The snow is gone. It’s getting nicer outside. After being cooped up all winter, the road trip lover in you is really, really anxious to go out and explore.

You have some places in mind and without thinking, because you’re really, really wanting to bolt and explore, you take off to those places in mind.

How really, really eager are you? You’re so eager that you don’t even do your research and planning. 

Here’s the problem: It’s still March. 

March is a month where the weather is all over the place. Back home in Sterling, there was a day when it reached 80°, and a week later I woke up to see snow on the ground. This unusual weather doesn’t happen in April as much as March. It’s for this, and other reasons, why many interesting places don’t open until April.

I traveled on a recent Saturday to a place an hour west of town that I wanted to see. I was really, really eager to get out of the house and explore. How eager? I didn’t do any research. 

So when I drove to the Buffalo Bill Cody Homestead Site south of McCausland, Iowa, and saw the red gate blocking off the driveway, I realized my grand mistake. It hit me like a ton of bricks that I really should have done advance planning before going. It doesn’t open until April 1.

Well, I drove an hour for nothing. But I sought to salvage this.

Along the way, I saw a sign for the Walnut Grove Pioneer Village, a few miles west. This time I actually looked it up: Also doesn’t open until April 1.

I needed to stop and regroup, and I ate at The Lucky Frog bar and grill in downtown McCausland to find some more places, and write the rough draft of this post. I had a one-pound “full toad” burger. It’s different than usual big burgers elsewhere, served as one wide patty and between artisan buns. Toppings are available (only $0.79 extra for bacon!), but as the picture implies, I’m more of a plain burger person. I haven’t seen a burger as wide since eating at Uncle Linny’s in Pontoon Beach (near Edwardsville) a few years back. 

After finding a couple of more places, I came to the conclusion that I could bundle this into a daylong trip some time down the road. There is a general store in McCausland that I’ll eat at next.

So, basically, this trip simply wound up being a “scouting” drive to find more places to explore. And added another good burger to appreciate. 

Most importantly, this trip served as a lesson: No matter how anxious and eager you are to bolt out of the house to explore after a long winter slumber, it is important to do your research before visiting destination places.

The REAL adventure will come soon.

***

(Late addition to this post)

I actually DID find somewhere to stop at: Lost Grove Lake, west of Princeton, Iowa. This is a man-made lake dug out, just 15 years ago, by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for fishing purposes. Since the construction of this was so recent, I wanted to see if there were any remnants of what used to be there, was still there. Not really, but I think the east-west width of the lake may make for a good sunset view from the east boat launch. I don’t know, that launch area was closed for the season.