Story Collecting - my favorite pastime

The adventures at Backbone State Park May 25,26 & 27, 2022

A minimum of two nights gives you a full day at the most amazing geological experience in a park which attracts the most exquisite people. It’s been a very moist spring in Iowa and the trees are a thousand shades of green with almost black barks. The contrast of colors was striking as the trees were perfectly spaced and the floor of the forest was covered in new grasses and ferns along Owl Trail. An abundance of well-groomed and maintained trails run throughout the park. A hike along the rocky ridge of Backbone Trail reveled many spring forest flowers. Individual orange and yellow Columbine peeked out from rocks discretely, it took an alternes to see them. Mine, back in the open prairie, grow in clumps and bunches; these were delicately splashed in unexpected places along the trail. May Apples in abundance, Sweet William here and there, wild Ferns and the very beginnings of Queen Ann’s Lace budding. The ancient boulders you had to hike over and around were covered in moss, the broken fragments on the trail were golden. I’d never seen such yellow rocks, all shapes, some sharp and golden, even saw several heart shaped ones, like they’d not been broken off for long and some so old they were pitted with what looked like petrified moss, so they were smooth molten ash and dark gray. A multitude of larks, redwing black birds, orioles, buntings, robins, finches, cardinals, woodpeckers, and many others, hidden in the foliage, sang from early morning to after dark. Crow’s caws echoed. Hawks, eagles, and herons soared above.

It was just a few days before the Memorial Day weekend, the boat rentals were not open, and the beach had no bathers, but every night the geese came home in droves and honked in gaggles. Our cabin was very close to the lake so we could hear the honking, but an abundance of tress prevented us from seeing and the steep slope down prevented a peek through the trees. The honking was very loud. Was it celebratory, urgent, angry or were they crying out for one another? The mystery of it only added to the magical imagining thousands of years back. Who lived here? Dedicated in 1920, this is the first of 47 State Parks protected by the Department of Natural Resources in the state of Iowa. The local community also contributed to its preservation as evidenced by dedication signs and commemorative bricks inlaid in the path around the lodge. Deep purple lilacs surrounded the lodge. It’s been many years since I put my nose in the dark purple lilacs that live inside my memory of childhood.

The community where I live has been growing rapidly, the edges of town and surrounding farmland quickly swallowed up with new homes, progress they say. The traffic congestion now makes what used to be a ten-minute cross-town jaunt, now a thirty-minute-high-alert trek. Backbone is located between the small towns of Dundee (population of 204) and Strawberry Point (population of around 1400). My experience was an exquisite blend of the beauty of nature and mingling with the other park visitors and small-town folk. The human and the spirits. Refreshingly the internet service was so poor, that efforts to use it were quickly abandoned; don’t come here to work.

Conversation was easy with the many people in the park and in the small towns. When visiting National Parks, the variety of people has been fascinating but not nearly as intimate as the people who treasure this little spot of heaven tucked into the everyday life of Northeast Iowa. The first interaction was with a local couple who were fishing at the park lake. Steven said he comes here every day, at the end of the day to toss his line in for a bit. His wife, Tina, patiently waits to see what he’ll snag and drag home. They eagerly shared stories of caring for elderly parents and their personal history of the park, having grown up within a few miles. He told a story of being about 13 when he was enticed to go off the diving board in the lake (long since removed) although he couldn’t swim. Instead of cannonball dive, like the more experienced swimmers, he pencil dived and was stuck in the silt, deep beneath the surface of the water. The quick problem solving of five brothers who formed a chain holding on to one another’s ankles to reach him and pull him out, saved his life. Within a half an hour of chatting with this couple I had a deep feeling of their reverence for life and their willingness to serve their families. As they were leaving, Tina told Steven that she just received a text message that her mother needed help with a pill she was instructed to take. Steven replied, “Well, it’s a good thing then that we didn’t go home, we can just go back from here.” It seemed to me they had a casual agreement, whatever the other one wanted to do, they were happy to participate.

