Cassville Ferry

Tuesday. We decided to make our last Mississippi crossing a big-un -- a toll ferry departing from Cassville, WI. The ferry's website said it could take semis and RVs. Trusting the Garmin GPS (which for some reason has lost his/her voices), we worked our way north from Mount Carroll into Wisconsin (noting, as we passed through, that Galena, IL looks like a town you might want to spend some time in). However, when Garmin started us down a road with a CAUTION - Bridge Out 10 miles ahead sign, it was oh-oh. Very fortunately, just after I turned there was an industrial building with a parking lot and two driveways that enabled us first, to pull in and consult the map, and second, to decide where next, and third, to change course.

Decided we could return to the highway we had been on, continue a few miles further north, then come back to the SW to reach the ferry via Hwy. 81. We found the 81 turn-off and wound our way through a mid-size town, then encountered another Bridge Out sign. Oh, no. But there were also signs indicating there was a Hwy. 81 West Detour route that would presumably get you around the missing bridge. According to the map, Hwy 81 would dead-end at the Ferry, so I figured they wouldn't be directing people on to Hwy. 81 West Detour if you couldn't take it all the way to the end. So, with undaunted courage, we dutifully followed the Detour signs. Seemed to take forever, lots of hills and curves winding among classic Wisconsin dairy farms, but, finally, there it was: Cassville itself, right on the river bank, and signs directing the way to the ferry.

When we pulled up to the waiting area, no one else was there, but we could see the ferry chugging up the river. Instructions said if the ferry is not here, turn on a light attached to the little toll house and the ferry will come and get you. We get the impression that the ferry is not a major connecting route between Wisconsin and Iowa. I turned on the light and sure enough, the ferry returned.

The ferry docked and discharged its eastbound passengers.

Hmm, how long is this trip going to be?

Some history: The first governor of Wisconsin came from Cassville and the town was once a competitor to become the state capital. In more recent times the town had pushed to have a bridge to Iowa constructed, but when that failed to happen, they refurbished the ferry.

Now, it's our time to cross. By this time one other car had arrived. I talked to the ferry attendant (if I can call him that) and found that I would need to disconnect the PT, so I did. He laid out some large planks that would get me onto the ferry without scraping Tuzi's rear end on the ramp and carefully guided me on first. Then came Susie and the PT and then the other car. It was occupied by a friendly retired couple from Iowa, just out exploring the country.

The Iowa terminus was about a mile upstream. This power plant is on the Wisconsin side. It's powered by coal from Wyoming and Montana. Trains (and I remember seeing these in Wyoming) bring the coal to Dubuque and it is then off-loaded onto barges and shipped up here.

You can barely see the coal pile to the left of the power plant. Our guide told us that it would get considerably larger as the plant stockpiled coal for winter, when the river would be iced up. He also told us about another plant on the river which is powered by burning RR ties. So that's what they do with old ties.

For you techies, here's a picture showing how the ferry reverses directions: the boat that propels the ferry is attached to the car platform by an arm and the boat just pivots around.

On the Iowa side, the route away from the river is a narrow dirt road twisting between corn fields for about a mile until you reach pavement again. We suspect that the ferry is more a tourist thing than a business or farm-to-market enterprise. Our guide was a retired guy, essentially doing this as a hobby and an excuse to spend time on the river. Said the company can't hire anybody, even students during the summer. Too much weekend work, he said.

A few more miles up the road we pulled off on an overlook for a last view and fond farewell to the Mighty Mississippi. There are houses on that island out there.

I programmed Clear Lake, IA into the GPS and let Garmin tell us how to get there. Oops, we're told to turn off Hwy. 13 and when we do we're greeted by a sign saying a bridge ahead has 5 ton limit. That'll never do. We pull into a (fortuitously located) Dollar General parking lot and ask a store clerk whether we should proceed. Turns out that the bridge is on a side road, so we can proceed.

As the afternoon goes on, it starts to rain. We had planned to stay in an Iowa state park, but that's looking less attractive. We decide to head for a KOA near Albert Lea, Minnesota -- our fourth state of the day! It rains pretty heavily the last hour of our trek. Been a pretty long day - about 300 miles and various delays and complications. Susie asks if the Cassville Ferry was worth it. I say Yes.

Cheers,

Susie and Rob