I visited these small Iowa towns: Grand River, Kellerton, Mount Ayr & Bedford. New videos every Wednesday & Saturday. Joe's Instagram: / joeysroadtrip Travel Vlog 242
Hello, although I am from Bulgaria and have little to do with USA I find your videos very interesting. Seeing little towns that I have never imagined existed, and taking a glimpse at the life in those towns is fascinating. Have a great day!
As of 9/10/23 the house you asked about in Kellerton, IA is listed for sale at $42,000 and the house in Mt Ayr is listed at $182,000. HyVee is a popular 280-store grocery chain throughout the upper midwest. Loving the ride. Keep it up.
The prettiest part of Iowa is the NE corner Driftless Region (which also encompasses MN, WI, and IL). Glaciers missed this region so it consists of rugged bluffs, coulees, trout streams, and pre-ice age tree stands. My wife says that Appalachia is like the Driftless Region on steroids. I recommend you visit Dubuque, Galena, Guttenberg, Lansing, Decorah, Viroqua, La Crosse, etc.
@@joycelebaron2582 Ha, well we loved our last trip to Pigeon Forge and the Smokies. Also loved Chattanooga. Hoping to spend some time in Knoxvville as well.
Iowa is awesome! I left vowing NEVER TO come back…. 10 yrs later, I was, GET ME BACK. Europe, several states, and BORING IOWA IS THE BEST!! Love Iowans!
It's interesting to hear some segments of our society talk about how overpopulated and crowded our country is. Just drive and you will find that there is plenty of room, maybe we should stop flocking to city centers and thinking that is the norm. I love these videos I get to tour the nation from my living room and then decide which places to actually go thanks to Joe and Nic.
The house is $45,000 in Kellerton. These are very peaceful towns, but I couldn’t live in these kinds of places. I like having my suburban conveniences.
Iowa is boring. Even Des Moines nearly a half a million people (metro area) has nothing to offer except for 3 day long gun shows and high school sports. Young people are leaving. Run for your lives.
to be honest everything looks so manicured. the grass is cut. no wild bushes. doesn't look abandoned. there are people over the world who only dream to live in such environment.
Trivia: in 1873, Jesse James robbed a train in Anita, Iowa, and then stayed at the Garland Hotel afterwards. The wife of the hotel's owner was James' cousin. There was also a tunnel for the Underground Railroad that stretched from the hotel to a livery stable to help slaves escape to freedom.
An awesome video, as always. I never get tired of exploring these lovely old country towns, there are so many hidden gems in among the trees in the residential areas, and I love the old buildings in the downtown area. I enjoy your videos very much. Thanks so much, Joe and Nic.🥰
We visited here in the 70's because MIL was from Maloy and this is the county seat. We brought her with us on vacation so she could visit her childhood home. I was born in Ames and we were visiting my family . After 52 years in CA I moved back. It was wonderful. Got connected to aunt & cousins. Loved it.
I'm here in Australia and I purchased a Polk Iowa license plate at a local antique store. The plate is from 1979 and has FOX 082 on it. And also has the small stickers on it from when it was last registered
Man you have become one of my favorite channels. I get so excited when I sit down in the morning with a fresh cup of coffee and see you've uploaded a new video. It's like I get to drive through America with you. Also, thank you for highlighting beauty everywhere you go. It's all around us if we are willing to see it. Cheers!
Iowa in the summer is a beautiful place and unimaginably big. Just dont come back during the winter. In Iowa cities you will meet people from all over the state's small towns. They are leaving in large numbers for better employment and higher quality of life. The people in these small towns are fiercely proud of their way of life. These are people that still believe in hard work, looking out for each other, and value personal freedoms above all else. Whether right or wrong, they have seen modern America and reject it.
It occured to me that the reason populations of the towns appear to have shrunk isn't because there are less households, but because there used to be a lot of kids. I'm the oldest of eight, but you don't see big families anymore.
You don’t see many kids at all in these towns. That’s why most of the average age of the towns is over 40. Most kids move away after high school or college to get jobs so only older people are left.
One of the things you might want to look at is the number of farms in the area that call these towns home. The children would be attending the schools and the banks in the towns would have their business. The grocery stores would serve them as well. I grew up in Iowa and lived in smaller towns.
I just find it fascinating the respect of other countries and towns and cities Keep up the good work bro and also anyone that works behind the scenes that is good and bad in every place you live and visit i5 from Chester UK 🇬🇧👍
The house with the upstairs balcony and cupola was really appealing to me. It emanates HOME! I love tagging along with ya'll seeing all these places. Thank you.
