Jerome Pohlen - Oddball Iowa: A Guide to Some Really Strange Places

The author has made every effort to secure permissions for all the material in this book. If any acknowledgment has inadvertently been omitted, please contact the author.

All photographs courtesy of Jerome Pohlen unless otherwise noted.
Cover and interior design: Mel Kupfer

2005 by Jerome Pohlen

All rights reserved

First Edition

Published By Chicago Review Press, Incorporated

814 North Franklin Street

Chicago, Illinois 60610

ISBN 1-55652-564-8

Printed in the United States Of America

5 4 3 2 1

T he good folks at the Iowa Tourism Office would like you to know that their state has more to offer visitors than corn, pigs, and more corn. Iowa has stunning Mississippi River bluffs, impressive art museums, scenic rivers and byways, and historic ethnic communities. Yes, Iowa is a Grant Wood painting come to life: small-town America populated by the salt of the earth.

But this isnt a book about all that.

What is it about? The future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk. The annual Hobo Convention. The Winterset outhouse listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its about the butter sculptures at the Iowa State Fair, the Worlds Largest Cheeto, the Estherville meteorite, and the Lonely Goatherder marionettes from The Sound of Music. Its about Le Mars, the Ice Cream Capital of the World, and Macksburg, host of the annual National Skillet Throw. Its about all those places youd rather spend your weekends than those oh-so-quaint Amana Colonies.

And for all you readers who need to feel youve learned a thing or two before youre done, Oddball Iowa is chock-full of important state history. Did you know that Ozzy Osbournes infamous bat-biting incident took place in Iowa? Its true! Or that Bonnie and Clyde almost came to a bloody end here, just down the road from where Jesse James pulled his first moving train robbery? Yep. Iowa is also the birthplace of the Roto-Rooter, the Delicious apple, the electronic computer, the reinforced concrete bridge, and the Eskimo Pie.

What, is all this news to you? It shouldnt be: Iowa has the nations highest literacy rate (99 percent), the highest per capita population with undergraduate degrees, and the highest average combined SAT scores. So why do so few residents know that Iowa is home to the worlds shortest and steepest inclined railway? Or that the state is a leader in Invincible Defense Technology? Or that Iowas best museum is a one-room collection of scale models built entirely out of matchsticks? This drought of weird information must end. This is why Oddball Iowa is so critically important.

While Ive tried to give clear directions from major roads and landmarks, you could still make a wrong turn. When the corn gets yay highIm now holding my hand level with my foreheadits sometimes difficult to see where youre going. Here are a few Oddball travel tips to help you reach your destination:

Stop and ask! I travel a lot, and Iowa is the only state in the nation where I was given clear, concise, and correct directions every time I asked. Maybe folks are just smarter here. Maybe its because the state is laid out in a gigantic, mile-road grid. Or maybe everyone in Iowa knows a whole lot more about everyone elses business than they really should. Whatever the reason, youre the ultimate beneficiary, as long as you suck up your pride, pull over, and ask.

Call ahead. Few Oddball sites keep truly regular hours. Many Iowa attractions are only open in the afternoon, after the chores are done, but before the tornados send everyone running for the cellars. Always call. And if you spot a tornado, grab your camcorder and look for a low-lying ditch.

Dont give up. Think of the farmer who built that small museum when he wasnt busy putting food on the table for the whole world. He made the extra effort. Shouldnt you?

Dont trespass! Dont become a Terrible Tourist. If one of the sites in this book is not open to the public, stay on the road. Besides, you dont want to step in something, and believe me, theres lots of something out there.

Do you have an Oddball site of your own? Have I missed anything? Do you know of a location that should be included in a later edition? Please write and let me know: c/o Chicago Review Press, 814 N. Franklin Street, Chicago, IL 60610.

W hy dont we start at the top and work our way down? Northwest Iowas Hawkeye Point, near Sibley, could be considered the top of Iowa, soaring 1,670 feet above sea level. Its not as enticing to mountain climbers as, say, Pikes Peak or Mount Rainier since most of the land around it is 1,660-something feet above sea level, but for burger-with-fries lovers, a brisk hike to the summit is just what the doctor ordered. OK, part of what the doctor ordered....

Hawkeye Point isnt the only record-breaking tourist destination in Iowas northwest quadrant. The region is also home to the Worlds Largest Grotto, the Worlds First Digital Computer, the Worlds Largest Ice Cream Factory, the Worlds Longest Double-Track Train Trestle, the Worlds Largest Bull, the Worlds Largest Bullhead, the Worlds First Reinforced Concrete Bridge, the Worlds Largest Pocahontas Statue, the Worlds First Moving Train Robbery, and, best of all, the Worlds Largest Cheeto!

Whatyou need more reasons to visit? Then read on.

Hell countryside.

Good ol American ingenuity! When the JamesYounger Gang derailed the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific train near Adair on July 21, 1873, they ushered in a brand-new type of grand larceny: robbery of a moving train. The gang loosened a rail at the Turkey Creek cut southwest of town, and when the eastbound locomotive approached, they pulled the rail free using a rope. The engine ran off the tracks and tipped over onto its side, followed by the tender and two baggage cars. The trains engineer, John Rafferty, was crushed in the rollover.