read it yet. I am hoping to figure out what some of the gorgeous flowers are. I know that I have seen coriopsis and various cone flowers.

I can honestly tell you too, that I have a whole new respect for the pioneers. This land here is gorgeous, but also brutal. It is HOT and the wind never ever stops. The storms are horrific, and I am told that the winters are too. I am not sure how they made it.

More later....

another

sorry this is sideways... I don't know how to turn it!

Views of Roger Bailey's Ranch

I just wanted a chance to share a little view....listen to the wind!

Paradise FOUND

So today was another day at the trade fair. It was VERY windy..downright GUSTY, really, but stayed somewhat cool out. The high was supposed to be 88 degrees, but I am sure it never got that warm. That is a blessing. I am not sure that I wanted another sun burn.
The best part of the day was going to visit Roger Bailey's ranch. I am not sure what else to call it. He lives outside of McCool, NE and has made a fortune as a bee keeper. He ships his bees all over the western part of the United States. He is also a HUGE windmiller..... I counted over 35 on his place. They are simply everywhere. (Side note: In order to get there, we had to drive outside McCool, like I mentioned. The roads in Nebraska and Iowa all are dirt, believe it or not. The main highways are not, but all of the country roads are. It seemed odd....)

Isn't this about the most beautiful thing you have ever seen? I am just amazed by the beauty of our country. I am sure that there are many more, but somehow this rural solitude has always spoken to me. From what I understand, Mr. Bailey has tried hard to maintain the feel of historic prairie on his property.





He lives up on a hill, and the view is spectacular! I just about lost my jaw. When we first arrived a bus was there to truck us up a hill and to his home. He has installed a PIPE ORGAN in his house! He had a gentleman there to play a recital and then we were free to wander and explore his place. He had a neat view, as I mentioned. I was blown away almost literally by the wind. He has a 20 foot windmill installed at his pond that pumps water from a well into the pond. It was pretty cool to see how the windmills were really supposed to work! WOW.

Dinner was a low key affair... it was in his airplane hanger. He flew them out somewhere else so he could fit all 300 of us in.... again.... wow.

Maybe I should get into bees?!

gear box running

Here is a better shot of the gear box running that I promised you. It really is very cool to watch go. It pumps once per revolution of the wheel.

You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream for ICE CREAM!

The day ended with ice cream, as you can see Patrick and Joan enjoying under an old Dempster windmill..... but I am getting ahead of myself.....

Where to begin? What a day! We started about 7 AM this morning for breakfast at the hotel and then headed up to the fair grounds. The place was hopping early! There were windmillers from all over the place. I saw many from as far as Texas, Alberta Canada, and Alabama. These people are serious! I think that Patrick sold two more windmills just like the ones I pictured in the last blog.
I spent a good part of the day in and out between the table inside and the wagon out. I was just trying to be an go-for and an extra body to allow for Patrick and Joan to do what they wanted or needed. The people are super friendly and many have teased me about being a newbie along.

This is a gorgeous shot of the prairie. It is just fantastic. I love that the sides of the roads are left mostly unmowed, so the natural prairie grasses are allowed to grow.

At the end of a LONG LONG day, we went to have dinner and then to an old fashioned ice cream social. They had this wonderful old engine to crank the ice cream. Wow, it was so good! I asked what was in it, and they shared that it had WHOLE MILK, HEAVY CREAM and HALF AND HALF! No wonder it was fantastic!

York has done a wonderful job on making everyone feel welcome. What a fantastic place to visit. Tomorrow I will add the video and explain about the operation of the windmills and irrigation in Nebraska.

The Arrival...

We made it safely today! It was a stormy night last night, and several huge storms came rolling through Des Moines. We were very grateful that it quit by the time we were ready to go. There were a few sprinkles, but by afternoon, it was beautiful.

