Hello, although I am from Bulgaria and have little to do with USA I find your videos very interesting. Seeing little towns that I have never imagined existed, and taking a glimpse at the life in those towns is fascinating. Have a great day!

As of 9/10/23 the house you asked about in Kellerton, IA is listed for sale at $42,000 and the house in Mt Ayr is listed at $182,000. HyVee is a popular 280-store grocery chain throughout the upper midwest. Loving the ride. Keep it up.

The prettiest part of Iowa is the NE corner Driftless Region (which also encompasses MN, WI, and IL). Glaciers missed this region so it consists of rugged bluffs, coulees, trout streams, and pre-ice age tree stands. My wife says that Appalachia is like the Driftless Region on steroids. I recommend you visit Dubuque, Galena, Guttenberg, Lansing, Decorah, Viroqua, La Crosse, etc.

Iowa is awesome! I left vowing NEVER TO come back…. 10 yrs later, I was, GET ME BACK. Europe, several states, and BORING IOWA IS THE BEST!! Love Iowans!

My favorite small city in Iowa by far is Dubuque. The Hotel Julian is a must stay type of hotel and the Museum of the Mississippi River is very cool.

The house is $45,000 in Kellerton. These are very peaceful towns, but I couldn’t live in these kinds of places. I like having my suburban conveniences.

It's interesting to hear some segments of our society talk about how overpopulated and crowded our country is. Just drive and you will find that there is plenty of room, maybe we should stop flocking to city centers and thinking that is the norm. I love these videos I get to tour the nation from my living room and then decide which places to actually go thanks to Joe and Nic.

to be honest everything looks so manicured. the grass is cut. no wild bushes. doesn't look abandoned. there are people over the world who only dream to live in such environment.

That courthouse in Bedford was absolutely beautiful

Iowa in the summer is a beautiful place and unimaginably big. Just dont come back during the winter. In Iowa cities you will meet people from all over the state's small towns. They are leaving in large numbers for better employment and higher quality of life. The people in these small towns are fiercely proud of their way of life. These are people that still believe in hard work, looking out for each other, and value personal freedoms above all else. Whether right or wrong, they have seen modern America and reject it.

An awesome video, as always. I never get tired of exploring these lovely old country towns, there are so many hidden gems in among the trees in the residential areas, and I love the old buildings in the downtown area. I enjoy your videos very much. Thanks so much, Joe and Nic.🥰

Southern IA, SW in particular is the poorest part of the state. Traveling NW Iowa would be a very different experience than the one captured here. Glad to see Mount Ayr is doing well.

I'm here in Australia and I purchased a Polk Iowa license plate at a local antique store. The plate is from 1979 and has FOX 082 on it. And also has the small stickers on it from when it was last registered

We visited here in the 70's because MIL was from Maloy and this is the county seat. We brought her with us on vacation so she could visit her childhood home. I was born in Ames and we were visiting my family . After 52 years in CA I moved back. It was wonderful. Got connected to aunt & cousins. Loved it.

amazing the difference between towns with a certain community and those with a high number of a different community.

Hyvee where there's a helpful smile in every aisle.

Man you have become one of my favorite channels. I get so excited when I sit down in the morning with a fresh cup of coffee and see you've uploaded a new video. It's like I get to drive through America with you. Also, thank you for highlighting beauty everywhere you go. It's all around us if we are willing to see it. Cheers!

Trivia: in 1873, Jesse James robbed a train in Anita, Iowa, and then stayed at the Garland Hotel afterwards. The wife of the hotel's owner was James' cousin. There was also a tunnel for the Underground Railroad that stretched from the hotel to a livery stable to help slaves escape to freedom.

One of the things you might want to look at is the number of farms in the area that call these towns home. The children would be attending the schools and the banks in the towns would have their business. The grocery stores would serve them as well. I grew up in Iowa and lived in smaller towns.

