According to Google Maps, we traveled 584 miles, and drove for 12 hours and 8 minutes during our week in Iowa while avoiding highways.
Each state we visit, we will choose at least one point of interest from each of the following categories: Famous Person, Famous Food, Road Side Attraction, State Capitol & State Museum, National Park, Historic Location, Can't Miss Attraction, and Made in the USA Factory tour. Some of the categories may have more than one selection, and sometimes a category will be vacant due to the lack of a candidate. Please click on the links below for the corresponding blog related our experiences in Michigan over the past week.
Famous person: John Wayne
Famous food: Corn on the Cob
Roadside attraction: Birthplace of Captain Kirk
State Capitol/Museum: Des Moines, IA
National Park: Effigy Mounds National Monument
Historic Location: Buddy Holly Crash Site
Can't miss attraction: Field of Dreams
Made in the USA Factory tour: Winnebago
Please view our previous blog posts for the past week for further explanations of our experiences in Wisconsin.
A breakdown of our expenses of the past week are as follows:
Gas $163.00
Comments:
$ 2.13 gal. in Dubuque, IA was the lowest price paid.
$ 2.37 gal. in Harpers Ferry, IA was highest price paid.
Groceries: $ 19.00
Walmart $ 19.00
Comments:
We did not spend a lot on groceries because ate out way too much this week.
Dining out $ 119.00
Pizza Ranch $23.00 (unbudgeted)
Pizza Ranch $24.00 (unbudgeted)
Chinese Food $23.00 (unbudgeted)
Moe’s $14.00 (unbudgeted buy yummy burrito x2 )
DQ $ 4.00 (unbudgeted but yummy)
Whole Foods $ 31.00 (budgeted and yummy)
Comments:
We ate out more than usual this week exceeding our dining out budget.
Entertainment: $ 6.00
Felton Place Elevator $ 6.00 (Budgeted 2 round trip tickets)
Comments:
We did great in this category again!
Lodging: $0.00
Walmart $ 0.00 (slept in parking lot x7 nights)
Comments:
We continue to do great in this category
Miscellaneous $0.00
Comments:
We did great in this category
Iowa Expenses Grand Total: $ 307.00
(Our expense list does not include re-occurring expenses such as insurance and cellphone etc. )
Is Iowa Our New Home State?
Here are the rules:
Below are the 5 categories that are important to us in choosing our new home state. Each category is rated from 1 to 10 based on our personal experience in no particular order. 1 is the lowest and 10 is the highest for each category. Each category will receive 2 scores; 1 from Lori and 1 from Nate. The average of these two scores will determine the final score for each category. To determine a state’s final score, we will average the total score of each category. If a state’s final score is less than 8, then that state is eliminated from consideration. At the end of our year long cross country trip, the states that scored 8 or higher will be subject to further consideration. In addition, Lori and I each have 1 wild card option, which allows a state that otherwise would have been eliminated, to be considered as our new home state.
Economy:
Nate: 4
“Agriculture, manufacturing and retail form the basis of Iowa's economy”
Lori: 6
“Jobs opportunities for those with higher education within the state are limited”
Economy score: 5
Cost of Living:
Nate: 3
“With a sales tax 6% and an 8.98% income tax, it would be cheaper to live in Connecticut”
Lori: 4
“Gas and food prices were comparable with surrounding Midwestern states”
Cost of living score: 3.5
Quality of life:
Nate: 2
“A drought would devastate the corn and hog industries, and the possibility of tornadoes are very scary!”
Lori: 2
“The water was so polluted, and the air quality was so poor, I could barely breathe”
Quality of life score: 2
Culture:
Nate: 4
“Unless your idea of fun is a game of corn hole, there is not much to do in Iowa”
Lori: 2
“While it is usually a challenge to eat out as a vegetarian, in Iowa it was almost impossible”
Culture Score: 3
Environment:
Nate: 3
“While the roads were very well maintained, everything was extremely rural and far apart”
Lori: 3
“Despite the large numbers of farms and farmer markets in the state, there was very little organic produce available”
Environment Score: 3
The verdict is in:
The final score for Iowa was 3.3, and it will NOT be our new home state. Neither Lori nor I opted to use our Wild Card Option on this state.
Below are the current standings:
Michigan 8.3
Ohio 7.6
Indiana 7.4
Virginia 6.6
Pennsylvania 6.5
West Virginia 6.0
Kentucky 4.9
Wisconsin 4.5
Missouri 3.5
Iowa 3.3
Illinois 1.9