Monticello, Iowa

 Dubuque, Iowa has never presented itself to us in our travels, and so we’ve decided to make a short detour in our way north to at least drive through town. We’re staying in a small rv park a few miles out of town, in Monticello, IA, in the Blue Inn Campground, site 14.

This rv park is small and smacks of Deliverance since most of the residents seem to be firmly established in their ancient motorhomes with piles of “stuff” everywhere. Our site is in a corner, right by a small stream, with a bit of concrete patio and a feeling of privacy. If we don’t look out the back windows we can pretend we’re camping alongside a nice trout stream!

Driving north on The Saints Highway, out of Canton, we passed through a few miles of rolling hills before easing into Iowa farm land.

Dubuque was known for years as a timber city. Situated in the Tri-State junction of Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin, it is in an ideal commercial location, and, using the Mississippi River as transportation, the city manufactured and transported lumber, John Deere equipment, boats and brew. In the 1870’s, the Diamond Jo railroad line made its company headquarters in Dubuque, making manufacturing even more important because of the ease of shipping. As with so many cities, this city of 60,000 has reinvented itself, and now tourism, technology and publishing are large players in the city’s economy. Sporting events still draw large crowds, as they have since Tommy John pitched for the Dubuque Packers in 1961.

Our time here is very limited, so we rushed into town to see as much as we could. 

The little creek just outside our door is called Kitty Creek, and flows into the Manquoketo River. Just around the corner and on our way into Dubuque, we stopped for a look at Monticello Falls.

This was the site of a flour mill and a hydroelectric plant until it was abandoned in the 1970’s, and was an interesting stop on our way into Dubuque.

Our first stop in this lovely city was the Fenelon Place Elevator. In 1882 Dubuque shut down for an hour and a half at noon so everyone could go home for lunch. A banker built a house on top of the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River and then complained that he spent a half hour each way going home by carriage from his business down by the river. The answer? An inclined railway! Rides were offered to the public, after the banker took his trip, for pennies. The price rose to a dime in the 1900’s and today is two bucks for a round trip. Beats the heck out of a 3/4 mile uphill walk!

The view of the city from the top of the bluff is impressive.

At the bridge on the left in the photo below is the state of Wisconsin. Across the river is Illinois and we’re standing in Iowa!

A trip down the elevator and a walk around downtown brought us to the City Clock.

And a few of the older homes in the area caught our eye.

A short ride down to the river on third street got us to the Dubuque Riverwalk.

Just off the Riverwalk is one of three remaining shot towers. Hot liquid lead mined just outside Dubuque was dropped from the top of the tower through screens and into cold water, creating ammunition for use during the Civil War.

Returning to Monticello via Dyersville, we happened upon the farm where the movie Field of Dreams was filmed.

Two local high school baseball teams had reserved the field as an end of school year/end of baseball season treat and were gearing up for a late afternoon game. Good to see a bunch of young men having a memorable day!

And, if you’ve seen the movie…..

The last leg of our daytrip took us through more iconic Iowa farmland. Open the car door and smell grass and cows!

We have been very pleasantly surprised at our visit to Dubuque, Iowa, and hope to visit again one day.

P.S. Left Monticello and wandered through Waterloo, IA, and Mason City, IA, before settling in for the night at the Diamond Jo Worthy casino in Northwood, IA. It’s a nice overnight spot. Easy night tonight!

Tomorrow: Minnesota!