Category Archives: Iowa Miscellaneous

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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May 31

The sign of ‘Freedom’

Posted on Friday, May 31, 2024, at 11:00 AM by Jeff

I wrote something last week that starts with something very much in my zone but goes a little beyond it. I wouldn’t suggest extrapolating it too much into my thinking of things. It got picked up by the Iowa Capital … Continue reading →

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May 20

My trivia night with Iowa PBS

Posted on Monday, May 20, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Where are both Captain James T. Kirk and Thomas Jefferson key to a trivia quest? In Iowa, of course!

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May 10

Jeopardy Masters? More like Jeopardy minors

Posted on Friday, May 10, 2024, at 10:06 AM by Jeff

James Holzhauer, the worst Jeopardy villain of all time, and Matt Amodio, possibly the third-worst Jeopardy villain of all time, both had no answer for this clue last week: This state is not famous as a source of jazz talent, … Continue reading →

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May 03

ISU and the Lincoln Highway

Posted on Friday, May 3, 2024, at 10:30 AM by Jeff

Here’s my investigation into the Lincoln Highway’s history as it relates to the Iowa State campus in Ames. (whoops, forgot to set a draft to live)

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Apr 26

Iowa border history, with a focus on the Iowa Great Lakes

Posted on Friday, April 26, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Arnold Garson of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative wrote a Substack post last week about how the Iowa Great Lakes almost didn’t figure in to the state of Iowa. His writeup touches on the paired-states issue before the Civil War (slave … Continue reading →

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