Yeah, with the exception of the northern Loess Hills, everything north of Highway 30 and west of 63 is pretty damn flat
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- Thread starter Mtowncyclone13
- Start date
Yeah, with the exception of the northern Loess Hills, everything north of Highway 30 and west of 63 is pretty damn flat
This is at the heart of it. I-35 and I-80 are relatively flat through Iowa and most people who aren't from here or have relatives here experience little more of Iowa than those two interstate highways.
Whenever someone tells me how flat Iowa is, I just challenge them to ride RAGBRAI.
For sure. I-80 gets hilly around the Newton/Grinnell area until the Illinois border. West of that is very flat.
I-35 south of Des Moines gets a little hilly but it's mostly flat.
US 32 ran from Council Bluffs to Chicago (which would have fit closely with the 30-32-34 N/S numbering sequence). It got renumbered as US 6 in 1931 when a decision was made to "extend" US 6.
End of US highway 32
Historic US route 32 had endpoints in Council Bluffs (Iowa) and Chicago and Rock Island (Illinois).
www.usends.com
That site and this one...
Iowa Highway Ends
iowahighwayends.net
...can lead to deep rabbit holes for people interested in that sort of stuff.
Maid Rites are a thing and they started in Muscatine Iowa.
What? I must have dreamt all those hills growing up in western Iowa. Maybe NW Iowa for sure but anything south of Highway 30 is NOT flat. My daughter took this pic last week coming from DM to Omaha on I80 showing the red sunset. That is not flat. That is the way it is all across I80 to Omaha.
Webster City is not in Webster County.
Humboldt is not the county seat of Humboldt County.
EDIT; Sorry, late to the party.
That ground out around Dodge City Ks could be used to shoot pool on.
In the 70s, you could not travel more than 12 miles in any direction in the state of Iowa without crossing a railroad track. Most of them are long gone now........
Webster City is weirder.
Webster City used to be named Newcastle. At the time, Webster County encompassed what is now Webster and Hamilton Counties.
Webster County was split into two counties. Newcastle was then renamed Webster City after it was no longer part of Webster County
which is part of why we have so many good bike trails
Do I take it you weren't one of the people that voted not to retain three of the Supreme Court Justices that voted for it?
While loess (wind blown soil) hills appear elsewhere in the world, only in China have they been higher, and some of those have been flatted or so I have heard. https://www.visitloesshills.org/
In Iowa, there are more hogs than humans. While the human population is around three million, the hog population is 21.2 million!
This means that for every one human, there are four hogs.
This means that for every one human, there are four hogs.
https://ragbrai.com/about/general-information/ What is RAGBRAI?
RAGBRAI, The Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, is an annual seven-day bicycle ride across the state. Heading into its 48th year, RAGBRAI is the oldest, largest and longest recreational bicycle touring event in the world.
In the beginning, no one imagined that RAGBRAI would become the Iowa tradition it is now. We at The Des Moines Register thank all the riders who have joined us over the years. We especially wish to thank the thousands and thousands of volunteers in the towns we’ve visited along the way for their tireless work to show RAGBRAI riders the hospitality that has made our ride world famous.
We encourage you to follow the application procedures and come along only if you are accepted as a registered rider. It is crucial that we keep our number of riders at the level suggested by the Iowa State Patrol and the Iowa Department of Transportation for the safety of all riders. We thank you for your cooperation.
For those of you who have never ridden, this rolling celebration of Iowa attracts participants from all 50 states and many foreign countries. It has covered thousands of miles through the years, and hundreds of thousands of riders have hopped in the saddle to pedal part of those miles.
RAGBRAI is a bicycle ride, not a race. It started in 1973 as a six-day ride across the state of Iowa by two Des Moines Register columnists who invited a few friends along. It is held the last full week in July. RAGBRAI is planned and coordinated by The Des Moines Register, and riders who participate in RAGBRAI understand that they do so at their own risk.
The RAGBRAI route averages 468 miles and is not necessarily flat. It begins somewhere along Iowa’s western border on the Missouri River and ends along the eastern border on the Mississippi River. We change the route each year and announce the overnight towns in late January at the RAGBRAI Route Announcement Party, in The Des Moines Register and on our website.
Eight Iowa communities along the RAGBRAI route serve as “host” communities for overnight stays. RAGBRAI is a guest in these communities and we ask our riders to behave as such.
The people of Iowa truly make RAGBRAI the special event that it is by opening up their towns and communities to participants. We hope you can enjoy this Iowa hospitality and join us for a memorable trip across the state.
RAGBRAI, The Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, is an annual seven-day bicycle ride across the state. Heading into its 48th year, RAGBRAI is the oldest, largest and longest recreational bicycle touring event in the world.
In the beginning, no one imagined that RAGBRAI would become the Iowa tradition it is now. We at The Des Moines Register thank all the riders who have joined us over the years. We especially wish to thank the thousands and thousands of volunteers in the towns we’ve visited along the way for their tireless work to show RAGBRAI riders the hospitality that has made our ride world famous.
We encourage you to follow the application procedures and come along only if you are accepted as a registered rider. It is crucial that we keep our number of riders at the level suggested by the Iowa State Patrol and the Iowa Department of Transportation for the safety of all riders. We thank you for your cooperation.
For those of you who have never ridden, this rolling celebration of Iowa attracts participants from all 50 states and many foreign countries. It has covered thousands of miles through the years, and hundreds of thousands of riders have hopped in the saddle to pedal part of those miles.
RAGBRAI is a bicycle ride, not a race. It started in 1973 as a six-day ride across the state of Iowa by two Des Moines Register columnists who invited a few friends along. It is held the last full week in July. RAGBRAI is planned and coordinated by The Des Moines Register, and riders who participate in RAGBRAI understand that they do so at their own risk.
The RAGBRAI route averages 468 miles and is not necessarily flat. It begins somewhere along Iowa’s western border on the Missouri River and ends along the eastern border on the Mississippi River. We change the route each year and announce the overnight towns in late January at the RAGBRAI Route Announcement Party, in The Des Moines Register and on our website.
Eight Iowa communities along the RAGBRAI route serve as “host” communities for overnight stays. RAGBRAI is a guest in these communities and we ask our riders to behave as such.
The people of Iowa truly make RAGBRAI the special event that it is by opening up their towns and communities to participants. We hope you can enjoy this Iowa hospitality and join us for a memorable trip across the state.
Here's an Iowa quirk. As a Cyclone fan its inevitable, almost guaranteed, you'll be out of state enjoying the heck out of yourself having an awesome day when there are no sports events happening. And then it happens. Some doofus in Fred Flintstone gear walks right in front of you.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times. Nothing in this great country can match the beauty of Western Iowa’s majestic 4% inclines.
