Category Archives: Iowa Miscellaneous

Aug 19

What’s the frequency, Jim and Beth?

Posted on Monday, August 19, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

In what appears to be a long-delayed follow-up from a request entered in 2021, KCRG is changing its antenna signal. However, the station is remaining branded as Channel 9 and this only affects antenna users. According to the station’s website, … Continue reading →

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Aug 15

Lighthouse Inn supper club burns down

Posted on Thursday, August 15, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The Lighthouse Inn supper club on Mount Vernon Road east of Cedar Rapids, a Lincoln Highway landmark, burned to the ground on Wednesday. Stories: Gazette, KCRG.

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Jul 31

Greenfield riding to recovery

Posted on Wednesday, July 31, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

I went to Greenfield last week to write about that town being on RAGBRAI so soon after a tornado hit the town. (I also may or may not have sprained my ankle in Orient, but that’s a different story.)

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Jul 25

Best refills at the fair, gone

Posted on Thursday, July 25, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

It’s a short story, but a notable one. Crescenti’s food stand won’t be at the Iowa State Fair for the first time in four decades. The five-paragraph, two-subhead story in the Des Moines Register says the owner is hanging it … Continue reading →

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Jul 23

Koality control

Posted on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

This clip is from the RAGBRAI support vehicle map for today. /stares //STARES Does Gannett not have proofreaders for anything anymore? (This is a rhetorical question. — Ed.) And what map service were those support vehicle route directions copied from, … Continue reading →

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Jul 22

‘The Funeral Directors Of Flight 232’

Posted on Monday, July 22, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Via a KTIV story I learned of a 15-minute documentary about funeral directors who responded to the crash of United Flight 232 in Sioux City in 1989. It’s worth a watch. Last week was the 35th anniversary of the crash. … Continue reading →

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Jul 18

RAGBRAI LI and picking routes

Posted on Thursday, July 18, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

I did my annual look at RAGBRAI on my Substack site. This year, I concentrated more on the issue of mapping out routes in southern Iowa. The plain fact is, there are fewer options to choose from.

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Jul 12

60th anniversary of Walcott truck stop

Posted on Friday, July 12, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The location now known as the Iowa 80 Truckstop, or the “World’s Largest Truckstop”, opened at the Walcott exit on I-80 six decades ago. It is also the 45th anniversary of the Truckers Jamboree there. Stories: Quad-City Times via Cedar … Continue reading →

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Jul 09

Randalia has disincorporated

Posted on Tuesday, July 9, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The 897th-largest town in Iowa isn’t a town anymore. KCRG reports that Randalia, in Fayette County, officially unincorporated on June 30. The town’s population was 84 in 2000, but had fallen to 50 in 2020. The story said that to … Continue reading →

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Jun 07

The kolach inflation index

Posted on Friday, June 7, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

For the first time in five years, St. Ludmila’s Catholic Church in Cedar Rapids is having a real kolach festival. There was no celebration in 2020 or 2021 (but there were sales), and 2022 was somewhat but not quite normal. … Continue reading →

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