There is 11 ft by 41 foot mural titled “Breaking the Prairie Sod designed by Grant Wood located at the Parks Library in Ames Iowa. I happen to have a post card of that mural. (see photo above) Last year my eye caught a small detail in the back of the mural…5 yoke of oxen breaking the praire sod….hummm, I thought to myself….I wonder…Grant Wood was born and raised in Eastern Iowa near Anamosa. Grant Wood have probably been familiar with the account of Lyman Dillon plowing the 80 some mile furrow, and he (Dillon) would have passed through Anamosa on his way to Dubuque.
Here is a close up of the detail I am referring to:
I still hope to travel to Ames to see this lifesize mural.
This coming Tuesday (December 16th 2008) I have been invited to speak at a local Questers group to talk about the walk.
Yesterday (Friday December 12th 2008) I got the most awesome DVD in the mail from Becky @ the Anamosa Local Access channel. She created a 30 minute DVD of my adventure. The day I passed through Anamosa I stopped by her office as she interviewed me. This DVD is a compilation of that interview, photos I took from my walk and a TV interview I did the week after the walk. I can’t say enough good things about Becky’s project…what an awesome keepsake for me!!!! Thank you Becky.
