Category Archives: Road Trip

Art, Automobiles, Christianity, History, Road Trip, Ruins, Shannon

Warren County Auxiliary Images Vol. 2

October 15, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

Here is a second collection of auxiliary images I took while harvesting the town signs of Warren County with Shannon.

Medora

New Virginia

Couldn’t quite figure out what this was…

This is one of the most enigmatic things I’ve come across in my travels. It was just there. No explanation. Nobody monitoring it. Nothing else around it.

Shannon really wanted to take this picture.

You didn’t know The 4 Wheel Drive was invented in Iowa, did you?

St Marys

They must’ve heard I was coming to town.

87 wins in a row! That is impressive!

88 wins in a row! That is even more impressive!

The streak was 88 wins in a row. It was eventually ended by Des Moines East, which is a school that has more students than St Marys and Martensdale has people combined.

About that 4 Wheel Drive, Here is the story from the Des Moines Concours website:

At the 2020 Des Moines Concours, we’re honoring the Iowa roots of 4-wheel drive. Our 4×4 and 4-Wheel Drive Class pays tribute to the foundational work of Jesse Livingood in creating a 4-wheel drive attachment for a Ford automobile in 1914.

At the time, Iowa’s road system covered a good portion of the state. Roads, particularly in rural Iowa, were little more than graded dirt. Iowa’s “gravel bees” in 1916 and 1917 saw the first concerted efforts by communities to make huge improvements of these roads.

Livingood lived in New Virginia, Iowa and ran his repair shop out of an empty corn crib on the family farm. He tinkered as he sought to improve traction, reduce wear, and lower the running costs of driving on Iowa’s roads and around the farm. This led him to develop a bolt-on 4-wheel drive system that he fitted to a Ford Model T. The system could be mounted to any Ford chassis in three to four hours, and would provide braking on all corners and sure footing in mud, sand, and snow or any other inclement weather Iowa could muster.

Livingood is credited for many more inventions including the “pulley and ball” thrust bearing, the differential transmission, the speed governor, two- and four-cylinder steam engines, and the four-wheel brake system. Sadly, due to errors at the U.S. Patent Office, Livingood did not profit from his inventions and lived a modest life.

There will be one more collection of Warren County pictures.

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is PASSION:

PASSION

PASSION! What a great theme for Year 8 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

But what is a PASSION picture? First we need to establish the difference between love and PASSION. What separates PASSION from love isn’t just a warm feeling about something or somebody. PASSION is what you are willing to suffer for. That is why the movie is called THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST not THE WARM FUZZIES OF THE CHRIST. Because Jesus’ love for us was so intense that he was willing to suffer for us. In the theme reveal picture it shows the result of Jesus’ PASSION for us as he has been lowered from the cross into Mary’s arms after being tortured to death for our sins. I’m sure there are many things in your life that you love. But this challenge asks you to take a picture of something you love so much that you are willing to suffer for it. Remember though the PASSION in your submission doesn’t have to be your own. It can be somebody else’s PASSION as well.

Happy photo harvesting!

Art, Black & White, Christianity, History, Road Trip, Ruins, Shannon

Warren County Auxiliary Images Vol. 1

October 13, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

A few weeks back I travelled around Warren County with Shannon harvesting the town signs of Warren County. Here is the first collection of auxiliary images from that trip:

Indianola

Ackworth

Beech

Milo

This would be a great idea for people like my neighbor Stan.

I love that Milo took memorial benches up to an 11!

Lacona – Breakfast purchased the day before at Rinehart’s.

Liberty Center

The Town Sign Project Auxiliary Images gallery now houses over 1,000 images! To take a gander, click on the link below:

Town Sign Project Auxiliary Images

There is at least one more collection of images from this trip coming. Probably two.

