DAY #5 - JUNE 14, 2021 - DAVENPORT, IOWA TO AUSTIN, MINNESOTA - A FIELD OF DREAMS AND A FIELD OF TRAGEDY - 312 - MILES (1,604)

(AUSTIN, MINNESOTA) Well, Today I traveled from Davenport Iowa to a state that I have never been to. Tonight, I am in the Land of 10,000 Lakes – Minnesota. Don’t worry, I am nowhere close to Minneapolis and Have no intention on going there. But enough about that. This morning I got an earlier start than normal, checking out of the hotel at 7:30, and shortly after leaving I hit the 1,500 mile mark for this adventure. An hour and a half later was able to cross another item off my bucket list. Right at 9 a.m. I pulled into the Field of Dreams. I loved the movie, and I was not sure what to expect but just walking around this place is Magic. I don’t know what it is, I know there is no ghosts and I know that Shoeless Joe or Moonlight Graham is not going to walk out of the corn field, but still just being here brought out the little boy in me. I spent a couple of hours walking around and even joined a family of St. Louis Cardinal Fans in a game of catch. Like James Earl Jones said in the movie, this place brings out the “innocents of children, longing for the past.” I am glad I came. After my visit to the Field of Dreams, I most of the day logging miles but as I was clicking off the miles at a surprisingly good clip, what did I see but one of those Brown Signs. This one was for the Little Brown Church. I don’t thing any of us haven’t heard that song about “The Little Brown Church in the Vale.” So off I went on another little brown sign adventure. About 4-miles off the highway in the small town of Nashua, Iowa is The Little Brown Church.” While the church wasn’t built until a few years after the popular song, it is a popular spot for tourist like Me. It was built in between 1860 and 1864 and is still home to an active congregation. It was a really nice way to break up the miles. From the Little Brown Church, I made my way up to my next stop of the afternoon in Clear Lake, Iowa. It was here at the Surf Ballroom that Buddy Holly, J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson and Rich Valens played their final concert. A few hours later the three along with pilot Roger Peterson would die when their plane crash into a corn field about 6-miles from the Ballroom. That day is regarded “The Day Music Died.” The Ballroom today is still an active entertainment venue that has been played by almost everybody who is anybody in the music world. It is part Entertainment Venue and Part Museum. If you like music, then you should pay the Surf Ballroom a visit. I couldn’t come to Clear Lake without driving out the country dirt road to the Crash Site Memorial. It’s about 6-miles from the Ballroom and is marked by a pair of large Buddy Holly Glasses. The actual Crash site is about a half-mile walk down a path through a corn field. A small memorial marks the site. From there it was off to Minnesota and after almost 380 miles It’s time to put a bow on Day # 5. Tomorrow it’s an all-out push west; we will just have to wait and see how far west I make it.