After an excellent breakfast with our host, we found the Alumni office at Wartburg and picked up our registration packet for the weekend Commencement and Class of ’65 reunion activities, then changed into bicycling mode to explore the Waverly Rail Trail. The trail started next to what I remembered as the Carnation powdered milk plant, now a Nestle candy bar factory. We braved a flock of Canada geese guarding the trestle across the Cedar River, stopping at mid-span for photo opportunities.
After crossing busy Bremer Avenue, the trail skirted the river bend on the southeast edge of town, then climbed gradually through farms and woods and over ravines and streams on high trestles to the trail junction at Hwy 63, where we turned around and headed back to town, for a 26-km out-and-back trip.
After changing back into street clothes, we drove downtown for lunch at the Wild Carrot Cafe, at first glance simply a candy and gift shop, but with a large dining room in the back, behind the kitchen. The food was good, with larger portions than we are used to in a deli-bakery, but we were hungry after our ride. We had pushed a bit harder to enjoy the speed on the nearly level trail: the GPS reported an average 17.8km/hr moving speed.
Another short walk around the campus, afternoon coffee at a shop near the college, and then we retired to our lodging for some Internet time before our evening social, where we met old friends and acquaintances from my college days. It has been 30 years since we were back here. We don’t think we’ve changed all that much, but everyone’s thoughts were, “Where did all these old people come from?”
The social hour, with tiny (but very good) canapés as the only food, was held at the clubhouse (Klubhaus, a concession to the German Lutherans from Wartburg) of an over-55 retirement community north of town, but within sight of the college campus. No, we are not moving to Iowa. Many of my classmates have multi-generational ties to the college or the region and have either stayed or returned from far-flung careers. Amazingly, many of us have had mobile careers, living in the same places but at different times–New England, New Jersey, etc.
The rest of the weekend is filled with organized activities, so this was perhaps our only opportunity to explore the area on our own. In 50 years, much has changed, on campus and in the town. The campus has been architecturally transformed into more of a community than an institution. At close scrutiny, the old buildings I remember can be seen behind new facades and embedded in newer, larger structures. The most striking changes are the elevated covered walkways (skyways) that connect all of the main buildings, so students rarely need to venture out-of-doors during the harsh Iowa winters.
The town has, like most small towns in America that still thrive, expanded outward. The city core, rather than being filled with abandoned edifices of a former century, shows former elegant bank buildings turned into beauty shops and boutiques, and upper floors renovated into modern urban housing.
