October 4, 2016: Around the US 18/218 split at Floyd, the speed limit on the Avenue of the Saints drops to 55 mph.
A meeting tonight about “proposed improvements” at the US 18/218 intersection in Floyd will include a presentation, which doesn’t happen all that often. (Usually the plans are laid out on tables with informational printouts.) The DOT’s press release does not have the materials now, probably because of the presentation, but may get on the page later.
August 6, 2016: Seen in Brule, Nebraska. If Sweet Meteor O’Death does not grace us with his presence today it will be because he has decided we’re not worth it. GO SMOD!
November 6, 2016: This campaign sign at the north end of Business 151 in Monticello made me do a double-take. I swung back around to get a photo despite the sun directly overhead.
Don’t blame me, I voted for SMOD Lizard People Vermin Supreme Deez Nuts myself?
From the top of the FAQ for Iowa City Liberty High School, opening in 2017 (and causing a minor future scheduling headache for the Mississippi Valley Conference):
(BTW: “Child Centered: Future Focused”? That motto needs a comma, not a colon, with only the first word capitalized.)
June 4, 2007: The start of the White Pole Road is marked at the east end of old IA 925 near Dexter.
A press release from the governor’s office, reprinted on the DOT’s website, announces the creation of new Iowa Byways that will be signed in 2018. The historic Jefferson Highway, along the route that became US 65 and 69, will get the same type of recognition in Iowa that the Lincoln Highway was given five years ago. The White Pole Road will get official signs and a byway will connect the Bridges of Madison County.
Also mentioned in the press release is changes to other byways including the Great River Road. However, there is nothing anywhere that mentions the exact reroute of the GRR (and thus, the parts I’ll have to retrace). I do hope the change involves moving away from the bridge in Burlington that has been closed for years, because that’s pretty obviously needed.
October 30, 2016: Nowhere to park, of course, but I did drive by Wrigley Field on the day the Cubs hosted a World Series game — one of only three days someone could say that since 1945.
On the night of October 14, 2003, I was in charge of laying out the front page of the Iowa State Daily. For the centerpiece, we were banking on the Chicago Cubs winning the NLCS and advancing to the World Series. I had a headline and everything — “Holy Cow” with the “C” being the Cubs logo — but I could only do so much before the game ended, so I had time to check out the last few innings.
I’m on design duty again tonight. I apologize in advance — but this time around, I’m pretty sure I had nothing to do with Javier Baez striking out in the bottom of the ninth with two runners on base in Game 4. Then again, when I was in Merrillville, Indiana, Saturday night buying a Cubs shirt (both as a souvenir of my vacation and because the Cubs won the pennant[!!!]), the music on the sound system was Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition.” I AM NOT MAKING THAT UP.
Eastern Iowa’s NBC affiliate made a lot of changes on Oct. 27, including a transition to a 7-in-a-square after being 7-in-a-circle from approximately forever ago (1979) until the digital transition. The studio also moved to its building’s second floor from the first floor, where many many moons ago North Tama elementary students used to take a field trip to go behind the scenes and watch a noon newscast. (Remember when stations had dedicated farm reporters?)
On November 10, 1917, months after the United States entered World War I, Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts hosted Kansas State Agricultural College for a football game. It was Homecoming, and ISU won, 10-7. The following year, 12 days after the Armistice, the two teams played again — one of only three games that year for ISC and one of five for KSAC because of the Spanish Flu epidemic.
Abbreviated or nonexistent 1918 seasons, along with World War II, interrupted many long-term college football series (including Kansas-Missouri). But with that 1918 game, Iowa State and Kansas State kept a nascent streak alive and this year mark their 100th consecutive — and 100th overall — game between each other. With Nebraska, Missouri, and Texas A&M stabbing their mates in the back switching conferences, ISU-KSU is now the sixth-longest consecutive series in Division I-A, ahead of Michigan-Ohio State and Iowa-Minnesota by one year.
Since the formation of the Big 12, Iowa State nearly always played Big 12 South or southern teams for Homecoming (why yes, that does seem suspicious), with the exceptions of Missouri (1998), Kansas (2011), and Toledo (2014). That Kansas game is the last to have a 1 PM kickoff and not be televised.
Here’s a neat timeline that was compiled for Iowa State’s 100th Homecoming in 2011.
Bill Snyder was not there for that first meeting between Midwest land-grant schools in 1917, but he’s been around for a whole lot of them since. Going into Saturday’s game, ISU only leads the series by three games and has only won four times in a quarter-century.
(If the Cubs win before SMOD annihilates us all, Iowa State football will have the longest championship drought of the Big Four pro sports and two major college sports.)
The IA 150 curve west of Urbana was the site of only five accidents in a decade, and one of them, a five-fatality crash, spurred calls for a look at changing the intersection. The curve, the end of old IA 363, could be taken out and converted to a regular intersection with the east-west traffic taking priority. There will be a meeting next Wednesday about the potential changes. The DOT has put the project statement online (PDF).
