| Along Our Way Several hundred people were out enjoying a variety of activities on the Raccoon River Valley Trail in west central Iowa on Saturday, October 4, when the weather was almost perfect for the trail’s third annual Fall Festival.
We’ve got the story for you here and in the captions to the 17 colorful photos that are posted below.
“All in all, it was a beautiful day, and there was more activity than in previous years,” said Cindy Jensen, of Panora, a member of the board of directors of the sponsoring Raccoon River Valley Trail Association. She bicycled from Adel to Panora “just to see what type of activity there was along the way,” and concluded, “I think each year keeps building upon the last.”
There were free tram rides on the trail in the Jefferson area, especially for people who because of age or physical condition can’t normally experience much of the RRVT. About 50 people took the eight-mile round-trip tram rides to Winkleman Switch and back.
Before and after tram rides, dozens of people visited the newly-renovated and opened Old Lincolnway Hotel across the street from the trailhead at the Jefferson Depot, checking on the new overnight accommodations available there now.
There was a very popular cookout of “Burgers & Brats at the Bridge” – the 600-foot-long trestle bridge over the North Raccoon River, south of Jefferson.
In Cooper, the RRVT Association and the Committee for a Super Cooper gave trail users free apples purchased from Deal’s Orchard west of Jefferson.
A “Pumpkinpalooza”’ craft festival on a farm five miles east of Yale drew some Fall Festival participants.
And the trailhead area in Panora was really alive with activity. Paul Wendl was running a lunch special at his P.J.’s Drive-In, located trailside. Also there, a three-piece musical group “Star Dusters” played big band music. Orville and Sharon Terry, from the Sew Inspirational logo apparel store in Panora, offered the latest RRVT clothing items. And the “Trick-or-Treat Trail Trek” for costumed dogs and owners attracted about 12 to 15 canine participants, depending when you were counting.
In Linden, the Shiloh Bible Church youth group operated a trailside stand offering sweets, fruit, sodas, hamburgers and hotdogs, with proceeds helping pay for an upcoming mission trip to Argentina.
In Redfield, about 35 bicyclists joined in a crowd of several hundred people eating at the regular Saturday morning early breakfast at the Redfield Legion Hall. Bicyclists holding an annual pass on the RRVT could eat free. “We received a lot of positive comments from the bikers, some of whom had been out there for breakfast before,” said Bob German, one of four RRVT Association board members and volunteers who helped serve the breakfast and clean-up afterward. “We even received a $50 donation to the RRVT Association for the trail. Since we knew quite a few of the other diners, we talked up the trail to others, too, and we had brochures available for anybody who wanted them.”
The largest group of riders on the trail included 13 members of the Bellevue Bicycle Club from the town of Bellevue, Nebraska, south of Omaha. Most of the group rode from Waukee to Jefferson, making all the stops along the way.
A lot of great stories popped out during the day.
James Knigge, a native of Adel now living in San Pedro, California, was back visiting in Iowa, and he and his wife took one of the tram rides. “Being back on this railroad right-of-way reminds me that in about 1949, another young boy and I in Adel decided we were going to take off on a big adventure without telling our parents,” Knigge said. “We bought train tickets from Adel to Redfield, for 10 cents apiece. We rode over to Redfield, spent most of the day, caught the train back to Adel in the afternoon, and I don’t think our parents ever did know about it.”
But it’s doubtful anybody had more fun during the festival than Dean Bortz, a 94-year-old retired farmer who now lives in Jefferson. He and his friend Betty Alexander, 84, also of Jefferson, went on one of the free tram rides, too.
“I’m so happy to get out here and get a look at this trail, because I’ve got a whole lot of memories of riding trains here when the railroad was still operating,” Bortz said. “I grew up on a farm northwest of Farlin, which is a little place just a few miles northwest of Jefferson, and the railroad went right through our farm.
“When I was a little boy – and I’m talking about 85 or 90 years ago – my mother Elizabeth Bortz would take me in to Farlin and buy me a train ticket for Jefferson. I’d get on the train and ride it down here to see my grandmother, Myra Morrison, and she’d be standing right outside the Depot, waiting for me. I’d stay with Grandma for the day, or maybe even overnight, and then she’d send me back home to Farlin on the train.”
Bortz said that later, he “owned two farms out in that same area, northwest of Farlin, that were right alongside the railroad. When the railroad pulled out up there, there was some talk of keeping the right-of-way open for a trail, but eventually most of us decided to take the land back and farm it. I wish now we’d have built the trail through there, just like they did here south of Jefferson. These trails are great things for people to get out and enjoy.” 
