It starts at the top. Our capital, Des Moines, is in mid-state, while Des Moines County is on the Mississippi River. The city of Keokuk is also on the Mississippi, but Keokuk County is about three counties northwest. Cedar Rapids is not in Cedar County, Iowa City is not in Iowa County, the list seems endless.
There are so many mismatches that I wondered if it was possible to draw a RAGBRAI route that successfully avoided all places that have mismatched names.
After wasting a bunch of time I determined: Yes, it is, just barely and with a couple asterisks.
In the map above, "Match" means a city in
the county with the same name, with no other mismatches. Washington is
in Washington County.
A mismatch is
when a city is in a county with a different name. This disqualifies BOTH
counties. Des Moines is not in Des Moines County, which makes both Polk
County and Des Moines county a mismatch.
Borderline
cases involve name variations or unincorporated, little known places.
And there are some counties with no matches at all.
To successfully draw a RAGBRAI route
without cities and counties with mismatched names you need to start in
Missouri Valley and swing northeast. You have to
ignore two borderline cases: Lake Mills is in Winnebago, not Mills,
County, and Mitchellville is not in Mitchell county (though the smaller
Mitchell IS in Mitchell County.)
Once you get through that one county corridor along the Minnesota border, you have several options in northeast Iowa. For a slightly shorter route, stay along the northern border all the way to Allamakee County and finish in Lansing or New Albin.
If you want to finish in Dubuque, just make sure you pass your bike tires through a quadripoint where Fayette and Delaware counties meet (or, if you lean slightly to the right into Buchanan, you can opt to ignore the unincorporated town of that name in Cedar County).
Once you get through that one county corridor along the Minnesota border, you have several options in northeast Iowa. For a slightly shorter route, stay along the northern border all the way to Allamakee County and finish in Lansing or New Albin.
If you want to finish in Dubuque, just make sure you pass your bike tires through a quadripoint where Fayette and Delaware counties meet (or, if you lean slightly to the right into Buchanan, you can opt to ignore the unincorporated town of that name in Cedar County).
If you've made it this far, you probably want to see my work. Someone else is welcome to do the pronunciation guide.
Adair - Adair is in Adair County. (Part of city crosses the line into Guthrie County.)
Adams - no city with this name
Allamakee - no city with this name
Appanoose - no city with this name
Audubon - Audubon is in Audubon County
Benton - city of Benton is in Ringgold County
Black Hawk - Borderline. Cedar Falls not in Cedar County
Boone - Boone is in Boone County
Bremer- no city with this name
Buchanan - Borderline. Unincorporated town of Buchanan in Cedar County.
Buena Vista - Borderline. Unincorporated town of Buena Vista in Clinton County
Butler- no city with this name
Calhoun - no city with this name
Carroll - Carroll is in Carroll County
Cass - no city with this name
Cedar - Cedar Rapids is in bordering Linn County. Almost a borderline name-variation case but Cedar Rapids is both big enough and close enough for confusion.
Cerro Gordo - Plymouth not in Plymouth County
Cherokee - Cherokee is in Cherokee County.
Chickasaw - no city with this name
Clarke - Osceola is not in Osceola County
Clay - no city with this name. Ignoring Clay/Clayton county confusion.
Clayton
- the city of Clayton is in Clayton County, but they fail because the city of Monona is not in Monona County. There's also unincorporated Hardin here and not in
Hardin County.
Clinton - Borderline and a tough call. The city of Clinton is here of course, but so are the unincorporated towns of Buena Vista and Lyons.
Crawford - no city with this name
Dallas - Melcher-Dallas (formerly two cities, Melcher and Dallas) is in Marion County.
Davis - Davis City in Decatur County
Decatur- Davis City in Decatur County
Delaware - Delaware is in Delaware County
Des Moines - City of Des Moines is in Polk County.
Dickinson - Borderline. Unincorporated Montgomery is in Dickinson County.
