Day 10: Chariton, Iowa

Iowa is bordered by the Missouri River on the west and the Mississippi River on the east. Chariton is located halfway between on highway 34. With about 4,600 people and an area of 3.7 square miles, Chariton's population is 98.88% white and leans toward the Republican Party.

Chariton was the birthplace of HyVee (a large Midwest supermarket chain) and hosted their corporate headquarters until a few years ago when they moved to Des Moines. The huge distribution center is still here. We counted about 50-60 trucks.

Midwestern towns tend to have town squares instead of a main street strip. Since Chariton is the county seat of Lucas County, the court house is located on the highest ground in the town in the center of the town square. Old downtown buildings face the court house on four sides. There are old and new businesses in old buildings. Even a Ben Franklin five and dime store.

Our son is putting a new roof on his house, so when we got there, he asked if we wanted to go with him to Menards (like Lowes) to pick up some materials. We said, "sure" and hopped into the pickup. It turns out Menards, the closest lumber store, is 40 miles east in Ottumwa, Iowa.

We had a nice ride and visit. He showed us where a tornado had touched down and flattened a number of trees last spring and where the recent floods along the Mississippi had inundated areas of Ottumwa.

He drives a truck route over this stretch of the road and said he sees literally herds of deer. He said that a hunter had shot the largest white-tail deer on record near here. There was an even larger deer that the hunters were looking for, but they were disappointed when it was killed by a hay-bailer. (What did I tell you about farm implements....)

I was hopeful that the human to livestock ratio was improving in our favor, but turns out that the pig to human ratio in Iowa is 2 to 1. In fact, they have a large pig slaughterhouse in Ottumwa. Our son told the story about a large pig feedlot located on a hill overlooking the highway. The farm had a large pig sewage container that burst and covered the highway. They closed the highway, but I couldn't help imagining the poor driver on that road when this happened -- perhaps saying, "this can't be good."

We had several wildlife sitings. We spotted a white crane on the river in Ottumwa. Our son said that the cranes were as thick as seagulls when the river was flooded. Later we saw a family of feral kittens hiding under a car at the motel. They also have eagles, cougars, owls, etc. Iowa wildlife seems to be as plentiful as the pigs.

By the way, our son said that he actually had some anti monkey butt powder. Since he is a truck driver, someone gave it to him as a gift.

We went out to dinner at the local steak house and had some of that great corn-fed Iowa beef. I think our good weather may be ending. Thunderstorms are coming our way. We take off for Kansas tomorrow.