Art, History, Road Trip, Town Sign Project

Town Sign Project: Fremont County

October 12, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

A few weeks back I cruised around Fremont County on a solo town sign harvesting trip. Fremont County was the third county I harvested on that day. I have no connection to any of the towns in Fremont County. I’ve never left I-29 on any of my trips through Fremont County. However, I was strangely looking forward to Fremont County. Not only because Fremont County is in the southwest corner of Iowa, but also because my Paris grandparents lived on Fremont Street. Funny how the mind works and makes strange connections.

Here are some facts about Fremont County:

+ Population is 6,605. That makes it the 93rd most populous county in Iowa. Right below Ida County and right above Wayne County.
+ The largest town and county seat is Sidney.
+ Formed in 1847.
+ Named after John C. Fremont. An explorer, military officer, U.S. Senator from California and the first Republican nominee for President of the United States. Fremont, is one of the most interesting figures in American history that gets forgotten. But that is just my opinion. I’m not saying he was a great person or a bad person. Like most people of his time that didn’t flat out suck (see John C. Calhoun) he was a mixed bag. But he was an interesting mixed bag.
+ Home of the world’s largest continuous outdoor rodeo in Sidney. Started in 1928.
+ Major highways are I-20, US-59, US-275, IA-2, and IA-333.
+ Adjacent Iowa counties are: Mills and Page.
+ Population peaked in 1900 at 18,546.

Fremont County has an average to slightly better than average looking courthouse:

The Fremont County Courthouse located in Sidney, Iowa.

The Fremont County Freedom Rock is located in Hamburg, Iowa:

With Fremont County conquered, this is the updated Photography 139 Conquest Map:

PURPLE=COMPLTETED

40 counties completed. 40.4% of the Cyclone State conquered.

Here are the town signs of Fremont County:

Sidney, Iowa
SIDNEY
IOWA
Population: 1,070 (-68)

Hamburg, Iowa
You’re Always Welcome In HAMBURG
ESTABLISHED 1858
Population: 890 (-297)

Tabor, Iowa – Also in Mills County
WELCOME TO TABOR
Lighting the Way Since 1852
Population: 1,014 (+58)

Farragut, Iowa
Welcome to FARRAGUT
EST. 1870
“DAMN THE TORPEDOES! FULL STEAM AHEAD!
-ADMIRAL D. G. FARRAGUT
Population: 490 (+5)

Riverton, Iowa
Welcome to RIVERTON
EST. 1870
Population: 245 (-59)

Thurman, Iowa
WELCOME TO THURMAN
Population: 167 (-67)

Randolph, Iowa
WELCOME TO RANDOLPH
Population: 189 (+21)

Imogene, Iowa
IMOGENE
Population: 39 (-33)

Technically a small sliver of Shenandoah is in Fremont County, but not enough to share it yet. That will wait until I reveal the town signs of Page County.

Who has the worst town sign in Fremont County? I don’t know that I think there is a bad town sign in the county, so I’m going to give the distinction to Thurman, even though I actually love its rustic charm.

Then who gets Best in Show for Fremont County? I’m fascinated by how Imogene, a town of 39 people, has such an expensive looking sign. However, they do have a restaurant that is on The Tenderloin Trail 2.0, so it isn’t a town without means. At least the have the means of making a pretty good tenderloin. I haven’t tried it yet, so I will hold back my praises for the time being. I also like the Sidney sign and how it fits in with the rodeo “theme” of their town. Then there is Farragut’s sign. It isn’t the most impressive design, but I stay awake nights wondering why they put quotation marks at the beginning of the quote from Admiral Farragut, but not at the end of the quote. However, my favorite town sign belongs to Tabor. You might be wondering why there is an old-timey lantern on it. Was Tabor once the home of a burgeoning lantern industry. You may be disappointed to find out the answer is “no”. It actually represents Tabor’s place on the Underground Railroad. Here is a snippet on the history of the town of Tabor:

In 1852 the city of Tabor was founded by several Christian clergymen, who were also active abolitionists (George Gaston, Samuel A. Adams, and Rev. John Todd), and their families. They chose to settle in what is now Tabor in order to found a Christian college, which eventually became Tabor College. The founders “were impressed with this high location and mutually selected the name ‘Tabor’ after the Biblical name of Mount Tabor, a mountain near Nazareth, the town of Jesus’ childhood”.

