This trip is proof that there are interesting places right under your nose that you might not have known – all you have to do is go out and roam.

As much as I like to roam around the Midwest, there are still places I haven’t been to that are within 90 minutes from home. One day in late July, I pointed in a direction and went on it as far as I wanted to go. There were places that I’ve known about, and others I stumbled upon for the first time.

That’s the true beauty of a road trip.

This trip took me to places north of the Iowa Quad Cities, which is an area that I never really wandered around until now.

*** Follow along visually by opening up the following photo album for this post in a new tab/window: “Eastern Iowa #RoadTrip – July 2025“ ***

Come see what I found …

Eco Center at Rock Creek, Camanche

Hidden off the beaten path of U.S. Route 67 between Camanche and Shaffton is the Eco Center at Rock Creek, located within the Rock Creek Marina and Campground. This area along the Mississippi River is full of rarely-touched sloughs, and thus a haven for wildlife to hang out. This is also the first scenic point along the “new” course of the Mississippi, which once diverted to the east through Illinois starting at a point a few miles north near Albany. The mouth of the Wapsipinicon River is just to the south of this place.

While the campground gives campers a closer look at nature, those who aren’t in a camping mood can visit the Eco Center and learn about how such an area is beneficial to nature and wildlife. There is a large, 8,000-gallon fish tank that acts as a wall between two rooms, with a couple of fish bigger than what most kids typically see. Fish feedings are at noon on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Kids who love getting a little up close with water creatures can enjoy this place. Another fish tank with an open top on a small table allows kids the opportunity to touch fish (but not pick them up), which is sure to provide some smiles on their faces. On top of a circular centerpiece diorama is an area where a group of turtles have a place to wander in and out of the water; with glass looking inside the water to see the turtles swimming around.

Other creatures such as Western Fox Snake are found in areas like this, and one of them has a home under glass at the Eco Center. A false tree gives visitors access to see the snake in a darker setting. There are also a couple of crawl spaces where kids can roam about as well. The place also has a snack bar.

Not many camping places along the Mississippi River have an indoor nature center where people can get up close with certain animals, but this is one of them.

Buffalo Bill Cody Homestead, McCausland

The most famous person to come from the area between Davenport, DeWitt and Clinton is Buffalo Bill Cody, a pioneer-themed entertainer of the 1800s. While LeClaire is the go-to place for many things Cody, his limestone homestead a few miles north of LeClaire, outside the town of McCausland, also is a Cody site to see. (See my Dec. 2023 article in Lake Lifestyle for more on LeClaire!)

Cody lived in the home during the mid-1800s and much of it has been preserved. The outside has an area where a couple of buffalo roam (they were hiding on this particular day), and a small modern shed has a collection of old farming equipment that pioneer people such as Cody would have used on the farm. Back then, as a sign reads, it too a half-day to make a six-mile round with one person and one yoke of oxen.

The entrance to the home is in the back, where visitors are greeted by a volunteer who staffs an information counter. The tour around the two-story home (no lifts) is $2 and is assisted by a laminated sheet of paper which explains the rooms and items, along with the life of the Codys and subsequent homeowners. It was used as a private home all the way up to the mid-1900s, when restoration efforts were made to make it into a tourist attraction.

If one is unfamiliar with the pioneer way of life, touring the homestead gives one an idea of what it was like. For example, we take push brooms for granted as an everyday household item, and simply buy them from a store. Back then, old corn stalks were used as the brushes and positioned on a stick to sweep the floors. Heating beds on a cold night was a different task, too.

Learning about the pioneer way of life may be boring to some, especially kids who are used to modern technology and conveniences, but what happens when they are taken away all of a sudden? How do you clean a floor with no broom? How do you heat a room with no ventilation? There is much to learn for that one odd day by making a visit to this place.

Don’t shoot!

I like to find things and make jokes about them when I’m driving down the road. It’s one of the ways it gets my mind off of the everyday things and keeps me engaged while zooming through cornfields.

One such sign caught my eye: Cody Shooting Complex.

Of course, it’s just a simple sign to a shooting complex near McCausland. However, I tapped into a little creativity and made this discovery into a joke: “It’s where people shoot Codys.”

I didn’t actually go to the place, but took a picture in front of a sign and remarked that I better get away from this place.

I had an early lunch at the Corner Market in McCausland. This is a convenience store that also serves a menu of hot food, with a couple of tables to sit at and watch whatever’s on the TV. The place makes a Texas BBQ brisket sandwich that I had, and I liked it.

Dan Nagle Pioneer Village, Eldridge

We’re closer to the Quad Cities, and near a place that is seeing some growth to the north of Bettendorf and Davenport. Small towns such as nearby Eldridge are experiencing a population boom in recent decades and slowly linking up with the QC cities. Before it starts to feel a little more urban, the Dan Nagle Walnut Grove Pioneer Village reminds people of what rural Scott County used to be like more than a century ago.

