Saying bye to Bev, I finally hit the road. (I think I extended my stay 2 or 3 times 😅).
I’m not really sure what I was expecting going camping in January. I guess I assumed somewhere in the southeastern United States would be comfortable enough to sleep outside. Instead, I find myself facing an invisible meridian of sub-freezing temperatures stretching from the Great Lakes to Texas, all the way east to the Atlantic.
I’m currently in Keokuk, Iowa. One of the globes biggest geode hotspots (Bev’s suggestion).
Even having my sights on Mineral Wells, Texas (some of the only top-rope-solo accessible walls currently), I’m looking at upper 30s during the day, and low 20’s at night — if I’m lucky. And Mineral Wells is ~15 hours from where I’m at now. Keokuk was -20 (feels like) this morning. That kinda sucks haha. I’m looking for insights via natural immersion, not eating microwave food while hopping from Econolodge to no-name-motel.
I’m still working on not exploding my belongings at every stop.
To my delight, I’ve found a rich cultural tapestry as I continue this downstream journey through the Driftless Area. Okay yeah there are Trump / Vance signs everywhere. But — as far as yard signs go — which I’ve seen a lot of across 2,000 miles — this is the first area I’ve seen unity promoted as commonly as Red vs Blue. I’ll save these thoughts for a later dissection, but it is interesting.
On the way out of town, I stopped at Effigy Mounds National Monument. The mounds were spiritually very cool, but aesthetically pretty unremarkable. That is the mounds themselves, the views from the cliffside were an incredible panorama of frozen river.
This bit about LIDAR is cool. But Black Hawk’s remarks made me sad 😢
Finally leaving Spring Valley, I’ve made a vow to return in warmer weather. I’ll definitely miss hanging with Bev, but the velocity she provided is invaluable. Heading to Mississippi Palisades State Park, I’m looking forward to a break in the cold!
Bonus – here is Bev’s story of her first homestead. She told me how after publication, she received thousands of letters from other women. Unintentionally triggering a whole movement of single women to start their own homesteads.
I think it’s incredibly inspiring.
I have I’ve been ribbed with handles like “Add-A-Shack” and “Tag-Along Farm” and have necessarily acquired a thick skin.
There’s many a time I thought about pasting that bumper sticker “Don’t laugh, it’s paid for!” across my front door. But perseverance has paid off, and now when most people talk of the place there is a sense of respect, and sometimes even admiration for bucking the system while they are still paying their $800 a month mortgages.
We are known throughout the county as a kind of “Old McDonald’s Farm,” and this spring we are opening, by appointment, to private camping and tours for school children, church groups, and older folks. For us, it is one way to share our love for animals and the homestead experience. A dream when I was fourteen, a vision when I was thirty, a homestead of our own now at forty. My children have grown strong here on this land. They have seen dreams come true. It is our home – Mustang Creek.
– From August 1995:
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