The residents of Tabor held monthly abolitionist prayer meetings, and helped runaway slaves whenever they could.

In the 1850s the abolitionist John Brown kept a store of weapons in Tabor, and met here with other supporters to plan his raids in Kansas and Virginia, including the raid on Harpers Ferry. The town was the home of many abolitionists, including John Tod, a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad and co-founder of Tabor College. Tabor College was located in the city from 1853 until 1927, when it closed for financial reasons. The college’s buildings housed German Prisoners of War during World War II.

Unfortunately, to my knowledge, those German prisoners of war didn’t carve a nativity set that can only be described as exactly what a nativity set carved by Germans would look like.

One last tidbit about Tabor. The novel “Gilead” which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005 was based on Tabor, Iowa.

Anyways, they have a cool sign:

Tabor – Best in Show – Fremont County

A few town have alternate town signs:

Sidney Alternate

Imogene Alternate

Hamburg Alternate

Hamburg

Here is the current list of Best in Shows:

Best in Show – Adair County

Best in Show – Adams County

Best in Show – Audubon County

Best in Show – Benton County

Best in Show – Boone County

Best in Show – Butler County

Best in Show – Calhoun County

Best in Show – Carroll County

Best in Show – Cass County

Best in Show – Cerro Gordo County

Best in Show – Clarke County

Best in Show – Crawford County

Best in Show – Dallas County

Best in Show – Franklin County

Best in Show – Fremont County

Best in Show – Greene County

Best in Show – Grundy County

Best in Show – Guthrie County

Best in Show – Hamilton County

Best in Show – Hancock County

Best in Show – Hardin County

Best in Show – Humboldt County

Best in Show – Ida County

Best in Show – Jasper County

Best in Show – Lucas County

Best in Show – Madison County

Best in Show – Marion County

Best in Show – Marshall County

Best in Show – Montgomery County

Best in Show – Pocahontas County

Best in Show – Polk County

Best in Show – Poweshiek County

Best in Show – Sac County

Best in Show – Story County

Best in Show – Tama County

Best in Show – Union County

Best in Show – Warren County

Best in Show – Webster County

Best in Show – Worth County

Best in Show – Wright County

The next time we hit the open road for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT, we will visit Page County.

Art, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Carla, Christianity, Flowers, History, Nature, Road Trip, WPC - Reminder

BUTLER COUNTY AUXILIARY IMAGES VOL. 2

October 8, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

This is the final collection of auxiliary images I took while on a road trip with Carla to Butler County to harvest their town signs.

Clarksville

If you aren’t down with Mollie B, you aren’t down with me.

Allison

Greene

Aredale

Bristow

Butler Center

Ackley

I plan in great detail the order in which I will harvest the town signs on these trips, but I don’t really plan for other stops. I like these trips to be as organic as possible and to be surprised at the things I find. One of the most amazing discoveries on this trip was that memorial garden/park we found in Bristow with the little chapel. I had no clue it existed and I was so glad we found it.

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This is your reminder that this week’s THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is TIME:

TIME

What exactly is a TIME photo? In a way, all images are a TIME photo because all pictures record a little slice of TIME that will never ever happen again. Your challenge is to figure out how to capture that slice of TIME. Will you use a quick shutter speed to freeze TIME? Will you use a slow shutter speed to make TIME seem more fluid? Will you be more literal and like the theme reveal image take a picture of a TIME recording device?

Happy photo harvesting!

Art, Road Trip, Town Sign Project

Town Sign Project: Montgomery County

October 5, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

A few weeks back I cruised around Montgomery on a solo town sign harvesting trip. Montgomery County was the second county I harvested on that day.