The tractor and tram are shown here heading north on the North Raccoon River trestle bridge that is located on the trail, two miles south of Jefferson. Rueter's Red Power farm implement dealership, of Grand Junction, provided the tractor, and one of its employees, Mike Ross, drove for the eight-mile round-trip rides between Jefferson and Winkleman Switch. The tram ride allowed many people who could not walk or ride a bicycle for much distance on the RRVT to see one of the prettiest stretches of trail in the whole state. The RRVT Association rented the tram from the Bruce Mobley Auction Service, of Scranton. (Photo by Joe Connolly of Council Bluffs)
Here the tractor and tram head on north up the RRVT after crossing the river bridge. (Photo by Joe Connolly)
There were ''Burgers & Brats at the Bridge,'' with the RRVT Association offering a lunch at the Kiwanis Club kiosk on the south edge of the trestle bridge over the North Raccoon River. Lunch orders to go were being called in for the tram riders, and the orders were then picked up when the tram made a quick stop at the bridge.
It was busy at the lunch stop, with dozens of people stopping for hamburgers, bratwursts and hotdogs that were being cooked there.
Volunteer Colton Conroy, a college student from Jefferson, is shown here taking a lunch order at the river bridge from Mike Ross, driver of the tractor that pulled the tram.
Rich Osborne, of Jefferson, took the lead on grilling the meat, and the appetizing smell seemed to fill the river valley!
The sandwich preparation line kept a group of trail volunteers hopping at the lunch stop at the North Raccoon River trestle bridge.
Janet and Chris Durlam, of Jefferson, riding their tandem, graciously pulled off the trail to allow the tractor and tram to pass.
RRVT supporters in the Panora community used the old ''Burma Shave'' type signs to promote events going on there during the Fall Festival.
One set of the ''Burma Shave'' signs along a beautiful section of the trail, near Panora.
This set of ''Burma Shave'' signs was displayed along the newly-resurfaced concrete portion of the RRVT between Panora and Linden. It refers to the fundraising campaign underway now to help resurface the trail going north, between Panora and Yale.
Jimi Jo Allen, of Guthrie Center, is show here with her dog ''Riggs,'' costumed as Batman. Riggs was the winner of the costume contest held as part of the ''Trick-or-Treat Trail Trek'' for dogs on the RRVT at the trailhead in Panora. (This photo and those following are from Kristine Jorgensen, of Panora, coordinator of the dog event.)
Shelby Lane, of Panora, wore a vampire's cape herself, and had her little dog ''Squirt'' costumed as a ''captain,'' with a coat, pants and a hat that wouldn't stay on the dog's head very well! Squirt was runner-up in the dog costume contest.
Jessie Campbell, of Panora, is shown with her dog Moose, who was costumed as ''Prince Charming,'' complete with royal purple robe. Moose was the winner of the dog trick contest, demonstrating ''how to slip out of handcuffs,'' according to contest coordinator Kristine Jorgensen.
''Teddy,'' a small poodle recently adopted by contest coordinator Kristine Jorgensen, was costumed as a bumblebee. Look closely to notice Teddy's black furry costume with the yellow-gold stripes and wings.
''Daisy The Witch,'' one of the competitors in the costume contest, is a dog looking for a home. She is a black lab mix, six to eight months old, a mid-sized dog that will grow into a large one soon. She is being ''fostered'' now by Jimi Jo Allen, of Guthrie Center. If you want to provide Daisy a new home, you can call (641) 431-1PET. The dog events during the RRVT Fall Festival were sponsored by the Panora-based group ''PETS,'' which stands for ''Protecing Even The Strays.''Send your comments to carla@Offenburger.com or chuck@Offenburger.com Along Our Way Archives
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The route for the 2008 RAGBRAI -- that's the Des Moines Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa -- included our Greene County seat of Jefferson as an overnight stop on Monday, July 21. More than 20,000 people came to Jefferson, pop. 4,600, that night. Read the amazing story here about a chance encounter three years ago in Florida, where our vacationing local donut king Randy Bunkers warmly greeted a stranger who was wearing a RAGBRAI T-shirt. The fellow happened to be RAGBRAI director T.J. Juskiewicz -- and in the summer of 2008, hurrah! RAGBRAI came our way!
There’s the annual Cooper Prom (for all ages), concerts, basketball, suppers, ice cream socials and people coming through all the time on the Raccoon River Valley Trail. Here is the story on the little community in Greene County, Iowa, that is now home for the Offenburgers.
