July 16, 2020: New Vienna is one of 22 incorporated communities in Dubuque County.
It took me 14 years to visit every town in Iowa, the last two after I made it a specific goal. Two college students are attempting to do it in a matter of months.
Seth Varner and Austin Schneider, who visited every town in Nebraska last year, are in a madcap marathon to reach all 939 incorporated places in Iowa. They have been covered very well in the news (stories: Daily Iowan, KCRG, KCCI, WOI, KMTV, KOEL). They are traveling at an absolutely astounding pace — 20 towns in a day, including actual travel time and waiting for the occasional tenderloin. That basically requires starting at sunrise, which, lolno.
I haven’t been keeping too close tabs because their entire thing is on Facebook, and I do not do Facebook. That apparently means I can’t do direct links to their posts because my browser sends me to a login? I don’t know.
Anyway, they announced that they’re going to be doing 141 towns in northeast Iowa this week. Keep in mind that they’re doing this including the two hours and change each way between Omaha and Altoona. It was going to be 150, but they lopped off nine towns that were going to be at the end — including Traer. They did the southeast half of Tama County, including Clutier and Dysart, in June as part of their massive eastern Iowa swing.
Assuming this week’s trip goes as planned, they will be down to about 159 communities left to reach in the next two months — because they have a book planned for November! Like I said, it’s an absolutely absurd pace.
Carson and Connie Ode, a retired couple, visited every county in Iowa and created a lavish photo book about it. There’s a couple who are retiring this year after 30 years of marking RAGBRAI routes. But I don’t think either pair visited every town. In that case, to the best of my knowledge, Varner and Schneider would be the third and fourth people to set foot in every incorporated community in Iowa, behind yours truly, who did it while also traveling every highway and not using a GoFundMe.
AND THEY GET SWAG. I clearly did not recognize the profit opportunities available in such an endeavor. While, for now, I don’t have photos in all 939 towns, I can at least say that the welcome-sign pictures I have taken are straighter.
If Traer ends up being their last town, well, that would be pretty funny. But with the Winding Stairs, it will also be fun for the two guys from Nebraska.