Fredericksburg, Iowa

Since I have the time, I thought I'd write about today.  I'm spending the night at my friend Dan's place, in northeast Iowa.  He owns the Hawkeye Buffalo Ranch, which is where I met him on a tour of his ranch several years ago.  I saw him last summer, too, when I stopped in with my parents near the end of our drive to Washington State and back.

I got a chance to feed the buffaloes, and I'm becoming a pro now.  I even managed not to hit the beasties in the face when I threw the corn to them.

I traded him some corn for some buffalo snot.  He definitely got the better end of that deal.

This calf was born a few hours before I arrived.

I also got a chance to eat some buffalo, since Dan cooked a nice dinner of buffalo (from his ranch), baked potato, and fresh snow peas from his garden.  Well, I cooked the peas, but they were very easy.

Dan & a home-cooked meal.

My arrival was from a different direction as the last two times I've been here.  Today's route, courtesy of the GSP that I'm not sure always provides the most efficient route, was through downtown Fredericksburg.  There wasn't a whole lot to see there, but the old one-room schoolhouse caught my eye, so I turned around and drove back to photograph it.

Then as I approached the ranch, I found myself on the first, but probably not the last, dirt and gravel road of my trip.  I've driven on dirt and gravel before, but never realized before today how similar it feels to driving on snow.

The last treat of the day was getting to ride the farm's ATV.  I've never been on one before, but it was fun, especially in the empty field where I wasn't worried about hitting anything.  It took a lot more work than I expected; you need to hold down the gas button the whole time, and the machine sends vibrations up your arms the whole time too.  So it might take getting used to before riding it far.  Alas, no pics, as it was an impromptu ride!