I LOVE to see that so many of the towns still have brick paved streets. I have fond memories of the brick streets of Cedar Rapids IA, especially 2nd Ave and the trees along the street that made it seem like driving in a tunnel.
$45,000 for the Kellerton house at 12:36. Year built - 1903, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, 1,088 sq ft. Mount Ayr house at 24:22, year built - 1936, 3 beds, 2 bath, 1,479 sq ft, $182,000.
I've been watching a number of your videos over the past few months. Great stuff! Thanks for visiting south(west) Iowa, I spent some of my formative years in Greenfield. We played football and wrestled Mt Ayr and family knew some people in Bedford so I know those towns well. If you ever get a chance to visit Greenfield it's really a nice little town with a courthouse square and restored opera house (w/ some help from Norman Lear who filmed Cold Turkey there in '69) And there's Winterset right down the road, with John Wayne's childhood home. Clarinda & Villisca both have interesting histories. Thanks for the ride alongs!
Perfect timing! I moved to Cedar Rapids from So. Cal. last year. I used to explore dying or ghost towns via motorcycle travel. Good to know there are places in Iowa to explore. Thanks!
My daughter drove from Michigan to Iowa to buy a German Shepherd puppy 8 years ago. I thought she was crazy but the puppy grew to be beautiful. The only down fall is she sheds enought fur to make a small animal.
I'm about 10 minutes north of the Iowa border, so near the other end of the state. But yeah, pretty standard looking small towns there....especially the diagonal parking stalls downtown. I'm sure you'll be seeing plenty more Hy-Vee grocery stores and Casey's General Stores if you're heading into my neck of the woods. Looking forward to your next video!
Something I'm considering is purchasing a building or two from these ghost towns to reassemble on my acreage. Some have so much character and the materials would be out of any reasonable budget to build new. Before living in a remote rural town one must consider the following: Weak TV and phone signals, no cable or DSL (much less fiber), lack of stores, distant medical services, no vehicle parts and repair services and so on.
It might be shocking to you to find out that in Iowa we have high speed fiber optics 😮 cell towers 😮 and most county roads are paved. We have community college all over and 3 universities 😮 Ahhh, civilization is alive and well, and we like our peace and quiet.
@@DonariaRegia eh, the coasts thinks of us as a flyover state. We just hope the liberals don't discover us, move here, and bring their crap politics and high taxes with them. ✌
@@handmadeiowa Cool but 70% of the economy comes from blue counties and Iowa receives $2.5 billion more from the federal government than paid in taxes. You're welcome! Enjoy! 😇
Enjoyed watching your travels through the little towns in Iowa..big thanks for showing the post offices! you guys are great! Can't wait for your next video! Happy Fourth of July!
Hey thank you for taking us thru these 4 Iowa towns. Love the visuals, commentary and very relevant facts. Know Mt airy well, you represented it well. Lived in w Iowa years ago. Thanks, schoephf.
I retired a few years ago and moved from Maryland to a small town in western IA. I like it here, folks are friendly, housing is affordable, but my first winter out here is proof that "no one moves to the Midwest for the weather.". It got down to -25F. I had never in my life seen it below 0. And the summers are very hot and humid. Guess you can't have everything!
Yes! fly those flags high! I luv seeing USA Patriotism. July 4th is around the corner. When I lived there many yrs ago, it's what I loved the most about Americans. Happy Canada Day fellow Canadians. Love your Channel Joe n Nic.🤩
@@daviddecelles8714 I've been trying since before 2015 personally but as you may have noticed, Canada has quite the problem with passivity & it's how socialism & now communism has crept in. Now @ warp speed Globalism. I'm not one of those 'oh I'm sorry' or passive Canadians. Honk Honk!
Thank you for your Road trips. Love traveling along with you and Nicole without ever leaving the comfort of our home. Those old towns in Iowa looked pretty nice. Best Patty
The closest hospital to Grand River is in Mt. Ayr, which on Google is 21 miles, or 25 minutes away. When you went down Main St. there was a 2-story building and it's for sale at $199,000 (2 units, refurbished). It used to be the Grand River Opera House 100 years ago. The selling point for the area is that it's 10 minutes from Sun Valley Lake, and 4.5 miles from 6000 acres of public hunting grounds.
Here's some info about the Hyvee store in Mount Ayr straight from Wikipedia. Hy-Vee, Inc. is an employee-owned chain of supermarkets in the Midwestern and Southern United States, with more than 280 locations in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, with stores planned in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. According to local news, Hyvee has 'secured' 12 acres about 1 mile from were I live in Fern Creek Kentucky, and are scheduled to open the store this year.
