Iowa and the Underground Railroad

Linda and I stopped for the night at a rest area (mile marker 270) on I-80 East. Got a late start leaving this morning cause we got new neighbors just as it was getting dark last night. Ken and Sarah have an Excel 5th wheel and Ken had a sign, on his truck, advertising the waterless wax. I sent Linda over to talk to him this morning (he was out first thing this morning waxing his rig) to find out which waterless product he uses. I’ve used two different ones and am about to order a third product to use on the new rig. Anyway, one topic turned into another and then we found out that they had also worked for the same company, running a retirement community in Iowa. Well that ensued a whole discussion on what the hedge fund, that purchased the company has done to it since they worked there. Needless to say we didn’t get on the road till 10:30.

Beautiful day to drive and ride the bike ! Mid 70’s, sunny and all of the fields are bursting with corn fields, grain that’s turning a golden brown and lots of windmills. Don’t know what it is about seeing windmills that makes me smile. It’s kind of a Forrest Gump feeling that comes over me, watching the lazy turning of the blades and their hypnotic affect on me. Makes me smile and yearn for a box of chocolates ! There were tons of them along I-80 and with the steady breeze today, they were doing their thing.

Discovered some really interesting information, here at the rest area. Turns out that Iowa was huge in the Underground Railroad movement. The Quakers were quite the abolitionists and would use their quilts to give secret messages on the movement of slaves. Through the use of symbols and knots, they could convey their messages on the quilts that they would hang out on the clotheslines. How cool ! The building, here at the rest stop is gorgeous. Look at the magnificent flowers that they have around the property. On each side, of the front entrance way, are the quilt patterns that were used in the messages and then on the first course of bricks, all the way around the building is this needle and thread. I took pictures of the two plaques that talk about the quilts and their messages ,if you want to click on them to read the info. Very interesting…so glad I wondered over to the building to check it out. I learned something new today on our journey through Iowa !