The Village is a collection of rural Scott County landmarks that have seen their original use fade into the past, but their structures given a lease on life with their transport to this place, such as a nearby rural church and the Donahue train depot. The place also has replicas of what important community-staple buildings were like back in the day, most of which are laid out in what looks like a Wild West town.

Most of the buildings are accessible, either fully or in part. The church building still is used for weddings on occasion. The street-like display offers time warps to what places such as saloons, blacksmiths, barber shops, banks, general stores, fire departments and telephone companies looked like. The saloon has been converted to an ice cream parlor, where old-fashioned sodas also are served.

A newer building with vintage farming equipment also is on site.

Pieces of local rural history are used at each place to help tell local stories and put a connection to them. Walnut Grove once was a small town in the 1800s near this spot, but it faded away when the Milwaukee Road bypassed it in favor of Eldridge, which is to the west.

If the kids get a little bored along this way, have them stop for the ice cream here, and then head to Eldridge at The Fun Station.

An attraction that “pops” in Dixon

Continuing northwest from Eldridge, I visited a place that I actually stopped at a couple of years ago, but wanted to return for sake sharing to you for this trip.

The small town of Dixon, Iowa has nothing much in it other than the town’s American Legion. That is, unless you also include the Dixon Pop Machine.

You read this correct: the pop machine as a tourism destination has been amplified. It has its own Google Maps pushpin, and a LED display there welcomes people to the pop machine and serves as the community bulletin board.

There are actually two Pepsi bottle pop machines there, and they are modern so that dollar bills are accepted. Unlike last time, I didn’t wind up buying any pop from there because I’m actually trying to limit my intake. It does have a couple of buttons for bottled water.

In addition to the pop machines, the site also has a small shed to the left which had chickens when I first visited a couple of years ago. They weren’t there this time, so I’m not sure what’s going on there.

Farmer Burns, wrestling champion

Wrestling is looked at in two different styles: There’s the grappling sport in high school and college, of which Iowa is a national hotbed. There’s also the WWE sports entertainment version of it. Farmer Burns was a figure at the late 1800s fork in the road where these two versions of wrestling split off.

Burns grew up in a log cabin outside of Big Rock, Iowa in the 1870s. He made a name for himself through the traditional grappling and entered the sports entertainment side of the spectrum, where he defeated Evan “Strangler” Lewis in 1895 to win the American Heavyweight Championship – one of the several precursors to the more modern National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) championship which peaked with Ric Flair and Harley Race in the 1970s and 1980s.

Burns also operated a wrestling school in Rock Island, the location of which is something I’ll need to research. Iowa’s strong presence as a wrestling state hit a new high with Dan Gable and the University of Iowa in the 1980s (Iowa City being a half-hour west of Big Rock). The Quad Cities’ popular places for the sports entertainment side of the sport once were at the Palmer Auditorium in Davenport and Wharton Field House in Moline before The MARK became the metro area’s prime venue. WWE’s Seth Rollins, who lived in nearby Buffalo, is the current WWE World Heavyweight Champion at the time of this post.

In Big Rock, a memorial to Burns stands on a grass lot near a crossroads. It was dedicated by members of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Waterloo. His family cabin is long gone, and the town doesn’t have much else left anymore; an old general store closed in the early 2010s.

Burns is buried outside the town of Toronto, which is about 10 miles north of Big Rock. St. James Cemetery is one of those rural cemeteries that has a long dirt driveway that leads to a group of stones. Burns’ is around the southeast corner of the group, and notes his accomplishment as a wrestling champion.

Wrapping up

I had late lunch at Heinee Jo’s in Toronto (which, by the way, one more international “city” I can claim to have been to). It’s a small bar where the Bridge playing crew was wrapping up. There are also some memories of town history there. The Heinee Jo’s logo is unique: the “J” is designed to look like one’s heiney.

I also ventured a little west just to get a glimpse of a place that I hope to later visit one day: there’s a woman in Clarence who is a huge Elvis Presley fan and has her front yard on U.S. Route 30 decked with Elvis displays. I believe she also has an indoor display of stuff, too.

In DeWitt, one of Pizza Hut’s “Classic” locations is still there. Since I had already eaten, I didn’t stop in. I’m wondering just how “classic” it is. During a recent road trip around the Quad Cities this summer, I stopped at a Classic location in Geneseo. While the stained glass lights, plaid tablecloths and large “Book It!” logo were still there, the white interior walls didn’t remind me of what it used to be. I’m hoping when I visit the DeWitt location, its interior is more of the classic brick motif.

I also found two “Mystery Machine” vans along the way, decked out in the schemed used in Scooby Doo. One was at a repair shop in Clarence, the other was parked in front of a business in Clinton that uses it for travel.

This is all just a summary of what I visited during this day. I hope to write separate, more in-depth posts about these places sometime to give you more information about these particular places. Until next time, keep on exploring!

*** Follow along visually by opening up the following photo album for this post in a new tab/window: “Eastern Iowa #RoadTrip – July 2025“ ***