American Discovery Trail - Across Iowa

[Dave]

17 days and ~440 miles later, I've made it across Iowa! I wasn't entirely loyal to the ADT, as flooding on the Mississippi wiped out the first stage, and I wanted a more direct, westward route over the last few stages, but otherwise I was satisfied with the time here. Admittedly, it's a lot of corn. A lot of corn. And soybeans, too. But there are a lot of great towns along the way, including some really well preserved Main Street communities. There were even some hills as I made it further west!

I can't necessarily recommend Iowa for walking. But Iowa is a great place for biking, and it's clear that folks in the state love their cycling routes. I was present for the annual multi-day Iowa biking event, RAGBRAI, but even on the rail trails I was struck by how many people were out riding every day, often in groups. This was particularly true around the cities (the ADT goes through Cedar Rapids and Des Moines), but there are paved, well maintained tracks all over the state.

Here are my daily write-ups of my walks in Iowa:

• July 17, 2024 - East Moline, IL to Davenport, IA
• July 18, 2024 - Davenport to Walcott, IA
• July 19, 2024 - Walcott to West Branch, IA
• July 20-21, 2024 - West Branch to Cedar Rapids, IA
• July 22-23, 2024 - Cedar Rapids to Cedar Falls, IA
• July 24, 2024 - Cedar Falls to Grundy Center, IA
• July 25, 2024 - Grundy Center to Marshalltown, IA
• July 26, 2024 - Marshalltown to after Maxwell, IA
• July 27-28, 2024 - After Maxwell to Des Moines, IA
• July 30, 2024 - Des Moines to Stuart, IA
• July 31 - August 1, 2024 - Stuart to Atlantic, IA
• August 2-3, 2024 - Atlantic, IA to Omaha, NE

I'm now roughly 20 miles into Nebraska. This was supposed to be a day off, but the power has been out in many parts of Omaha for five days now following a devastating windstorm, including at the place I rented a room. It was cooler to walk in 90+ degree weather today than spend another night in that room!

Photos from each day of the walk can be seen on my Instagram.

Dave

 

[PilgrimLiving]

Thanks for the updates, Dave. I thought about you a few times while we were on the Portuguese. I appreciate your approach to all things Camino. You continue to inspire us.

 

[roving_rufus]

I lived in Iowa for a while- not the first place I would walk across...and all that corn! But coming from Ireland I did love the feeling of wide horizons. Ultreia!

 

[StillKicking]

17 days and ~440 miles later, I've made it across Iowa! I wasn't entirely loyal to the ADT, as flooding on the Mississippi wiped out the first stage, and I wanted a more direct, westward route over the last few stages, but otherwise I was satisfied with the time here. Admittedly, it's a lot of corn. A lot of corn. And soybeans, too. But there are a lot of great towns along the way, including some really well preserved Main Street communities. There were even some hills as I made it further west!

I can't necessarily recommend Iowa for walking. But Iowa is a great place for biking, and it's clear that folks in the state love their cycling routes. I was present for the annual multi-day Iowa biking event, RAGBRAI, but even on the rail trails I was struck by how many people were out riding every day, often in groups. This was particularly true around the cities (the ADT goes through Cedar Rapids and Des Moines), but there are paved, well maintained tracks all over the state.

Here are my daily write-ups of my walks in Iowa:

• July 17, 2024 - East Moline, IL to Davenport, IA
• July 18, 2024 - Davenport to Walcott, IA
• July 19, 2024 - Walcott to West Branch, IA
• July 20-21, 2024 - West Branch to Cedar Rapids, IA
• July 22-23, 2024 - Cedar Rapids to Cedar Falls, IA
• July 24, 2024 - Cedar Falls to Grundy Center, IA
• July 25, 2024 - Grundy Center to Marshalltown, IA
• July 26, 2024 - Marshalltown to after Maxwell, IA
• July 27-28, 2024 - After Maxwell to Des Moines, IA
• July 30, 2024 - Des Moines to Stuart, IA
• July 31 - August 1, 2024 - Stuart to Atlantic, IA
• August 2-3, 2024 - Atlantic, IA to Omaha, NE

I'm now roughly 20 miles into Nebraska. This was supposed to be a day off, but the power has been out in many parts of Omaha for five days now following a devastating windstorm, including at the place I rented a room. It was cooler to walk in 90+ degree weather today than spend another night in that room!