We finished the trip in Iowa and hit Nebraska about 11 AM. I was surprised to see how Iowa's topography changed again. It really reminded me greatly of Pennsylvania, or parts of Virginia. There were more areas that had the 'terraced' fields. They were not really terraced, but the farmer would build a huge mound of dirt and then leave it wedged up to stop the erosion of the water as it runs down. I have some photos and I am hoping you can see it. We also got to see the birthplace of the great John Wayne! Another surprise is how many DIRT roads there are! We will be driving along the highway and see what looks like smoke and realize that it is dust from the cars zooming by on the gravel/dirt roads that are off to the side. Amazing. I wonder how they are in the winter?

Anther really interesting thing that we saw were DOZENS of huge wind turbines! They were all over the place! Adair (I believe) had 36 that I counted. They really seem to be ahead of the curve in using them out west!

The trade fair starts tomorrow, but we went and set it up today. Patrick set up one of his Baker windmills. That is the movie I embedded above. It sure attracted a large crowd when he let it run! Take a look closely and you can see the gears moving behind the windmill 'sails' and you can see how it pumps. This windmill is a rare edition from 1912, and it has an open top so you can see those gears. Usually they are covered by a 'helmet' and you can not see them working. Everyone really loved to see it! There are all sorts of folks there, and all sorts of parts and whatnot as you would imagine. Some of it is really pretty cruddy looking. But then again, what do I know?

The TREES of Iowa

One thing that I did not really mention much last night was how different the TREES are here in Iowa! As mentioned, they seem to be deliberately planted in some areas and non existent in others. I am not sure if that is because they were cut down for farming or not. There are HUGE HUGE pines planted around the farm houses as windbreaks. The tops of them are all ragged and wispy with missing branches. There are many other trees that I had no idea what they were. I have spent a few minutes on a tree identification site, and have learned a little. We are seeing aspens, quaking pines, walnut, box elder and something called butternut (white walnut). It is very interesting to see the differences! It is safe to say, I have NOT seen a single Maple tree here, but read that they do exist.

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/pages/tree/

"Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa." - Ray Kensella

We made it safely a little over half the distance to our final destination of Nebraska. We left this morning around 7:15 and made good time through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. We took Route 30 to I 80 and had very little construction. I was surprised to see how agricultural it really is out this direction.

I got my turn driving the 'rig'... boy it was long. I was proud to say I only hit ONE curb as we went to eat lunch at McDonalds!

We continued on our way, and I finally saw the Mississippi! WOW.. it sure is big! I was amazed at how wide it really was, and honestly, according to the map, we did not cross at a particularly wide part. There was a pretty neat little welcome area right across the river into Iowa on I 80, so we stopped. They had an observation area where you could look outside and across. Very nice.

Once into Iowa, I was surprised at the change of topography. Some areas were perfectly flat and you could see forever. There were very few trees and large HUGE fields of corn planted. Other areas were much more rolling and hilly. It was actually hilly enough that they had wise swaths of grasses planted strategically in the fields to help prevent erosion. There were other areas where the crops were planted in contours as to help erosion. That was different to see other than our typical Ohio farm fields. Most of what we saw was no till as well. Trees were hit and miss. In some areas they seemed to be deliberately planted. There were large groves of wispy poplar trees too.

Dinner was at a great place called Village Inn... I ate way too much. The best part was this huge piece of pie that was French Silk on the top and caramel pecan on the bottom.. oh Lord! I think that I will have a salad tomorrow!

Tomorrow brings an early start to make the final leg of our trip. We anticipate making it to York before lunch time. The trade fair does not start until Wednesday, but I guess that some set up can be done early.

more questions

So David and I were driving today and he was asking me questions about Nebraska... many I had no idea the answer to... so here they are.....

The capital of Nebraska is Lincoln (I got that one right) with a population of around 250,000 people. So it is somewhat the size of Toledo.

The largest city in Nebraska is Omaha. It has around 450,000 people there.

Yes, there ARE microbreweries in Nebraska, but don't count on me finding one in York! Perhaps a grocery store or something will have some to bring back home. And, yes, you can buy some in gas stations even. It seems that they don't have any weird alcohol laws. I read that there is a Walmart, Burger King, Starbucks and Applebees. Perhaps small towns in the middle of nowhere manage more business?

Fast facts....

