April 27, 2005: Ackworth, the second city in Iowa in alphabetical order, first in ZIP code order. [And this picture is nearly a decade old!]
When I started Iowa Highway Ends, I had the far-off goal of eventually traveling every mile of interstate, US highway, and state highway in Iowa. I am very close to that goal. It won’t be in the 10-year span I’d once figured, but I’m close. (And I could re-cover those early routes.)
As I closed in on that, and paid additional attention to endangered schools and post offices, it became feasible to imagine passing through every town in Iowa. As of this writing, there are 946 945 incorporated places. I had a list, and I began chipping away. I hit around three dozen last year.
After combing through my photo collection, trip logs, and diary entries, the list grew. Some entries, like Gruver and Fertile, emerged because their city limits aren’t technically on the highway that goes right by. There are a few that I was pretty sure I’d been to, but have no record (and so I’m totally kicking myself for not going to Nodaway either time I was in southwest Iowa this fall).
The good news is, I have fewer than 100 towns left. The bad news is, I have close to 100 towns left, including a few that unincorporated this century. I don’t intend on reaching all of them before the end of this year, but from Alburnett to Yetter, Rake to Rathbun, I want to get there eventually.
Sept. 2, 2008: Bookending the post with the last Iowa town alphabetically.
UPDATE: Forgot Millville disincorporated last year.