A long drive to Iowa to meet up with Rich Tyler, a friend and ex-colleague of Philip’s. This involved a 500-mile journey across the plains, through true prairie initially, then farms with increasingly large fields of corn and soya, as well as cattle. When Philip visited Iowa about 25 years ago, it was famed for its hog (pig) farming. There were no pigs to be seen this time, but towards the end of the day, we noticed some large sheds that looked (and smelled) as though they may house pigs. It later transpired later that pigs are kept inside for their entire lives – it seems that animal rights issues don’t count for much here!
We visited an excellent tourist information site just inside Iowa, which not only provided a range of facilities which other states would do well to emulate, but was also imaginatively designed with attractively decorated buildings in a beautiful setting. From there, we learned of the persecution of members of the early Mormon Church in Illinois and their trek acroiss Iowa, South Dakota and Wyoming, into what is now Utah, where they founded Salt Lake City.
After a little problem of following minor local roads in the dark, in the rural area southeast of Iowa City, we arrived at Rich’s smallholding.
Friday 6th November
The morning revealed the focus of Rich’s energy (other than his academic post). The Secrest 1883 Octagonal Barn, which sits on his property, is a magnificent, huge structure of three floors (www.barnalliance.org/IowaRoundBarns.pdf). Rich has been stabilising and conserving it for about the last decade, with the help of State funds and a large body of volunteers. It is a great testament to his dedication, energy and organisational ability.
In the area around nearby Kalouna, Amish and Mennonite communities live alongside other so-called “English” locals. Both communities are descended from protestant groups from Germany and Switzerland who disagreed with some Lutheran principles and followed a strict interpretation of the Bible. They emigrated to the US to lead a simple communal rural life without most modern facilities, appliances and farming equipment, particularly anything operated by electricity or petrol. Along with a policy of communal inter-dependence, their highly-ordered lives are governed by pacifist principles and a rejection of anything hinting at militarism. It is claimed that their numbers are increasing and that there are now about 200,000 adherents living in numerous areas across the States. However there are different “orders” or subgroups in each group and individuals sometimes move between the subgroups and even between the main Amish and Mennonite groups, depending on their personal beliefs. Some of the farms appeared to be mechanised to a greater or lesser extent, but others clearly operated on horse power. Several people were travelling around the roads in distinctive covered horse-drawn buggies.
Parking at the Amish store
We visited two stores which reminded us of general country stores in New Zealand in our childhoods and were staffed by women in long dresses (fastened by hooks and eyes, rather than buttons, which are thought to be too militaristic) and bonnets. They stocked a wide but quaint selection of general goods and food which was aimed mostly at the Amish and Mennonite communities, but they were also patronised by other local people of neither group. Both stores had refrigerators which were run on gas, but there were electric lights in at least one of them. Items produced by Amish women, particularly quilts, jams and baked goods, were also available in other local, non-Amish stores.
Driving round the dusty roads in the area, we had mixed feelings. On the one hand, it seemed rather like driving in a safari park to see exotic animals, or visiting a freak show. On the other, we wondered whether the Amish and Mennonite communities maintained their quaint customs and appearances partly to attract tourists (and, hence, to sell their products) and, therefore, whether we were the ones being exploited.
We drove north to Cedar Rapids to look at houses damaged by the severe floods in 2008. The damage was extraordinarily widespread. Hundreds of homes remain abandoned, creating ghost towns, after the Iowa River overflowed the levees and water flooded the low-lying areas in the town to upper-floor level. The locals are resentful that their plight received less publicity than New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, but it was good to see that some element of humour remained.
The pavements of the business area of Cedar Rapids were also eerily empty, largely because most people go from building to building using elevated 'skywalks', built largely to facilitate movement in times of heavy snowfall. In a curiously old-fashioned way (which we have seen in several US towns), railway tracks still intersect or run along city streets. We saw the extraordinary sight of cars gridlocked for 30 minutes at peak traffic time when a long freight train went through the city centre, stopped, then reversed!
In the evening, we met Rich and his daughter at the opening of an art gallery belonging to Michael Harker, a renowned photographer friend of Rich's. Subsequently we ate in a restaurant outside the city, where the excellent food (in the usual huge portions) was followed by an hour of good live jazz in the bar.
Saturday 7th November
The nearby village of West Branch is the birthplace of Herbert Hoover. His childhood home and several other buildings from the time are set in a very extensive and attractive park, together with his Presidential Library and an excellent museum. He came from a Quaker family and trained as a geologist. He had a very successful early career with mining companies in Australia and China, and established his own engineering consultancy firm in London, shortly before the first world war.
At the American Government’s request, he helped American citizens return to the US from Europe at the outbreak of hostilities and stayed on to run a relief commission to assist displaced, destitute and starving refugees in Europe and elsewhere. After the war, he worked for the US administration at home, then rose quickly to political prominence and became US President in 1929. He had mixed political fortunes, introducing reforms in many areas, but he was portrayed by some as the architect of the depression in the 1930s.
After a visit to the attractive Old Capitol building in Iowa City and a pleasant cycle ride along a disused railway line through farmland near West Branch, we rounded off the day with a soak in Rich’s hot tub. An evening at a lively (and loud) steak & beer house with live C&W music, with Rich’s friends, was followed by a further late night soak in the hot tub. We could easily get used to this!
Sunday 8th November
The Secrest 1883 octagonal barn is big and beautiful: 25 metres high, with 3 floors and a cupola, a diameter of about 24 metres and an attached rectangular side barn about 20 metres long. It could hold about 300 tons of hay in the loft, for horses and cattle on the ground floor and it has several ingenious mechanical systems for handling the process of storing and distributing the hay, and other farm procedures. Rich has put a huge amount of work into the stabilisation and restoration of the barn, and a collection of related artefacts and farm equipment, but a lot more needs to be done. After climbing to the cupola via a suspended ladder, for a magnificent view of the surrounding countryside, and helping with a couple of minor jobs on the farm, we departed for the start of drive south in the early afternoon.
A snail's-eye view up to the cupola of the barn
After crossing into Illinois at Burlington, we came across an imposing mansion with large pillars and a sweeping drive, in the manner of a European grand country house, advertising B&B. It turned out to be something of a folly built by a previous owner, who added the facade to an otherwise ordinary house, just to make an impression. B&B establishments are exceptionally rare in the areas of the US we have been travelling through.. Even the stereotypical US motel with 5-10 units has largely disappeared, remaining only occasionally in very small rural towns. Bed and breakfast accommodation is now provided almost entirely by chains of cheap hotels, all virtually identical apart from different colour schemes, but all providing good basic accommodation and a basic but adequate buffet breakfast with polystyrene plates and bowls and plastic cutlery, creating a staggering amount of waste.
Crossing the Mississippi River to find a restaurant in the evening, we had to wait for about 30 minutes on a swing-span bridge at Fort Madison, to allow a barge “train”, about 300 metres long, to pass upriver. It is reputed to be the largest swing-span bridge in the USA, though we have encountered so many superlatives through the US that they must all be accepted with caution. With many barges passing along the river, the bridge creates a significant bottleneck not only to road traffic, but also to the 70+ trains passing through Fort Madison each day.
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