In Iowa last weekend

[tamrock]

I got home yesterday from my Mothers 90th birthday party in Iowa. I only had a little time to get away last Saturday morning before all the women put me to work, as I'm the only male in my immediate family of my mother, sister, wife and 3 daughters. I got out of bed early in the morn and headed to Lake Rathbun north of Des Moines Iowa and spent a little time in the woods. This reservoir is the result of damning the Des Moines river. I left Iowa before this lake filled up and recalled all the times of trapping muskrat in all the creeks and marshes that feed the big river catching bullheads and hunting squirrels in the wood so long ago before this big lake was there. The shore line looks like a good place to maybe spot some artifacts, but I knew if I got myself immersed in to that activity there'd be hell to pay for not being around, as I was warned by sis not to go off and screwing around away from everyone like I always do. It was a nice cool overcast fall morning and that little dose of the sounds of the woods was just about good enough.

 

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[BosnMate]

I've always pictured Iowa flat and covered with corn. How deep is the lake? Do those steps lead to a house foundation?

 

[tamrock]

I've always pictured Iowa flat and covered with corn. How deep is the lake? Do those steps lead to a house foundation?

Not sure of the depth of the lake. I first listed the wrong reservoir as Rathbun. I changed it as this lake is called Saylorville reservoir. The steps were part of a hiking trail. Iowa has rolling hills where the last great ice glaciers ended as they plowed up the top soils all the way from Canada and the melt created somewhat river valleys and bluffs in the central belt along I80 part of the state. You will also find large boulders from rock formations from Canada known as a glacial erratic here and there in the state pushed in by the last ice age. Iowa is flat in the majority of the state, but I do recall the days of my dads 1964 Pontiac Bonneville with a 421CI and wearing no seat belt, flying down the road and the feelings of weightlessness in the back seat. It was very fun indeed.

 

[old digger]

I see the oak trees are turning to their shades of red, must be getting pretty down there. My brother lives there in Des Moines and goes up to Saylorville every so often.

Hope you had a good time with your mom, and especially celebrating her 90th birthday!

 

[tamrock]

I see the oak trees are turning to their shades of red, must be getting pretty down there. My brother lives there in Des Moines and goes up to Saylorville every so often.

Hope you had a good time with your mom, and especially celebrating her 90th birthday!

She did Diggs, Iowa is a wonderful place in the fall. I'm not in to those hot humid muggy summers they have though. That lake began to fill in 1976 I think and I was gone from there in that time. When my dad was around he had a boat and we'd head out on the lake every time when I'd go back in the summer. It was a low marsh with the Des Moines river running through it before the lake. There were very old iron bridges across the river that were maybe a 100 plus years before the lake covered it all. You will find woodland artifacts in the area if your lucky. I only wished I hunted more of that kind of thing back when I lived there. I'm positive you'll find some interesting things on the shores when it's low like it is this time of year.