Western USA 2003
Rock Creek Park, Iowa to Ash Hollow, Nebraska
Slept 11+ hours last night woke feeling groggy and stiff. Had a quick breakfast of raw egg yolks and oats and milk then took a 30 min walk near the lake through the woods, it was a beautiful morning and passed horse riders along the way.
Detoured off I-80 to Winterset in Madison County, home of the famous bridges and also birthplace of John Wayne. Winterset is a beautiful town one of the most scenic of the town-square types I have ever seen, it has been the set for a number of movies.
--John Wayne Birthplace, Winterset Iowa.
Headed out of town on Route 92 west and stopped by a police officer for speeding 66 in a 55. He was concerned about my appearance red eyed and slurred speech even though I actually felt very good but tired he thought I was on drugs and made me get out of the truck and searched inside for a few minutes, standing up cleared my head and his suspicions. I later found out there is a big rural drug problem in Iowa and also of people burning the covered bridges. He gave me a warning.
--Yahoo Group for "Bridgies", graffiti on Roseman Bridge
Visited the Roseman bridge and met 3 middle-aged ladies there who were doing the Madison County bridge auto-tour and took a picture for them in front of the bridge, they were from Texas, California and Japan. There was graffiti all over the bridge and I found out in the book Roseman Bridge is where a love note was left, people come from around the world to see the place, "bridgies" they are called leave their own love notes painted on the bridge. The fictional story revolves around an out of town photographer, and there I was from out of town taking photos at Roseman Bridge reading the love note graffiti.
Once in Nebraska and past Lincoln the country really opens up and feels like frontier the people per square mile goes way down. Stopped at Cabelas Outdoor store and bought a large tent and stove. The tent was never used and I plan to re-sell it. Fish and Chips for lunch, not many seafood options out here.
Make camp in the parking lot of Windlass Hill on the Oregon Trail at Ash Hollow State Park, Nebraska sometime after dark. Set up chair and table for the first time and eat a Subway sandwich for dinner. Very windy but cool, not many bugs, look forward to seeing the park with daylight.
--From the top of Windlass Hill on the Oregon Trail looking down at parking lot campsite. This was all I could see at night, click the picture to see the mornings view.
