Winter Driving

Winter driving sucks. I know this. I have 12 hard-earned years of winter driving experience in Minnesota and Wisconsin. You can’t be in a hurry. You have to stay alert. Try to drive during daylight hours if it’s snowing. Pack your trunk with a survival kit. Steer into the skid. Pump your brakes to slow down on icy pavement. Try not to laugh at the newbies who are driving 15 MPH and still look terrified. I know these things. Winter driving still sucks.

Thursday morning I left St. Louis in the middle of an ice storm and caught a bit of luck when it turned into a heavy snowfall about an hour later. I left home early because, in spite of my better judgment, I had an agenda: I wanted to visit two more Mazzuchelli churches, one in Muscatine and the other in Galena. Ice and snow can interfere with a traveling agenda, however. Between the slick roads and the random interstate-closing accidents, my progress was nearly as slow as the big plows I occasionally got stuck following. Luckily, I reached Muscatine just before the St. Mathias parish office closed and just as my gas tank reached “E.”

Old St. Mathias Church is a simple wood frame structure that was built around 1842 for the community then known as Bloomington. The Mazzuchelli-designed church was built in Prairie du Chien (Wisconsin), then floated 180 miles down river to its home. The original structure was two stories tall, with a chapel on one floor and the rectory on the other. When the building was relocated to its present location, only the chapel was preserved. The interior offers a glimpse of frontier worship: a small, practical space built with minimal ornamentation, where the spectacle was the service rather than the space.

With a break in the weather, and a full tank of gas, I pushed on to McGregor, another three hours of driving added to the six already behind me. Galena would have to wait for another day. Man, they have a lot of snow up here. Mailboxes peek out of tall banks of snow pushed upward by the plows. Across the landscape, the wind has sculpted drifts that climb to ten feet in places. Even though I stuck to major roads, US 52 north of Dubuque, a fantastic road that wends it way road through narrow coulees untouched by glaciation in recent ice ages, was plagued with more patches of ice than I expected. More slow going.

Once in McGregor, I snagged a room at the old Alexander Hotel. I like this place. The walls are a bit thin, but the rooms are clean and affordable. The owner, Luis, also operates a very good Mexican restaurant on the premises. Part of the reason I wanted to overnight in McGregor was to check out the new brewpub called Old Man River. This place has great potential, but I think my visit was poorly timed. I was in the mood to try a handcrafted beer or two and to eat a cheap meal. Unfortunately, they aren’t making their own beer, yet, probably not until April, and the food was more expensive than I expected – entrees from $15 and salads from $10. But, the food was well-prepared and beautifully presented. I predict they will do well.

I only had one complaint about the food. My dinner was a pasta dish with tortellini, shrimp, artichokes, olives, and lots parmesan. The presentation was colorful and visually striking, and it sure tasted good, too. My problem was that the shrimp were unpeeled at the tails. Look, I’m not a food critic and maybe I’m missing the point here, but just how was I supposed to approach removing the tails? The dish is hot, the shrimp were covered in sauce, and a knife and fork just aren’t the best tools for peeling shrimp. It was messy and detracted from an otherwise pleasurable experience.

Before leaving town, I stopped at McGregor Coffee Roasters for a jolt of caffeine to kick start my day. I ended up staying for breakfast. One of the benefits of traveling off-season is that people generally have more time to chat. Such was the case at the coffee shop, as I was invited to sit and chat with the owners and a group of regulars who were also working on their morning caffeine buzz. What a great way to end a visit – good conversation, good food, and good coffee.

Today’s Bad Decision: Trying to cover too much ground too quickly in bad weather. Okay, so nothing bad happened, other than feeling a few stressful moments when I knowingly pushed my luck at speeds a bit too fast for the conditions. But, hey, I should have known better and things could be different next time. Slow down, Dean.

Coming Next Time: Partying with Grumpy Old Men