Dean Klinkenberg

The book primarily covers the Minnesota & Wisconsin driftless area on or near the Mississippi River in rather a folksy style with information on what-to-see-and-do, natural area interest, some history, where to eat & stay and the like. Northeast Iowa is lightly covered and northwest Illinois (Galena, etc) isn't there. The lack of coverage of Illinois is somewhat of a disappointment to me since that area is my main, but not sole, interest.. The area is quite lovely with hilly terrain, many farms and small, quaint towns.

The driftless area is called that because the glaciers eons ago didn't scour the area, level it and drop rock and other debris unlike much of the upper middle west. If you look at a map showing the driftless area, it's kind of a rough oval blob running from northwest to southeast running along the Mississippi River and centered approximately at La Crosse, Wisconsin.

The book includes a fair smattering of photos, including some in color and maps of the area covered and a few larger towns. Because of the relatively early exploration and settlement by Europeans along the Mississippi River, a major north-south route in those early days, and its' tributaries, some of the first towns are quite quaint and appealing.… (mehr)