Category: Iowa
The Windmill That Took Quite a Trip
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2026/09/2026-0921-Danish-American-Museum-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Many people like reminders of their heritage. For the residents of this small town, the reminders is one very large…windmill. …
Losing Traditions
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2026/09/2026-0918-Danish-American-Museum-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)When a couple marries they often incorporate traditions from both of their families. But for the immigrants from this nation,…
The Danes Come to America
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2026/09/2026-0917-Danish-American-Museum-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Immigrants from many countries came to the U.S. during the 19th century, but the young men from this country often…
The I-80 Truck Stop Museum
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2026/09/2026-0916-I-80-Truck-Stop-Museum-3.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Go down an interstate highway and you’ll find plenty of trucks. While many look similar, there is really a great…
A Passion for Trucking
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2026/09/2026-0915-I-80-Truck-Stop-Museum-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)When Bill Moon opened a truck stop in 1964, he perhaps didn’t imagine his passion for trucking would someday result…
The Largest of Its Kind
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2026/09/2026-0914-I-80-Truck-Stop-Museum-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)It’s the largest of its kind and the story behind it is one of hard work, entrepreneurship and constant reinvestment…
The Lost Nation Christmas Tree Tradition
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2026/03/2026-0414-Lost-Nation-Christmas-Tree.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Many towns and cities put up Christmas decorations during the holiday season. In this small town they put up a…
Lost Nation
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2026/03/2026-0413-Lost-Nation-Iowa.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)In east central Iowa you’ll find the small town of Lost Nation, Iowa. Interestingly, the story of how it was…
Albert the Bull
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2026/03/2026-0320-Albert-the-Bull.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)He is the biggest of his kind and you certainly won’t miss him if you drive into Audobon, Iowa. He’s…
Floyd of Rosendale
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/10/05Nov25-Floyd-of-Rosendale-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)When Minnesota plays Iowa in football each year, the winning team will hoist a unique trophy for all to see. …
A Rivalry Between Minnesota and Iowa
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/10/04Nov25-Floyd-of-Rosendale-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Some universities may have heated rivalries, but one contest between Minnesota and Iowa crossed the line in the 1930s. The…
The Smell Coming From the Place
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2025/05/02Jun25-Cedar-Rapids-General-Mills.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)There’s a smell coming from the place Pete works. It’s an odor that actually attracts rather than repels people, for…
Merle Hay
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2024/11/05Dec24-Merle-Hay.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)For many years whenever I drive around the northern edge of Des Moines, on interstates 80 and 35, I have…
The M&M Divide
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2024/11/04Dec24-MM-Divide-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)We’ve all heard of the Continental Divide, but have you heard of the M and M Divide? That high point…
The Lincoln Highway
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2024/11/03Dec24-MM-Divide-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)Before today’s network of interstate highways was built, there were early routes constructed to cross the nation and help the…
Heider Tractor
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2024/11/02Dec24-Heider-Tractor.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)In the early 19th century, many companies began to build tractors. A wide variety of designs were used to try…
The Near-End of the NBA Lakers
Today the Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most recognized teams in the NBA. But one night in Carroll, Iowa back in 1960, the…
Handy Skills for Landing in an Iowa Cornfield
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2024/11/27Nov24-Lakers-Plane-Crash-Carroll-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)During World War II many airplanes made landings on places other that a smooth concrete runway. The planes of the…
A Town Buzzed by a DC-3
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2024/11/26Nov24-Lakers-Plane-Crash-Carroll-1.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)It was a cold, snowy night in 1960. Residents of one Iowa town were mostly asleep when they suddenly began…
Matchstick Marvels
https://americancountryside.com/wp-content/gems/2024/10/08Oct24-Matchstick-Marvels-2.mp3Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)I had long wanted to go see what so many people had told me about. A small gallery of sorts…
