Missouri National Recreational River and Doner Digging at Council Bluffs, Iowa

As we left Pipestone, MN we were now headed to St. Joseph, Missouri where Scott's brother lives.  On the way, we decided to backtrack 30 miles to stamp Missouri NRR in my National Passport book.  The Missouri National Recreational River is a 100 miles stretch of North America's longest river and where there are two free flowing stretches of the river.  We went to the main headquarters at 508 E 2nd Street in Yankton, South Dakota, but there are multiple places you can stamp your passport.  Here is a list of partner sites and places to stamp your book since this river is so long and there's a great deal of water sports and camping that can be done all along the river.  The headquarters has a big enough parking lot of park 1-2 RVs and lots of car parking with easy in and out.  They have a very small display and the stamp station as well as restrooms.  The park staff was super friendly.

After we left Yankton, we crossed over into Iowa and headed toward St. Joseph, Missouri but I had to take a 2-3 hour stop over in Council Bluffs, Iowa, the town were my dad and grandpa Joe and great-grandpa Charley called home.  I took the time to photograph all the homes and school where my dad was born and grew up in.  That was a special treat for me.  I dropped Scott and the girls off at a Wal-Mart parking lot on the south end of town and then headed back to drive to each house in chronological order of where he lived.  Since they all worked for the Union Pacific Railroad, they primarily resided near the railroad tracks since it was an easy walk to work.  I realized today that I had one address wrong and when I looked at my paper, I realized that I missed one also.  So, I have a couple Google Earth images here.  The Doner family came to Council Bluffs in 1915 and stayed there for nearly 50 years.

1926 - 2226 Ave D
This is the house dad came home to from the hospital when he was born.

1927 - 2229 6th Avenue

1928 - 409 South 17th Avenue

1929 - 1712 5th Avenue

1930-1932 - 2025 2nd Avenue

1933 - 3229 5th Avenue (two door down to Rue Elementary)

The House and Rue Elementary School

Rue Elementary

1934 - 1917 4th Avenue (Google Earth Photo)

1935 - 507 South 24th Street (Google Earth Photo)

1936 - 2229 7th Avenue

1937-1944 - 626 3rd Street
Dad lived in this house when we graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School

1945 - 701 3rd Street (Google Earth Photo)
Dad was a student at University of Omaha but lived in Council Bluffs

1945-1968 - 727 South 21st Street
This is the last house Grandpa Joe lived in with his 2nd wife, Alice and he died here.
1946 - Dad also lived here before going to California.

It was fun to walk down dad's life...it will be fun to add these to the book I'm writing about his life.