All posts tagged as Hawkeye Point IA

24 Aug

Homeward Bound

In State Highpoints by Robert Danger Byrd / August 24, 2016 / 0 Comments

We are 2,900 miles into the trip, and are currently headed home with 500 to go. After leaving Chicago a few days back, we spent a couple of very unproductive days in St Peters Missouri at a beautiful lakeside spot where we whiled away the hours hiking, biking and playing XBOX video games. Hey, you are never too old to be a geek.

Great Lakes Return Trip

Day 14 sees BigByrd 500 miles from home

Chicago Adventures
Chicago was fun as always, and remains one of our favorite cities. We boondocked (this means running fully self contained) a few miles from downtown in a truck marshaling lot that gave us easy access to the heart of the city. As we were pulling in, we saw the cast and filming crew of the Amazon series “Patriot” filming for the show.

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15 Aug

Hawkeye Point Trip Report Posted

In State Highpoints by Robert Danger Byrd / August 15, 2016 / 2 Comments

Today finds us in Duluth, camped by Lake Superior at the Lakehead Boat Basin, and we are taking a lazy day here. Tomorrow I plan to take the jeep and make the 3 hour drive up to Eagle Mountain the highpoint of Minnesota, and expect that climb to take about 5 hours. Susan will stay in Duluth, and as always, I’ll be blogging along the way.

The Hawkeye Trip report is posted below in its entirety. For a richer experience with larger photos see the Hawkeye Point Trip Report Page.

Hawkeye Trip Report
Yesterday morning, Sunday August 14th, 2016 Susan and I stood on Hawkeye Point, the Iowa state highpoint enjoying fresh gourmet coffee with warm blueberry muffins as we watched the sunrise over gently rolling farmland. Iowa makes 46 states, and the first of our Great Lakes 4 state trip.

When is the last time you had blueberry muffins on a highpoint? Well that's too log...

When’s the last time you had blueberry muffins on a highpoint? Well that’s too long…

Highpoint Statistics:

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13 Aug

Great Lakes Highpoint Trip Day 3

In State Highpoints by Robert Danger Byrd / August 13, 2016 / 2 Comments

We are 1’173 miles, 145 gallons of water, 2 Walmarts, and one audiobook into the trip. Tonight finds us in Iowa, camped in a completely empty RV park, next to Hawkeye Point.

Day 3, in the Great Lakes Trip.

Day 3, in the Great Lakes Trip.

Today had us driving through idealistic rolling farmland, with stolid granaries, presiding over neatly fields of cultivated fields stretching into the horizon. Finding ourselves in such remarkable scenery, is one of the great rewards of this highpointing journey. Being in places, so utterly American that you just want to lift your hands to God in praise for the purple spacious skies.

An Iowa sunset, across a field of ripe corn.

A very American sunset, across a field of ripe corn, taken from the highest point in Iowa.

Today was a very good day, I drove the 8 hours from Topeka where we stayed in our second Walmart of the trip to the Iowa highpoint. The Topeka Walmart was built on the site of a the Chief Drive Inn Theater, and as a nod to that bit of history, they left the Chief Drive In Theater neon sign intact. You can read more about that tidbit of history here.

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12 Aug

Great Lakes Highpoint Trip Underway!

In State Highpoints by Robert Danger Byrd / August 12, 2016 / 0 Comments

Times are hard for the Byrd family, last night we slept in a Walmart parking lot in Ennis Texas. OK, so its not as dire as it sounds, Walmart is a pretty swell place to stop with your RV on long trips. This morning I even brought Susan coffee in bed, which makes her feel loved, and more inclined to drive 😉

As you read this, Susan and I are in BigByrd making our way across America in pursuit of 4 more state highpoints located in the Great Lakes area. My coffee ploy having worked, Susan is at the wheel, and I’m at the desk.

 

The plan is to catch Hawkeye Point Iowa on our way north, and then continue to the  Great Lakes to complete Eagle Mountain Minnesota, Mount Arvon Michigan and Timm’s Hill Wisconsin. As always, you will be able to follow along real time here on The Danger Map 

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