RAILS TO TRAILS. At one time, there was no location in the State of Iowa more than seven miles from a railroad, which made sense in a time when seven miles out and back was a full day's work for a team and wagon and there was a lot of grain to haul to the elevator for export East (and now you know why eastward trains are superior to westward trains of the same class, but I digress). Iowa also happened to be smack between Chicago, where the eastern trunk lines met the granger railroads (which were built first, the first equipment was brought in by boat) and the railhead for the Pacific Railroad, and a number of railroads set up to get a share of that traffic (and to bust the rate pools, but again I digress.) As a consequence, Iowa has a lot of linear corridors suitable for bike trails, which Cornfield Commentary sees as not a great economic engine for tourism.