By this point, getting up at 4 or 5am had become my regular thing, and I was really getting sick of it. At the same time, we were able to get our adventures started early. We left Wisconsin at A Reasonable Hour, and drove through the hazy, drizzling rain to Iowa.
The weather continued into Iowa, and we were afraid it would dampen our hiking plans. Our first stop was Effigy Mounds. I was really and truly excited to see this particular park, because at the heart of it all, I'm an archaeology and anthropology nerd.
There are over 200 prehistoric Native American mounds at the park, which spans a great deal of space. The mounds are shaped like bear and birds, or cones, and it really blows my mind that they haven't been fully destroyed or lost to time. I'm very glad they have not.
The Park Rangers at Effigy Mounds are fantastic, too. We grabbed a map, and Charles the Ranger very helpfully recommended some hikes to make the most of our visit, to see the most varied mounds, and to get out and back before the weather turned.
The hike begins with an exciting uphill trudge, followed by miles of looping and interweaving trails. We traipsed along contentedly, but as you can see, the sky was a bit threatening, and we sincerely did not want to get stuck in the mud, literally speaking.
We lucked out with the weather on this trail, and then tried to hit another trail along the river. Unfortunately, we watch way too much true-crime television, so this trail gave us the creeps.
At that point, we gave up and headed towards Toppling Goliath Brewing. The next day was an enormous special release of Morning Delight, and while we did not hold tickets to that event, the pre-game warm-up that night was pretty exciting. We enjoyed a couple cold, delicious brews and challenged each other to a few rounds of our Find the Difference game.
I was very quickly distracted by overhearing conversation regarding "the BEST pulled pork nachos," so naturally, we had to make that happen.
The Old Armory did, in fact, have some mouth-watering pulled pork nachos, and some darn tasty boneless wings, to boot.
As we sat there, watching traffic trickle down the main drag, letting the grease settle, I told Ryan, "This is what it's about. Traveling all over. Eating in small-town establishments. Trying to live the way the locals do." You lose a little bit of identity along the way, trying to fit in with new sights and new scenes and new surroundings, but at the same time, you absorb more of the American Identity. You hear the local gossip over coffee. You pick up on how other people, from other places, are experiencing the same thing you're experiencing, but in their own perspective. In their own way.
The role of The Observer is very interesting. It's one part chameleon. One part listener. One part interviewer. It's going with the flow and accepting whatever and just rolling with it, whatever "it" may be at any given time. We've been terribly uncomfortable. We've accidentally broken rules and eaten crow. Many apologies have been offered. On the other hand, we've learned some incredible things, met some pretty fantastic people, and seen things that not many people have seen. Did you know you can make a Harvey Wallbanger with tequila? Or that some species, thought to have been lost to the Ice Ages, can be found in areas of the US where glaciers did not exist? Or how the Great Lakes water give beer a very distinct flavor? While it's 90F in Ohio, it's 57F in Minnesota, and coyotes have a very specific group cry right before a storm begins.
This leg of the trip is different in many ways. Of course, we're more familiar with Midwestern folks, being Midwestern folks ourselves. But tourist season is over. There aren't swarms of people and children and Doritos. Many times, we're the only people on the trails... sometimes, we're the only people at camp spots. We've become a little more comfortable with being feral, wandering around with stinky hair, sweaty clothes from hiking, no makeup, wearing flip flops to keep our feet from getting more blistered. This part of the journey is a bit more lonely, so when we do have those comfortable town experiences like we did at the Old Armory, it really makes the experience that much more enjoyable.
Our next loop was up through Southern Minnesota to North Dakota, but again, I'll keep all of Minnesota together.
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