Dubuque - Dubuque is in Dubuque County
Emmet - Emmetsburg is seat of neighboring Palo Alto County,
Fayette - Fayette is in Fayette County.
Floyd - Floyd is in Floyd County
Franklin - City of Franklin is in Lee County
Fremont - city of Fremont in Mahaska County
Greene - Jefferson not in Jefferson County
Grundy - Grundy Center is in Grundy County
Guthrie - Guthrie Center is in Guthrie County
Hamilton - city of Hamilton is in Marion County; Webster City not in Webster County
Hancock - city of Hancock is in Pottawattamie County.
Hardin - City of Union not in Union County. Iowa Falls not in Iowa County. Unincorporated town of Hardin is in Clayton County.
Harrison - no city with this name.
Henry- no city with this name
Howard- no city with this name
Humboldt - Humboldt is in Humboldt County.
Ida - Ida Grove is in Ida County
Iowa - Iowa City is in next door Johnson County
Jackson - no city with this name. (Ignoring Jackson Junction in Winneshiek County.)
Jasper - Even if you ignore the Mitchell/Mitchellville issue, the city of Monroe is here and not in Monroe County.
Jefferson - city of Jefferson is in Greene County
Johnson - Iowa City not in Iowa County
Jones - no city with this name
Keokuk - city of Keokuk is in Lee County
Kossuth- no city with this name
Lee - Keokuk not in Keokuk County; Franklin not in Franklin County
Linn - Cedar Rapids not in Cedar County; Marion not in Marion County
Louisa - Wapello not in Wapello County.
Lucas - city of Lucas is in Lucas County.
Lyon - Borderline. Unincorporated Lyons is in Clinton County.
Madison - Fort Madison is in Lee County
Mahaska - Fremont not in Fremont County
Marion - city of Marion is in Linn County; Melcher-Dallas not in Dallas County.
Marshall - Marshalltown is in Marshall County.
Mills - Borderline. Lake Mills is in Winnebago County.
Mitchell - Borderline. Mitchell is in Mitchell County but Mitchellville is in Jasper County. I'm inclined to give them a break here, especially since they are key to the RAGBRAI route.
Monona - city of Monona in Clayton County.
Monroe - city of Monroe in Jasper County.
Montgomery- Borderline. Unincorporated Montgomery is in Dickinson County.
Muscatine - Muscatine is in Muscatine County
O'Brien - no city with this name
Osceola - city of Osceola is in Clarke County
Page - no city with this name
Palo Alto - Emmetsburg not in Emmet County.
Plymouth - city of Plymouth is in Cerro Gordo County.
Pocahontas - Pocahontas is in Pocahontas County.
Polk - Des Moines not in Des Moines County
Pottawattamie - Hancock not in Hancock County
Poweshiek - no city with this name.
Ringgold - Benton not in Benton County
Sac - Sac City is in Sac County
Scott - The biggest county with no mismatch. Iowa has no city named Scott or any variation of Scott or Scot, they don't have so much as a township sharing a name with another county, and I'm not penalizing them for unincorporated Scotch Grove in Jones County.
Shelby - City of Shelby is in both Shelby and Pottawattamie Counties. Unincorporated Jacksonville not in Jackson County.
Sioux - Sioux City is in Woodbury County, though Sioux Center IS in Sioux County.
Story - Story City is in Story County.
Tama - Tama is in Tama County
Taylor- no city with this name
Union - city of Union is in Hardin County.
Van Buren - no city with this name
Wapello - city of Wapello is in Louisa County.
Warren - no city with this name
Washington - city of "Warshington" is in Washington County
Wayne - no city with this name
Webster - Webster City is in Hamilton County
Winnebago - Borderline. Lake Mills not in Mills County.
Winneshiek - no city with this name (Ignoring Jackson Junction.)
Woodbury - Sioux City not in Sioux County
Worth- no city with this name
Wright - Borderline. Unincorporated town of Wright in Mahaska County.
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