Iowa Waterfalls; Day 1

We departed on our new adventure at 8:00 with clear blue skies and a temperature of 50. Interstates 435 and 29 took us north from Shawnee to St. Joseph, MO, where we caught Highway 169 northbound. There are several wind farms and a butt load of regular farms in northwest Missouri and southwest Iowa. It was enjoyable riding through the rural countryside.

The plan was to take Highway 169 north all the way to Winterset but the Iowa Department of Transportation had other plans. At Highway 2 signs sent us on a detour that took us west, north and back east n highways 2, 25 and 34. We hooked back up with 169 at Afton, IA.

As we rode through Lorimor, IA Chris pointed out a sign:
I called bullshit because the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers are a long way away. How could they possibly divide here? When we stopped for the night I did some internet research and found out what they were referring to. It is like the continental divide in Colorado. Lorimor is on the dividing line where water flows east to the Mississippi River and west to the Missouri River.

We arrived in Winterset, IA (covered bridges of Madison County & birthplace of John Wayne) in time for lunch and enjoyed ourselves in the Northside Cafe.
An old movie, "The Bridges of Madison County", was filmed in Winterset and the surrounding area. One part was filmed in the Northside Cafe. I took a picture of Chris sitting on a stool that Clint Eastwood sat on back in the day.

After lunch we strolled around town and a nice tourist snapped our photo standing by a statue of the Duke outside the John Wayne Birthplace Museum.
Winterset has a nice downtown square and a beautiful courthouse (Madison County, of course).
There was a Ben Franklin store on the square so Chris had to do a little shopping.

From Winterset we rode Highway 92 east to Knoxville and Highway 14 north to Marshalltown, where we called it a day after 329 miles. After cleaning the Goldwing and having a bite to eat we enjoyed a dip in the indoor heated pool at our motel. It was a very enjoyable day with a high temperature of 66. Tomorrow we see a few waterfalls.

If you want to check out all the pictures taken today click on the following link: Iowa Waterfall Day 1 Pics

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