Leaving Peoria, IL we started out on I74 but soon decided to take a secondary highway. At Clinton IL we crossed the Mississippi River into Iowa, which was kind of cool. Longest River in the US, it flows from Lake Itasca in Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. Although not very impressive looking where we drove over, it is none the less a milestone.
We continued to drive along the river on a winding and hilly route which was very pretty and quiet. At the city of Dubuque we stopped to get provisions and then continued on to Dyersville. Our stop for the night, a county park called New Wine Park, was a few miles north of town, down a dirt road and under a small stand of trees. We chose our site, did the self check-in and had a quiet peaceful night.
In the morning we drove into town to find a post office and check out the gorgeous St. Francis Xavier Basilica. With double spires it is an impressive building, finished in 1889 it replaced a much smaller church to accommodate the growing needs of the times.
Afterwards, we checked out the location where the movie ‘Field of Dreams’ was filmed. It is free to enter (although they ask for donation) and there is a store and concession on site. It was just plain fun to see the site and stand in the cornfield and imagine……… Had to buy a T-shirt. I loved that movie.
Adjacent to the movie site, a new baseball diamond has been built, and on Aug 12, 2021, history was made when the Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago White Sox hosted the first-ever regular season Major League Baseball game in Iowa. The White Sox won. This will now be a regular August tradition in Dyersville Iowa.
We camped one more night in Iowa. At Webster City we stayed at Briggs Woods Park & Golf Course. If you’re a golfer, it is a great location to camp and walk to a very nice golf course. The campground is a little odd, with half the sites being only reservable online, and the other half you can pay on site. There is one host and she said she had been very busy and was again expecting a very busy coming weekend as they were hosting a cooking demonstration. We found he best site we could for privacy, but right across from us were 5 families situated in a circle with fire pit in the middle – set up to party is what we thought. They were quiet that night though. Bathroom facilities were old and not very clean. There is a lake in another section with cabins that can be rented, and some very nice and well kept walking trails.
