Driving I-80 across Iowa question

[lthenderson]

I'm not sure why others above judge Ottumwa so harshly. I have lived near it much of my life and find lots of qualities about it that I like. It is definitely more like a small town than other towns of similar size so perhaps that is why the animosity towards it. But for those of us who don't like the constant stop lights everywhere or heavy traffic, or just flat squares full of identical looking businesses, this old river town built on the river bluffs is my cup of tea. Just this weekend I attended one of the premier orchestral groups in the state for their annual kick off to summer performance. From now during the rest of summer there will be a band performance in the park every Thursday evening and a musical group performance every Friday evening. With our large Civic center along the river, we get regular top name concerts and other events like rodeos, monster truck rallies, comedy shows, etc. swinging through. We have the Temple of Performing Arts and another venue where they hold regular plays and musicals. There is nearly 10 miles of trails along the river to walk or ride a bike along instead of being all developed as in many cities. We have the world famous "Canteen Lunch" in the alley which I forgot to mentioned in my previous post that held a canteen eating contest attended by the likes of world famous Joey Chestnut and others just a few years back.

As I mentioned upthread, much has changed in recent years due to the sale of the hospital to a private organization resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars that was set aside in a fund to fix up run down areas of town, which all towns seem to have. So traveling through 20 years ago is certainly not an accurate assessment of the last 10.

Judging a town is much like judging a book by its cover. To get a true sense of it, you can't just drive through on 63 or 34 and say you know it.

[QRGANIC]

if you go to Iowa City, you have zmariks for lunch and I would check out Pagliai's pizza if you have time for dinner.

[Countryfreak]

Originally Posted by lthenderson

I'm not sure why others above judge Ottumwa so harshly. I have lived near it much of my life and find lots of qualities about it that I like. It is definitely more like a small town than other towns of similar size so perhaps that is why the animosity towards it. But for those of us who don't like the constant stop lights everywhere or heavy traffic, or just flat squares full of identical looking businesses, this old river town built on the river bluffs is my cup of tea. Just this weekend I attended one of the premier orchestral groups in the state for their annual kick off to summer performance. From now during the rest of summer there will be a band performance in the park every Thursday evening and a musical group performance every Friday evening. With our large Civic center along the river, we get regular top name concerts and other events like rodeos, monster truck rallies, comedy shows, etc. swinging through. We have the Temple of Performing Arts and another venue where they hold regular plays and musicals. There is nearly 10 miles of trails along the river to walk or ride a bike along instead of being all developed as in many cities. We have the world famous "Canteen Lunch" in the alley which I forgot to mentioned in my previous post that held a canteen eating contest attended by the likes of world famous Joey Chestnut and others just a few years back.

As I mentioned upthread, much has changed in recent years due to the sale of the hospital to a private organization resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars that was set aside in a fund to fix up run down areas of town, which all towns seem to have. So traveling through 20 years ago is certainly not an accurate assessment of the last 10.

Judging a town is much like judging a book by its cover. To get a true sense of it, you can't just drive through on 63 or 34 and say you know it.

Small town is fine with me. Wife and I live well out in the country in the mountains and the closest town has zero lights and no chain restaurants. Fine with me as I really enjoy this.

[Lemastre]

The last time I tried driving in Iowa on I-80, truck traffic and RVs, etc. got in my way a lot. So I dropped south a few miles and took blacktop farm-to-market roads. There was little traffic, I could smell the clover hay, and I drove through small towns that I hadn't seen for years, if ever. Easy to stop for food and fuel and talk with easy-going but energetic folks. During an oil-change in one community, the station-owner's wife appeared with a wicker basket containing the man's lunch. I gathered that this was a daily occurrence. It's known as the blue-roads experience.

[sam812]

Originally Posted by Lemastre

The last time I tried driving in Iowa on I-80, truck traffic and RVs, etc. got in my way a lot. So I dropped south a few miles and took blacktop farm-to-market roads. There was little traffic, I could smell the clover hay, and I drove through small towns that I hadn't seen for years, if ever. Easy to stop for food and fuel and talk with easy-going but energetic folks. During an oil-change in one community, the station-owner's wife appeared with a wicker basket containing the man's lunch. I gathered that this was a daily occurrence. It's known as the blue-roads experience.

I couldn't agree more that the back paved roads are way better. I have taken 34 out of Loveland through Nebraska and Iowa before and liked that route.