Here are some facts about Montgomery County:

+ Population is 10,330. That makes it the 72nd most populous county in Iowa. Below Mitchell County and above Keokuk County.
+ The largest town and county seat is Red Oak.
+ Named after Revolutionary War general Richard Mongtomery.
+ Birthplace of Clyde Cessna of aviation fame.
+ Location of the infamous unsolved Villisca Axe Murders that knocked the Titanic off the front pages of the nation’s newspapers.
+ Major highways are US-34, US-71, and IA-48.
+ Adjacent counties are Pottawattamie, Cass, Adams, Page, and Mills.
+ Population peaked in 1900 at 17,803.

Montgomery County has a beautiful courthouse:

The Montgomery County Courthouse in Red Oak, Iowa.

The Montgomery County Freedom Rock is located in Red Oak, Iowa:

With Montgomery County conquered, this is the updated Photography 139 Conquest Map:

PURPLE=COMPLETED

39 counties completed. 39.4% of the Cyclone State conquered.

Here are the town signs of Montgomery County:

Red Oak, Iowa
Welcome to RED OAK
Population: 5,596 (-146)

Villisca, Iowa
VILLISCA
Population: 1,132 (-120)

Stanton, Iowa
STANTON
Population: 678 (-11)

Elliott, Iowa
WELCOME TO ELLIOTT
Est. 1879
Population: 338 (-12)

Grant, Iowa
Grant
Population: 86 (-6)

Coburg, Iowa
Coburg
Population: 26 (-16)

Tenville, Iowa – Unincorporated
POP 30
TENVILLE

Montgomery County might have the worst collection of signs to date. But even in a collection of mediocre, it is pretty easy to pick out the worst. Coburg only has a DOT sign. So they have the worst town sign in Montgomery County.

Best in Show is also pretty easy. It goes to Grant, even though their town sign is sitting on the ground in the courtyard of the town bar. I do believe that they are getting ready to put up a new town sign, so maybe I’ll have to check that out again on my future travels, but until then, Grant wins Best in Show.

Grant – Best in Show – Montgomery County

A couple towns do have alternate town signs:

Stanton – Alternate

Red Oak – Alternate

Here is the current list of Best in Shows:

Best in Show – Adair County

Best in Show – Adams County

Best in Show – Audubon County

Best in Show – Benton County

Best in Show – Boone County

Best in Show – Butler County

Best in Show – Calhoun County

Best in Show – Carroll County

Best in Show – Cass County

Best in Show – Cerro Gordo County

Best in Show – Clarke County

Best in Show – Crawford County

Best in Show – Dallas County

Best in Show – Franklin County

Best in Show – Greene County

Best in Show – Grundy County

Best in Show – Guthrie County

Best in Show – Hamilton County

Best in Show – Hancock County

Best in Show – Hardin County

Best in Show – Humboldt County

Best in Show – Ida County

Best in Show – Jasper County

Best in Show – Lucas County

Best in Show – Madison County

Best in Show – Marion County

Best in Show – Marshall County

Best in Show – Montgomery County

Best in Show – Pocahontas County

Best in Show – Polk County

Best in Show – Poweshiek County

Best in Show – Sac County

Best in Show – Story County

Best in Show – Tama County

Best in Show – Union County

Best in Show – Warren County

Best in Show – Webster County

Best in Show – Worth County

Best in Show – Wright County

The next time we hit the open road for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT, we will visit Fremont County.

Art, Black & White, Carla, Christianity, Nature, Road Trip, Ruins

Butler County Auxiliary Images Vol. 1

October 3, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

A few weeks back I tooled around Butler County with Carla harvesting their town signs. I’ve already shared pictures from the beautiful garden in New Hartford. This is a collection of other images I took on the trip.

I have so many questions.

Aplington

I have questions about the hours.

Parkersburg

New Hartford

Shell Rock

I’m not on Boone’s Art Council and I am not privy to their budget or plans, but I think something they could do that would be cool would be to restore the old faded advertising murals in Boone. You can see how cool they look in Shell Rock. There are at least 2 in Boone I can think of off the top of my head that haven’t been painted over that would look great repainted.

There will be one more collection of pictures from Butler County in the future.

