Gf Wabash Trace



Connie leans on a Silver City sign attached to an
exquisite mural along the WT. The next town is

Malvern, Shenandoah, Coin and Blanchard

Although the Wabash Trace (WT); located  in southwestern Iowa, did not add a bunch of latitude to my overall goal of cycling border to border; it has been a trail I have ridden the most often, except for Iowa City area trails. If memory serves me, at this age maybe it doesn't, I believe I can account for nine rides on the WT.  The WT resides on the Iowa side of Missouri River across from the Steamboat Trace on the Nebraska side. The WT is a nice sixty-five mile Iowa trail that diagonals from Council Bluffs southeast to Blanchard, Iowa. This trail was built on an abandoned Wabash Railroad rail bed, a rail line that connected Omaha to St. Louis. This railroad was active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Those who have heard the 1828 American Folksong, the Wabash Cannonball, may find it interesting that the Wabash Railroad actually named its train from St. Louis to Detroit the Wabash Cannonball after the song. Years ago, the Wabash Railroad carried mainly freight from Kansas City to Omaha.  When the railroad went “belly up”, trail enthusiasts struck a deal to convert the rail bed to a recreational trail.

The white line is the Wabash Trace. Southwest
is the Steamboat Trace (red). Most of WT cuts
down through the Loess Hills National Natural
 Landmark---thousands of square miles of fine
windblown soil known only of this magnitude
here in Iowa and a region in China.
 

In the future, trail riders should be able to ride on from Blanchard, Iowa to Marysville, Missouri; eventually connecting to one of the nicest trails in the country, the two hundred thirty mile Katy Trail (KT). I will blog more about my experiences on the KT in the future.  Like most trails, the conversion of the Wabash rail line to a recreational trail was done in sections. Several times Connie and I rode the first section from the Iowa School for the Death to the tiny town of Mineola. The beauty of rolling into Mineola, especially late Saturday afternoons, was the tantalizing aromas from the Mineola Steakhouse. It has been a hot spot for wonderful grilled rib eyes and prime rib. My taste buds would hallucinate and still do just thinking about those times. Among all the trails fifty miles or longer I have ridden, the Wabash Trace is the rail-trail I have ridden the most. Often I rode sections where Connie would drop me off to go antiquing and I would ride thirty miles or more and then she would pick me up.

One of our more memorable WT rides was a group ride that included Rick and Pam, Boris and Maxine and Connie and me.  Rick was my officemate and teaching colleague at the University Of Nebraska College Of Dentistry. Boris and Maxine were exchange professors from Brisbane, Australia. We had visited Boris and Maxine in Brisbane when Connie and I were part of the same exchange program between the University of Queensland and the University of Nebraska. I doubt if our Australian guests were as impressed with their Nebraska visit compared to our visit to Down Under, especially when we able to see the Sidney Opera House, Canberra, Great Barrier Reef, O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat and hold a Koala or pet kangaroos.

These guys are soft!! Connie feeds the Kangaroos     

Boris and Maxine

feeding the Scarlet

Rosellas at O'Reilly's

I thought it would be fun to take our guests’ bike riding on the WT. I don’t remember any concern about the weather, yet about twenty miles down the trail, a thunderstorm blew in and “nailed” us. We were all sopping wet even though we were able to seek refuge under a bridge. So much for me being an entertainment director. When I find the photo of the drenched look, I will insert it.


Before the storm, all smiles from the Maze's and Reinhardt's. After the storm we were looking like drown rats and freezing cold from the 35 degree tempature drop. Note this is the younger slimmer version of the Maze's in '95.