December 29, 2001: G.E. Patterson (Calhoun) approaching 3rd Street in Memphis. The problem is, even 10 years ago, official maps show that all the US routes have been moved east onto Danny Thomas Boulevard. But signage, and Google, still direct along 3rd and a 2nd/3rd one-way pair.
Today, we get our televisions back.
After weeks of political ads filling daytime television, evening television, Christmas specials, and football games, it’s time for a few months of seed corn and herbicide commercials. (Remember, the Jan. 3 date is all Florida’s fault for blatantly and repeatedly violating both parties’ rules.)
The closest Iowa caucus in history went past midnight, until someone in Clinton County woke up.
I consider it my duty as an Iowan and someone interested in the political process to see as many candidates as I can. That’s true no matter which party. In the last week, I made it to see four of them, in addition to two I saw before the straw poll.
Four candidates in four counties in six days isn’t quite my 2008 mark of four candidates in four counties in three days, but it’s close.
Every time I go to an appearance I am reminded of what a massive logistical undertaking a campaign is. There are sticker rolls to distribute, materials to print and set out, yard signs to arrange, advance teams to get rooms and chairs, and someone to figure out if it is actually physically possible to be in Grundy Center or Guthrie Center after being somewhere else hours earlier. All of that is before the candidate and media entourage set foot in the building.
And in four years, despite the quadrennial outpouring of criticism, Iowa will do it all again.
The final score for 2011: Before the straw poll: Michele Bachmann, Urbandale; Tim Pawlenty, Indianola. Between Christmas and caucus: Rick Perry, Osceola; Ron Paul, Perry; Rick Santorum, Indianola; Newt Gingrich, Ames.
For comparison, this was 2007 (in chronological order): John McCain, Des Moines; Mitt Romney, Des Moines; John Edwards, West Des Moines; Fred Thompson, Urbandale; Rudy Giuliani(!), Clive; Mike Huckabee, Indianola, Hillary Clinton, Traer(!!); Joe Biden, Ames; Barack Obama, Boone; Chris Dodd, Indianola. Huckabee, Clinton, Biden, and Obama were the four in three days. Four years before that, I saw Edwards and Howard Dean in Toledo.
Cumulative by county: Polk 5, Warren 4, Tama 3, Dallas 2, Story 2, Boone 1, Clarke 1.
April 19, 2008: East junction of US 50/63 in central Missouri. My southernmost point traveled on US 63 as a signed route. (Arkansas shoved it onto I-55 and I-40 to nonsensically meander down to Louisiana.) US 63 is four lanes from this point to Kirksville although it is on surface streets in downtown Jefferson City.
July 7, 2008: US 62 and 68 leave Ohio and head into Kentucky northwest of Maysville. US 62 is one of the nation’s longest diagonal routes.
March 19, 2007: North end of US 61 in Wyoming, Minnesota. The route used to go up to Duluth and then along the west side of Lake Superior to Canada.
June 25, 2006: Junction five miles north of the Iowa/Minnesota line by the Minnesota welcome center for both roads. Iowa finished four-laning IA 60 in 2008 and Minnesota is completing the connection to I-90.
Iowa’s design turns 15 years old Monday. Will 999ZZZ show up before the end of 2012?
June 24, 2002: The Avenue of the Saints joins/leaves US 218 near George Wyth State Park in Black Hawk County. Notice the multiple varieties of state route markers on the BGSs, the different letter sizes, and the retrofit of the far-right sign. These have been replaced (Google Street View); IA 27 now comes before IA 58 on the middle sign and the UNI destinations are underneath.
(This also serves as a 57/58 sequential intersection, but the Chicago comparison was too good to pass up.)
Second time that Iowa State has ended with a losing record after a bowl game, after going 5-6-1 in 1972 with a Liberty Bowl loss to Georgia Tech.
June 13, 2008 and June 13, 2011: Old button copy signage along I-94 was replaced with Clearview when the interstate was repaved in the (exactly!) three years between pictures. Notably, I-57 ends short of Memphis, but is a giant “St. Louis bypass” for traffic from the Great Lakes to the lower Mississippi valley. Along the route, as with all interstates in Illinois, smaller, more local control cities are used on intersecting roads’ signs.
