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Day Tripper: LeClaire, Iowa
Jul. 3rd, 2013 07:06 pmRecently stopped by an Iowa town that is just off I-80 as you enter Iowa from Illinois. A town that has went zero to hero thanks to a show on the History Channel.
LeClaire has a beautiful overlook of the Mississippi River and is known for two things 1- all things antique and 2- maybe the best spot in the country to Eagle watch.
Oh, and Buffalo Bill Cody.
Cody was born in LeClaire and has a museum dedicated to him. Unfortunately, about 100 years ago, the town missed the boat on its favorite son. Cody's childhood home was torn down and reassembled in Cody, Wyoming where it stands today. His birthplace similarly did not survive the times and is also no longer there.
So, Cody's museum is pretty much on the weak side. It's cheap, so you can't complain, and it has quite a few interesting turn-of-the-20th century antiques, tools, and a real assortment of things, the most interesting to me was a letter signed by Abraham Lincoln and Edwin Stanton.
While, there's probably not enough Cody memorabilia to justify a trip. Five dollars also lets you walk around the Lone Star, the last wooden- hulled. steam-driven boat to run the Mississippi (it finally failed inspection in the 1960s, after about 100 years of existence) and the last one of its kind still intact.
That's at least somewhat interesting to me.
LeClaire is also home to the Mississippi River Distilling Company which a friend raved about.
I can't add anything more than I trust him and I have tried the product and approve.
Now, we get to the good stuff.
LeClaire is the home of Mike Wolfe's original antique and collectible shop, which you all know and love via the show American Pickers.
Yeah, that one.
It is what it is. It's a small garage with some assorted junk and a couple of very memorable items. A second shop being built means there are greater ambitions, but it is a small shop that took off out of nowhere.
The counter is run by a tattooed Suicide Girl lookalike, which more than a few people mistakenly think is Danielle (It isn't. Danielle is in Nashville, I believe.). In fact the three girls working all fit a certain Betty Page/rockabilly chic look which i am not sure is reflection on Mike Wolfe or that the job and genre attracts a certain person.
Mike and Frank weren't there, but they would be in a few days (in which the shop is closed anyway for filming). The counter cashier was short (as in borderline rude, not a reference to height), though if I was asked "How is Mike to work for?" 100 times a day, maybe I would be similarly disenchanted.
LeClaire isn't very far from the beaten trail since it is on I-80, one of the nation's most popular interstates, so it's definitely worth a visit. Similarly, Antique Archaeology isn't much more than some dude's garage with some junk which sells t-shirts, but the Pickers seem like cool guys, and it's the kind of place worth a quick pilgrimage.
LeClaire has a beautiful overlook of the Mississippi River and is known for two things 1- all things antique and 2- maybe the best spot in the country to Eagle watch.
Oh, and Buffalo Bill Cody.
Cody was born in LeClaire and has a museum dedicated to him. Unfortunately, about 100 years ago, the town missed the boat on its favorite son. Cody's childhood home was torn down and reassembled in Cody, Wyoming where it stands today. His birthplace similarly did not survive the times and is also no longer there.
So, Cody's museum is pretty much on the weak side. It's cheap, so you can't complain, and it has quite a few interesting turn-of-the-20th century antiques, tools, and a real assortment of things, the most interesting to me was a letter signed by Abraham Lincoln and Edwin Stanton.
While, there's probably not enough Cody memorabilia to justify a trip. Five dollars also lets you walk around the Lone Star, the last wooden- hulled. steam-driven boat to run the Mississippi (it finally failed inspection in the 1960s, after about 100 years of existence) and the last one of its kind still intact.
That's at least somewhat interesting to me.
LeClaire is also home to the Mississippi River Distilling Company which a friend raved about.
I can't add anything more than I trust him and I have tried the product and approve.
Now, we get to the good stuff.
LeClaire is the home of Mike Wolfe's original antique and collectible shop, which you all know and love via the show American Pickers.
Yeah, that one.
It is what it is. It's a small garage with some assorted junk and a couple of very memorable items. A second shop being built means there are greater ambitions, but it is a small shop that took off out of nowhere.
The counter is run by a tattooed Suicide Girl lookalike, which more than a few people mistakenly think is Danielle (It isn't. Danielle is in Nashville, I believe.). In fact the three girls working all fit a certain Betty Page/rockabilly chic look which i am not sure is reflection on Mike Wolfe or that the job and genre attracts a certain person.
Mike and Frank weren't there, but they would be in a few days (in which the shop is closed anyway for filming). The counter cashier was short (as in borderline rude, not a reference to height), though if I was asked "How is Mike to work for?" 100 times a day, maybe I would be similarly disenchanted.
LeClaire isn't very far from the beaten trail since it is on I-80, one of the nation's most popular interstates, so it's definitely worth a visit. Similarly, Antique Archaeology isn't much more than some dude's garage with some junk which sells t-shirts, but the Pickers seem like cool guys, and it's the kind of place worth a quick pilgrimage.
