Historic Hills Scenic Byway

October 29, 2023

After my accident, I was largely homebound, not leaving except for doctor visits, the surgery on October 18, and not much else.

Brandy decided to take me for a nice breakout day on October 29 for a drive up the Historic Hills Scenic Byway in southern Iowa.

It was a nice, cold fall day, lots of cloud cover making it a perfectly dreary day. We left the house just before 9:00, heading east through Ottumwa then turning south on highway 63. As we approached Bloomfield, we headed west again through Blakesburg and on into Lake Wapello State Park. The park was abandoned. We drove through pretty much the entire park and only saw one other car.

Lake Wapello State Park

The roads were lined with trees, many of which had already given up their foliage and were bare against the gray sky, though we did encounter plenty that still had colors to offer.

We made our way trough the park to the lake where we parked momentarily and I got out to take a few pictures.

We headed back out the way we came in, drove through Blakesburg again, then turned south on Ice Ave. We made it all the way down to highway 2 then continued east , hugging the southern border of the state.

Oops

When planning the trip, I got somewhat confused and thought the scenic byway was highway 2, but it was when we were almost in Milton that I realized we were a couple miles south of the scenic road. Once we hit Milton, we headed north then found our way back on to our intended route, Rte J40.

Much of the Historic Hills Scenic Byway follows the same path as the Mormon Pioneer Trail, which was a trail used by Mormons to flee their settlement in Nauvoo, IL to find themselves in Salt Lake City, UT. From Council Bluffs, IA to Fort Bridger, WY, the path follows the Oregon Trail and is collectively known as the Emigrant Trail, but that’s an exploration for another time.

We followed the Historic Hills Scenic Byway past farmlands and cemeteries into Keosauqua, where we diverted off into the Lacey-Keosuaqua State Park, which was several miles off the byway.

Lacey-Keosauqua State Park

Just as we saw at Lake Wapello State Park, many of the trees were bare but we still saw plenty of fall colors.

We followed the bend of the Des Moines River almost to the boundary of the park before turning around and making our way back to the byway. On our way out, we encountered this deer:

Funny thing about taking this picture, as my right arm was pretty much useless after the surgery, it made taking pictures with my phone somewhat more difficult. Luckily, the Android camera app is voice activated, so you can take pictures with certain key words. As we pulled up next to the deer, I rolled my window down and aimed my phone at the little guy who was facing away from me. I yelled, “Shoot!” to trigger the shutter. Perhaps that wasn’t the best word to use around a deer that was already skittish. It did draw his attention enough to make him turn towards me to get that picture, but as soon as the shutter sound played on my phone, he bounded away into the nearby brush. I consider myself lucky to have gotten the picture I did.

Lunchtime

We exited the park and made our way into Keosauqua proper. As we got into town, I looked up dining establishments so we could grab a bite to eat as neither of us had eaten and it was around 11:00. We shortly found ourselves at Riverbend Pizza & Steakhouse. We sat and perused the menu, landing on the appetizer combo platter, for which we selected deep fried cheese curds, mushrooms and pickles, Brandy ordered the Keo Klub Sandwich and I ordered the Riverbend Signature Tenderloin:

Pork triple treat! Tenderloin fried to perfection, cut in half and stacked! With ham, crispy smoked bacon and two kinds of cheese, served on a toasted hoagie roll.

Riverbend Pizza & Steakhouse Menu

When our sandwiched arrived, we were awestruck. Both of our sandwiches were massive. I don’t know that this picture accurately demonstrates the weightiness of this sandwich, but if it doesn’t, you have to believe me, this thing was huge.

Being able to only use one hand, eating this sandwich was a challenge, to be sure. Then, trying to cram it into my mouth was another exercise in futility on its own.

All in all, the sandwich was pretty good, but it was missing a sauce of some kind. Seeing as how it was all pork, a nice apple butter, I think, would have been nice. I was only able to finish half of it, taking the rest home in a Styrofoam container.

As we entered, I noticed a sign on the door saying they were a cash-only establishment. They did have an off-brand ATM though where, after we were done, I spent $5 to pull out $60. After tip, the total was $55, leaving me with a $5 bill.

We left with our leftover food and starting making our way back home.

Conclusion

Being stuck at home for as long as I was, I was certainly starting to develop a nasty case of cabin fever. Being able to get out, even for the day, and see some new sights and visit a couple of state parks I now plan on hiking in the spring was wonderful. I appreciate Brandy recognizing my frustrations and working to help me out of it.

I only got a small handful of pictures from this trip but I have posted them over on my Photo Diary page, be sure to check those out.

Aside from this trip, I had a follow up with the orthopedic department in Iowa City on November 2 and have a follow up with Urology on November 28. The following day, we’re up in the Des Moines area to see Blue October in concert. In between there will be my birthday (nothing planned yet for this) and Thanksgiving (which I was just asked if we can host).

Brandy will be leaving for a nearly week-long trip to her newest property in Utah (where she was supposed to go before my accident) on the 14th and will be gone until the 18th. I would like to try to get out to do something during that time but we’ll see where I’m at with the recovery.

Aside from that, not much else to report for now. It’s going to be slow going for a while, not just because of the arm thing, but it’s winter, the holidays are quickly approaching, and there won’t be much of an opportunity to get out, even if I was fully healthy. That makes me a little sad, but it’s not that bad. Just have to keep watching out for all the positives.

Until next time, as always, thanks for stopping by. I appreciate you.

-Phil