I don't really care for big cities because they are overpopulated and everyday there is at least one car accident. The resources are limited too. If someone is right behind you almost every time you turn around, well that place is crowded.
Another great video. I love you new touches to the video, including the map of your journey showing all of your stops. One suggestion, and I’ve seen this in a few of your videos, is more pictures of parks or recreational areas. I would like to see the towns high school football stadium if there is one. I’m fascinated with all of these places you’ve gone to since there are places I have never or rarely visited. I’m a west coast guy and I like seeing other parts of the country. Thanks for your continued great work and keep the videos coming. Can’t wait for you to come out west.
I had no idea those towns out there in the far midwest (I'm from Ohio) were so beautiful, I'm literally stunned to see such pretty towns!!! I also had no idea the countryside between them would be so beautiful, I expected it to be like Ohio, where all the roads (out of town) are flanked by farmland, which is somewhat pretty, but not like that beautiful scenery between the towns in this video. I wonder if you might stitch all the video footage of your drives between the towns, and I'm sure you probably don't have a lot, and stitch them together into a single video, with no narration, no music, just the sound of driving. I think it might make a nice soothing video that might help those of us with insomnia. Just a thought, and something you could do with your existing and future footage that I would love to see. Anyway, this video and the previous one have been my favorites of yours so far, though I have enjoyed them all! I eagerly anticipate the next one!!!
Hello.. I saw your video on my hometown Maryville, MO, it was nice. Two things, I wished you would have continued on that street because them you would have seen our freedom rock for veterans and would have liked you to drive towards the university, you would have seen some really nice big homes. 😊 My mom and uncle grew up in Mount Ayr, IA and my grandma lived there until she passed. I always liked visiting that town. If you had had extra time, you could have gone up to the third floor of the courthouse and seen a painting of the courthouse that my grandpa Hixson painted in the 70's I believe and who was engineer for the town until he passed away. When you drove into Bedford, you can in the old way. The frosty tree, you showed is delicious!! You must have came into town when it hadn't opened just yet.. but it's still in business 😁 I think they still have what's called a pizza burger (one of my favorites and their hot fudge sundae). In Mount Ayr, the theater was closed for a while but thankfully someone brought it back and their library should still be in business, you could have came at the wrong time of day.
Great video, enjoyed downtown Bedford, the brick streets and courthouse really stood out. Nice to see the level of self-respect the residents had for themselves, showing their pride for their country and maintaining their homes. Safe travels, Cheers!
I’m new to this channel and I love how you go through the statistics of everything and take time to explain the little bits of history. Entertaining and educational at the same time. Much love from Australia 🇦🇺
I really enjoy watching these videos. I've never been outside of Australia and I usually look at placesjke this on google earth on my laptop. Its amazing to see so many places of a decent size just abandoned or almost abandoned
Love the old rat rod at the Mount Ayr gas station. Rat rods are left in their rusty state on purpose. That old small block Chevy would probably light right off. More cool old railroad towns on mostly old CB&Q branch lines that were abandoned in the 40s-60s. Great video, thanks much!
5:00. Yes - It is absolutely still being utilized. People from about an 80-mile radius come here twice a week to attend Services. They believe that the actual building is not the church - the Congregation is the church. They can hold their Services in an open field if they had to.
Been watching for a while now(from UK),and must admit i'm surprised you haven't been pulled up by the local police as you cruise around very slowly. Someone could have mistaken you for a burglar "casing the place",and the sheriff pull you over. (would be a way of meeting the locals!). I toured the States further west,but this area looks really interesting and what i'd picture rural America to be.
Not permitted here to pull someone over absent reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct. No such reasonable suspicion arises despite a Texas plate and videoing. Suspicion might arise, however, in the mind of a U.K. denizen (said jokingly). You're welcome to re-visit.
Most of these sleepy little towns don't have grocery stores or gas stations. So I'm pretty sure there's no police station or sheriff patrolling the streets!
@@daviddecelles8714, I’ve lived in the Ames/Des Moines area for thirty years, and have been pulled over twice for having out of county plates, and that was the only explanation after holding me for twenty minutes.
Thankyou ! For sharing these places, so much to see as your traveling along...there's alot of different and interesting buildings..."love it Joe", take carel and safe travels !..God bless America and our freedom's .🌼
I’m from New Zealand and your video’s are my favourite to watch. Fascinating because of the history behind the towns and the beautiful houses that once was. Cool
Hey Joe! I really enjoy watching your videos. I like the way you focus on the architecture of each small town you visit. I'm originally from Illinois and my paternal grandmother lived in Lewiston Illinois. It's the county seat of Fulton County. There's a larger town close to Lewiston called Canton. Named after Canton, China. There's a reason for that. Look it up. Quite interesting. 👍
Thank you for your videos. It's a true joy to be able to see these otherwise remote towns and get a glimpse of what the culture is like in these areas. I often would wonder what growing up in rural Iowa, Nebraska, etc. would be like, and this seems to cover that wonderfully. Please keep the videos coming!
