Motorcycles at Eddyville

"First day morning - 6th [October 6, 1867] Beautifully clear this morning. Had a little frost this & yesterday morning. got in 4 miles of Eddyville last night. A nice place to camp. I enjoy camp life so well in nice weather. Bought 20 cts. worth of good timothy hay last night. Cheap. Heard the cars last night coming down from Oskaloosa to Eddyville."

We found Eddyville to be a pleasant community with several stores and even a post office! Motorcycles parked in front of one old building caught our interest and we asked a gentleman smoking outside about it. He said they are headed for the "Wing Ding" in Des Moines. Oh... maybe that explains all the motorcycles we saw headed west on I-80 yesterday.

Much of Iowa is green and rolling hills planted with corn. When Ann & Henry Way crossed the state, it must have been mostly native grasses and trees. At each turn in the road, we try to imagine what the trail might have looked like 143 years ago.