Today I spent a few minutes looking at trivia about Nebraska. I found many, many facts, but culled them down to the ones that interested me. They are odd, fascinating and somewhat arbitrarily picked. I am somewhat disappointed that Chimney Rock is nowhere near where we will be.....

• Nebraska was once called "The Great American Desert".
• In 1927, Edwin E. Perkins of Hastings invented the powered soft drink Kool-Aid.
• The Naval Ammunition Depot located in Hastings was the largest U.S. ammunition plant providing 40% of WWII's ammunition.
• Nebraska is the birthplace of the Reuben sandwich.
• Spam (canned meat) is produced in Fremont.
• Nebraska has more miles of river than any other state.
• The Union Pacific's Bailey Yards, in North Platte, is the largest rail classification complex in the world.
• Nebraska's Chimney rock was the most often mentioned landmark in journal entries by travelers on the Oregon Trail.
• Marlon Brando's mother gave Henry Fonda acting lessons at the Omaha Community Playhouse.
• Father Edward Flanagan founded Boys Town in Omaha, Nebraska in 1917.

History

I have never traveled west of Chicago. I have never seen the Mississippi and I would love to see more of this wonderful country that we live in. Patrick and Joan, my wonderful in-laws graciously invited me to travel along with them to York, Nebraska this summer. They are going to a windmill trade fair, as Patrick builds and restores windmills with his business Second Wind. David is somewhat perplexed, as he wonders WHY I want to go to NEBRASKA with his PARENTS.... but hey, that is why we love each other... we have our differences!

So, I really know very little about Nebraska. I have been told it is FLAT, and you can see forever. I know that there are prairie dogs, and that farming is king. I am not so sure about anything else. Being the curious soul that I am, I a starting to research a little bit about this state. Nebraska was part of the Louisiana Territory purchased from France in 1812, and the Kansas-Nebraska Territory was formed in 1854 that separated the two territories, and then finally Nebraska became a state in 1867. I found some great websites that has given me some information about York County, Nebraska, and I am shamelessly taking info. from there to share.

"Nebraska" comes from an Oto Indian word meaning "flat water," referring to the Platte River. York County is south of the Platte River and is drained by the Big Blue River, Beaver Creek, Lincoln Creek, and Coon Creek. Early settlers hauled water from natural springs, dug wells by hand, or dug ditches to water their crops. Windmills were vital to pumping water for crops, livestock, and household use in the 1920s. Today's farmers use windmills mostly to pump water for livestock. Irrigation wells are pumped with diesel or electric motors.

Windmills are symbols of the Great Plains and have been used for generations to pump underground water to the surface for irrigating crops, watering livestock, and providing a reliable source of water for laundry, and kitchen use. Nebraska was home to several windmill builders, including the Climax Windmill Factory in Falls City, Charles Dempster Windmills in Beatrice, and the Fairbury Windmill Company in Fairbury.

I was very interested to learn that it was right by the Oregon Trail! WOW!

The City of York was founded in 1869 by the South Platte Land Company, and was named after York, England, and York, Pennsylvania. The city grew as the county seat and farm trading center, and was incorporated in 1875. Since the turn of the 20th century, York's population has gradually increased from 5,132 to more than 8,000.

Located on the "Nebraska City Cut-off" of the famous Oregon Trail, York was a stopping place for many early-day travelers. By 1872, the town was flourishing with commerce. The Burlington Railroad built a line to York in 1877. In 1882, the York Foundry was started. The York Public Library was established by the Women's Club in 1885, and York College was founded in 1890.

York is a major crossroads -- U.S. Highway 81 and Interstate 80 run border to border across the state and meet in York. U.S. Highway 81 is the Pan American Highway and is being upgraded to a four-lane, divided expressway which reflects its continued north-south importance. Additionally, the Burlington Northern Railroad mainline traverses the City of York.

Now that I have educated you and myself via Google about windmills, and York, Nebraska, a little more on where we are going and what is happening. As mentioned,

If you would like to see the websites I have visited, please check out:

http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/index.html

and for a great PDF of the trade fair:

http://www.doublelwindmills.com/TriFoldBrochuresm.pdf