Art, Carla, Flowers, Macro, Road Trip

New Hartford Flower Garden

September 29, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 1 Comment

Several weeks back Carla and I cruised around Butler County harvesting their town signs. One of my favorite places we stopped was this cool garden/park in New Hartford. Of course, I took many flower pictures:

I have many more pictures to share from Butler County.

Art, Road Trip, Town Sign Project

Town Sign Project: Adams County

September 28, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

A few weeks back I cruised around Adams County on a solo town sign harvesting trip. Adams County was just the first county I harvested on that day.

Here are some facts about Adams County:

+ Population is 3,704, making it the 99th most populous county in Iowa. Also known as the least populous county in Iowa. Behind Ringgold County and above no counties.
+ The largest town and county seat is Corning.
+ Established in 1851.
+ Named after the second POTUS John Adams or his son the sixth POTUS John Quincy Adams.
+ Was the site of one of the last Icarian Cult (Community) Compound.
+ Major highways are: US-34, IA-25, and IA-148.
+ Adjacent counties are Cass, Adair, Union, Taylor, and Montgomery.
+ Population peaked in 1900 at 13,601.

The Adams County Courthouse is mostly meh:

The Adams County Courthouse in Corning, Iowa.

The Adams County Freedom Rock is located next to a gas station in Corning, Iowa:

With Adams County conquered, this is the updated Photography 139 Conquest Map:

PURPLE=COMPLETED

38 counties completed. 38.4% of the Cyclone State conquered.

Here are the town signs of Adams County:

Corning, Iowa
CORNING
Population: 1,564 (-71)

Lenox, Iowa – Mostly in Taylor County
WELCOME TO LENOX
EST. – 1872
Population: 1,339 (-68)

Prescott, Iowa
Welcome to Prescott
Home of the Kline Museum
Population 266
Population: 191 (-66)

Nodaway, Iowa
A Perfect Place to… NODAWAY
Population: 74 (-40)

Carbon, Iowa
Welcome to CARBON
EST. 1873
Coal Mining Town
Population: 36 (+2)

I’m going to put Lenox aside for now because it is mostly in Taylor County. That really only leaves 4 signs to choose from and that means obviously Corning has the worst town sign in Adams County.

But who has Best in Show of the remaining 3. Prescott and Carbon have solid signs, but it is pretty obvious that Nodaway has the Best Town Sign in Adams County:

Nodaway – Best in Show – Adams County

Only Lenox had alternate town signs:

Lenox – Alternate

Best in Show – Adair County

Best in Show – Adams County

Best in Show – Audubon County

Best in Show – Benton County

Best in Show – Boone County

Best in Show – Butler County

Best in Show – Calhoun County

Best in Show – Carroll County

Best in Show – Cass County

Best in Show – Cerro Gordo County

Best in Show – Clarke County

Best in Show – Crawford County

Best in Show – Dallas County

Best in Show – Franklin County

Best in Show – Greene County

Best in Show – Grundy County

Best in Show – Guthrie County

Best in Show – Hamilton County

Best in Show – Hancock County

Best in Show – Hardin County

Best in Show – Humboldt County

Best in Show – Ida County

Best in Show – Jasper County

Best in Show – Lucas County

Best in Show – Madison County

Best in Show – Marion County

Best in Show – Marshall County

Best in Show – Pocahontas County

Best in Show – Polk County

Best in Show – Poweshiek County

Best in Show – Sac County

Best in Show – Story County

Best in Show – Tama County

Best in Show – Union County

Best in Show – Warren County

Best in Show – Webster County

Best in Show – Worth County

Best in Show – Wright County

The next time we hit the open road for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT, we will make a stop in Montgomery County.

Art, Automobiles, Christianity, Road Trip, Ruins

Sac County and Ida County Auxiliary Images Vol. 3

September 24, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett

This is the third and final collection of images I took while harvesting the town signs of Sac County and Ida County. However all of these pictures were taken in Pocahontas County, Webster County, and Hamilton County.