The house in Kellerton can be yours for $45,000. I loved the road you were driving on leading into Kellerton. I like the town square in Mount Ayr. Love the red brick roads, the old gas station and the library. Bedford looks nice too. Gorgeous courthouse! Since I’ve only been to Cedar Rapids, I enjoyed seeing other areas of Iowa. Have a great weekend!
I love your channel I never seen Iowa before. Even though is a Ghost town status looks clean . That house you passed by is actually $45,000 lol . Thank you for taking us this far . I love all the information we get and some history.
Most of the small towns that Lord Spoda travels through look aimilar , no matter what state they are in . Long live Lord Spoda AKA Joe & Nic for showing us the good old USA ! Even these places are far better than places in other countries .
To add glad you made it here! Some beautiful areas and diverse areas of the state you would find interesting...including Iowa City and several of the Mississippi River towns
I'm from Scotland so I thought I'd look up the population of Ayr to give you a comparison. The estimated population in 2021 was just over 46,000. Keep up the great work with these videos. I love travelling the US with you.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip I wonder if the British phonebox (17:01, 17:37, 21:47) came from Ayr. : ) The former hotel in Bedford even has its own Wikipedia page; Bedford House (Bedford, Iowa) Love your relaxed, unrushed presentation style to capture the feeling of each place you visit, thank you!
The house for sale in Kellerton was built in 1903 and is a 2brm, 1bth and is currently listed for $45,000. The cute little house in Grand River on the corner was built in 2000 and is a 1brm, 1bth and is for sale for $29,000. It is currently rented at $400/mth with a long term tennant since 2018.
Thank you! I have been enjoying your travel videos, love your respectful approach to your subject matter. This video brings back LOTS of personal memories because the towns you cover alongside HW 2 are where my ancestors settled in Iowa. Kellerton and Mt Ayre for my father's side. East of I 35, Leon, where my mother and I were born and graduated from the same high school (since torn down). Near Kellerton on the north side of HW 2 you would have passed by a farm with a number of well preserved old buildings. That used to be a great-grandparents' farm. I remember as a 5 or 6 year old riding on the hill with Grandpa Vance on his John Deere A tractor, and being in that house. They moved to a big house in Mt.Ayre, then to a nursing home where she eventually died at the age of 104 years. As a 10t grader, my first wrestling match was in Bedford. I also wrestled in My Ayre where I saw my father's photo with his high school track team. Our rural phone company was Grand River Mutual. I bought two registered Polled Herford heifers near Grand River. All this was decades ago, back when these towns were much more active than they are now. The land remains but the people and the buildings pass away. Your videos are a fitting remembrance.
My dad grew up in Kellerton and Beaconsfield. My Grandma ran the telephone switchboard[1940's]. we visited it in the 80's and I remember a large abandoned school in Beaconsfield. Thanks for the video. I live in a small town in eastern Iowa.
Wrong. Though landfills exude harmful chemicals, the hazardous chemicals from burning are much more damaging. Out in the sticks no company is going to provide trash service; to far and not cost effective. These people probably are happy to see the propane guy who fills their tanks every other month. It not uncommon for someone to die out there and not be found for a week! Holy Fvck. I guess burning trash is a good smoke signal saying "Hey Yokels, I'm still alive". 🤣
Just found your Chanel and I am watching a lot of your videos now. Though I am from Sweden and have never even been to the States I find this very fascinating!
Love your trips and detailed info. FYI,if you see a meter (electric) on a dwelling and it is not turned sideways it is an active account used for something,maybe storage.
That courthouse in Bedford is gorgeous. I love Romanesque Revival. I remember when you were in Steubenville, OH you pointed out several examples. The Garland Hotel closed in 1997, partly collapsed in 2004 and was going to be demolished. The town rallied around and they saved and restored part of the building. The 2nd and 3rd floors still need work before they could reopen. It's such a pretty town, colorful and still fancy looking. It's only about an hour from I-29, and 1 1/2 hours from the southern Omaha suburbs. That house you passed on the pretty street in Mount Ayr is $182,000. Remodeled, including bat proofing!
Southern IA, SW in particular is the poorest part of the state. Traveling NW Iowa would be a very different experience than the one captured here. Glad to see Mount Ayr is doing well.
