Cassville Ferry

This morning, we left our bed and breakfast and headed up into Wisconsin. We spent a rainy morning at Stonefield State Historic Site, which we had almost to ourselves. After lunch, we toured the Nelson Dewey home. Dewey was once governor of the state. We heard our guide mention a ferry across the nearby Mississippi River from Cassville to Iowa and decided to go for it.

We found the Cassville landing just as the Charlie D. docked and we pulled on board. The ride cost $11.00. After perhaps a three-minute wait, it took off again with just us and one other car. The ferry headed upriver for perhaps two miles. It had turned into a sunny day with a pleasant breeze, and we thoroughly enjoyed the trip.

One of the guys in the other car volunteered to take our picture. We had been warned not to expect much on the Iowa shore, and that’s exactly what we found. We were left off at the Turkey River Landing in the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge and had to drive about five miles through woods, marsh and cornfields before we saw a house or a paved road.

We headed south through Iowa, sticking to back roads through rolling farmland. We had stunning views of the Mississippi valley and the cliffs along the Illinois side of the river. Some of the time, we were on dirt roads — that’s how rural the area was. We finally found Dubuque and got back across the river to Galena.

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