The first evening we visited the local Pub and Grub in Strawberry Point. Wednesday night was taco night and the place with packed with locals. We had a non-wager bet going, “All these people must have lived here all their lives; why would anyone move her?” my traveling companion asked. “Oh, they move her for work.” I replied. “What jobs?” he asked. “Agricultural jobs.” So - he asked a woman, approx. forty-five-years-old that was passing by our table. Initially she was reluctant to reply, suspicious of the question, “Have you lived here all your life?”

Gradually Cindy opened up, she moved her for a compliance job with the USDA. I invited her to sit with us and we chatted for well over an hour, mostly about her German Shepard dogs. I was drinking water but Cindy bought my traveling companion a beer.

The next morning, we went back to Strawberry Point to have breakfast at the Franklin Hotel which is on the National Register of Historical Places. The remainder of the day we explored hiking paths at the park and drove over the several waterways that ran across the road.

The second evening, we stopped into the Dundee Bar and Grill just after 4 pm, right as they were opening for the day. Since we were the first customers of the day, we had a fascinating conversation with the owner.

About an hour later, after his ‘girlfriend’ as he referred to her, got off work from her day job, then attended a meeting at her fifteen-year-old down syndrome daughter’s school arrived to run the bar. He went home to care for the girl. Sometimes she worked at the bar, but today she was tired today, so he stayed with her. Another example of flexibility and concern for one another. The tender way they spoke of one other when the other was not there was precious. You could tell each appreciated the other’s role. “Keith got tossed into this mix and he’s handling it very well.” Kasey, non-emotionally reported to us. She told about the trip they took to Pittsburg to watch their two favorite football teams Eagles (his) and 49ers (hers). Her Christmas present to him and they included his parents on the trip. Keith’s sister drives 45 minutes one-way to help serve every Thursday night (AYCE Wings) and Friday night (Fish fry). Family is clearly important as is keeping the small-town values alive.

Fifty-five years before Keith bought the bar, Faye’s husband came home one day and told her he bought the bar and informed her that she was going to run it. During her close to fifty year assignment, Faye built up a following from miles around of folks who came to her Friday Night Fish Fry. The short-term owner who bought the bar from Faye, changed her routine from haddock to cod and purchased potato salad. Business dropped off. One of the first things Keith did when he brought the business was to visit the retired Faye and ask if he could buy her potato salad recipe which he began serving again, and he also makes the extra effort to prepare haddock. I would quick make a trip back to Dundee for the chance to collect some of Faye’s stories.

At the campsite, the first night we had no neighbors in the four-cabin area where we were staying. We purchased some firewood from a pile of wood stacked outside a trailer home close to the entrance of the park. We tried for over an hour with no success to keep the fire burning. On our trip into Strawberry Point the next morning we purchase some charcoal lighter fluid so enjoyed our fire the second night. By Thursday night we had neighbors on either side of us. We were in Cabin 7, Cabin 8 had a couple who was celebrating their 25th Wedding Anniversary.

“We’ve never really done any type of celebration before so for the 25th we decided to come here for a day. They had packed all their bedding, towels, food preparation and dishware and were enjoying a meal on their picnic table followed by roasting marshmallows for S’mores at their fire. John and Erla told us about their ten children. I got the feeling this was their first night alone in those twenty-five years. I gifted them my ‘Kindness Matters’ car magnet for their anniversary.

The family in Cabin 6 was equally interesting. Jim styed outside chatting with us at length while his wife prepared for their four day stay inside. Nola the dog, who he tells us has quite a following on FaceBook, was the center of his attention. She wore a service dog harness and was on her best behavior. Then Jim took her harness off and she played crazy like any other obedient canine. He informed us he’d trained her himself and was eligible to own a service dog due to his PSTD. He takes her everywhere he goes on airplanes, into public places, retail stores, and basically anywhere he wants to. Jim was a storyteller and seemed pleased to have eager listeners.

Backbone State Park is the best place I’ve discovered to find Iowans enjoying Iowa. It was on this trip I decided to declare myself a story collector.