U.S. Highway 34 that cuts through the southern part of Iowa is nondescript to some people, unexceptional to others, and downright dull to still others. Portions of it are now four lanes, which make it a handy bypass around such towns as Fairfield and Mt. Pleasant, freeing travelers of the downtown, stop-and-go traffic, but perhaps even adding to the highway’s featurelessness and colorlessness.
Few people realize, in our age of interstate highways, that Highway 34 runs coast-to-coast and was once a main thoroughfare for people (and the military) traveling cross country. When we lived in Colorado, and were about to move to Iowa, I noticed with interest that the Highway 34 that went through Loveland and Greeley, Colorado was the same Highway 34 bisecting Mt. Pleasant. Hmmm. On one occasion, not being in such a hurry, I actually made the trip on 34, thus avoiding the I-80 gig, and seeing so much more of rural America. I meandered through the tiny Nebraska towns with their giant elevators, railroad depots, and seed-corn-cap-filled coffee shops, noting with interest that Highway 34, in many places, was a stone’s throw from Big Brother I-80. Double bottoms rolled and roared, scaring the bejesus out of vacationing Disney World goers, just a few hundred feet from a world almost forgotten and rapidly disappearing. Mixed in with the seed-corn caps, were cowboy hats, sparking the imagination. There are still real, live ropers out there.
Now that Highway 34 is taking on the appearance of a high-speed interstate, it is in danger of slipping into the rapid-transit, non-noticed mode, elevating (or de-elevating) it to the nameless, mindless world of get-to-where-you’re-going-as-fast-as-you-can.
However, if one is observant to detail, and actually looks around between cell-phone calls, Highway 34 still has a lot to offer. Traveling west to east, between Ottumwa and Fairfield, you may notice a plywood sign rigged onto a farm wagon. “NO EMINENT DOMAIN” it proclaims loudly. Story has it that a farmer, Tom Krumboltz, not happy about Hwy 34 bisecting his farm ground, exercised his First Amendment rights and erected the sign. (If it had been me, I’m not sure I could have spelled “Eminent Domain” right.)
Then, just on the east edge of Fairfield, if one looks real close, there is a life-sized rhinoceros made out of chicken wire, and filled with leaves and lawn clippings. I’m not fooling. The anomaly is owned by Joy and Brian Messer. It has a garden hose attached so that water may be added to aid the flowers and moss that grow thereon. The deer love the flora rhino, and think it’s an all-you-can-eat salad bar. One of the reasons Brian Messer had to have this creature, was to rival the concrete pig just up the road.
The pig is owned by Jerry and Sandy Nelson and weighs 600 lbs — it ain’t going to get stolen! The Nelson’s decorate their concrete pig per the holiday or season. There’s the Christmas pig, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Easter, St. Patrick’s Day, you name it. For combining, it’s “Have a safe harvest” and the pig wears a seed-corn cap. Locals use the pig for a landmark. “Just drive a mile west of the pig, turn right, and it’s the first …”
So, I wouldn’t say Highway 34 is turning into a boring interstate. Look around, shut off the cell phones, enjoy the ride.
Have a good story? Call Curt Swarm in Mt. Pleasant toll-free at 1-866-385-3955 or email him at cswarm@humana.com.