Photos from each day of the walk can be seen on my Instagram.

Dave

That's pretty hard core! I've biked Ragbrai several times over the years, love it. Pretty tough time of year to hike Iowa, Hope you enjoyed some fresh sweet corn! Yes, love the small town feel in the Midwest, that's why I still live here, only minutes from where you started. Flooding has been bad this year due to a series of really bad storms the past month or two.

 

[Dave]

That's pretty hard core! I've biked Ragbrai several times over the years, love it. Pretty tough time of year to hike Iowa, Hope you enjoyed some fresh sweet corn! Yes, love the small town feel in the Midwest, that's why I still live here, only minutes from where you started. Flooding has been bad this year due to a series of really bad storms the past month or two.

Yeah, I've been lucky to be in hotels on a couple nights when really nasty storms blew through. Had a tornado warning just before Davenport, on the night the Mississippi flooded, and then I was in Adair and received a severe thunderstorm warning the night Omaha got blasted. Very exciting weather out here.

 

[ChrisAP]

17 days and ~440 miles later, I've made it across Iowa! I wasn't entirely loyal to the ADT, as flooding on the Mississippi wiped out the first stage, and I wanted a more direct, westward route over the last few stages, but otherwise I was satisfied with the time here. Admittedly, it's a lot of corn. A lot of corn. And soybeans, too. But there are a lot of great towns along the way, including some really well preserved Main Street communities. There were even some hills as I made it further west!

I can't necessarily recommend Iowa for walking. But Iowa is a great place for biking, and it's clear that folks in the state love their cycling routes. I was present for the annual multi-day Iowa biking event, RAGBRAI, but even on the rail trails I was struck by how many people were out riding every day, often in groups. This was particularly true around the cities (the ADT goes through Cedar Rapids and Des Moines), but there are paved, well maintained tracks all over the state.

Here are my daily write-ups of my walks in Iowa:

• July 17, 2024 - East Moline, IL to Davenport, IA
• July 18, 2024 - Davenport to Walcott, IA
• July 19, 2024 - Walcott to West Branch, IA
• July 20-21, 2024 - West Branch to Cedar Rapids, IA
• July 22-23, 2024 - Cedar Rapids to Cedar Falls, IA
• July 24, 2024 - Cedar Falls to Grundy Center, IA
• July 25, 2024 - Grundy Center to Marshalltown, IA
• July 26, 2024 - Marshalltown to after Maxwell, IA
• July 27-28, 2024 - After Maxwell to Des Moines, IA
• July 30, 2024 - Des Moines to Stuart, IA
• July 31 - August 1, 2024 - Stuart to Atlantic, IA
• August 2-3, 2024 - Atlantic, IA to Omaha, NE

I'm now roughly 20 miles into Nebraska. This was supposed to be a day off, but the power has been out in many parts of Omaha for five days now following a devastating windstorm, including at the place I rented a room. It was cooler to walk in 90+ degree weather today than spend another night in that room!

Photos from each day of the walk can be seen on my Instagram.

Dave

Thanks so much for your well-written and thought-ful posts/blogs about your ADT walk across Iowa, starting from Illinois! Having grown up in Moline, I especially enjoyed reading about John Deere, and was saddened to learn about how they had caved under political pressure. My mother actually started to work for them ~ 1945, and at that time, women that worked for them could not be married. Then that changed in ~ '46/47....but then women could not work for them and be pregnant....then that changed in ~'50! I actually worked for them briefly in the early 2000's, and the company was very cognizant about equality at that time. And on another note, it is too bad you could not walk along the Great River Road....that is really a lovely place to walk and also bike.

 

[ChrisAP]

Thanks so much for your well-written and thought-ful posts/blogs about your ADT walk across Iowa, starting from Illinois! Having grown up in Moline, I especially enjoyed reading about John Deere, and was saddened to learn about how they had caved under political pressure. My mother actually started to work for them ~ 1945, and at that time, women that worked for them could not be married. Then that changed in ~ '46/47....but then women could not work for them and be pregnant....then that changed in ~'50! I actually worked for them briefly in the early 2000's, and the company was very cognizant about equality at that time. And on another note, it is too bad you could not walk along the Great River Road....that is really a lovely place to walk and also bike. But the Mighty Mississippi River is a force!