The house with the upstairs balcony and cupola was really appealing to me. It emanates HOME! I love tagging along with ya'll seeing all these places. Thank you.

I just find it fascinating the respect of other countries and towns and cities Keep up the good work bro and also anyone that works behind the scenes that is good and bad in every place you live and visit i5 from Chester UK 🇬🇧👍

It occured to me that the reason populations of the towns appear to have shrunk isn't because there are less households, but because there used to be a lot of kids. I'm the oldest of eight, but you don't see big families anymore.

Something I'm considering is purchasing a building or two from these ghost towns to reassemble on my acreage. Some have so much character and the materials would be out of any reasonable budget to build new. Before living in a remote rural town one must consider the following: Weak TV and phone signals, no cable or DSL (much less fiber), lack of stores, distant medical services, no vehicle parts and repair services and so on.

$45,000 for the Kellerton house at 12:36. Year built - 1903, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, 1,088 sq ft. Mount Ayr house at 24:22, year built - 1936, 3 beds, 2 bath, 1,479 sq ft, $182,000.

Looks peaceful to me, love the old buildings & greenery 😊

I love Iowa. I live about 10 mins away across the Minnesota border.. I especially like Knoxville, a great racing community.

My daughter drove from Michigan to Iowa to buy a German Shepherd puppy 8 years ago. I thought she was crazy but the puppy grew to be beautiful. The only down fall is she sheds enought fur to make a small animal.

The closest hospital to Grand River is in Mt. Ayr, which on Google is 21 miles, or 25 minutes away. When you went down Main St. there was a 2-story building and it's for sale at $199,000 (2 units, refurbished). It used to be the Grand River Opera House 100 years ago. The selling point for the area is that it's 10 minutes from Sun Valley Lake, and 4.5 miles from 6000 acres of public hunting grounds.

I LOVE to see that so many of the towns still have brick paved streets. I have fond memories of the brick streets of Cedar Rapids IA, especially 2nd Ave and the trees along the street that made it seem like driving in a tunnel.

I'm about 10 minutes north of the Iowa border, so near the other end of the state. But yeah, pretty standard looking small towns there....especially the diagonal parking stalls downtown. I'm sure you'll be seeing plenty more Hy-Vee grocery stores and Casey's General Stores if you're heading into my neck of the woods. Looking forward to your next video!

I love the statistics you reveal with each town visit… we always look forward to the next episode!

Enjoyed watching your travels through the little towns in Iowa..big thanks for showing the post offices! you guys are great! Can't wait for your next video! Happy Fourth of July!

Perfect timing! I moved to Cedar Rapids from So. Cal. last year. I used to explore dying or ghost towns via motorcycle travel. Good to know there are places in Iowa to explore. Thanks!

5:00. Yes - It is absolutely still being utilized. People from about an 80-mile radius come here twice a week to attend Services. They believe that the actual building is not the church - the Congregation is the church. They can hold their Services in an open field if they had to.

The tower on that beautiful house in Iowa is called a turret and yes they are a lovely feature on older style homes

I've been watching a number of your videos over the past few months. Great stuff! Thanks for visiting south(west) Iowa, I spent some of my formative years in Greenfield. We played football and wrestled Mt Ayr and family knew some people in Bedford so I know those towns well. If you ever get a chance to visit Greenfield it's really a nice little town with a courthouse square and restored opera house (w/ some help from Norman Lear who filmed Cold Turkey there in '69) And there's Winterset right down the road, with John Wayne's childhood home. Clarinda & Villisca both have interesting histories. Thanks for the ride alongs!

Hello.. I saw your video on my hometown Maryville, MO, it was nice. Two things, I wished you would have continued on that street because them you would have seen our freedom rock for veterans and would have liked you to drive towards the university, you would have seen some really nice big homes. 😊 My mom and uncle grew up in Mount Ayr, IA and my grandma lived there until she passed. I always liked visiting that town. If you had had extra time, you could have gone up to the third floor of the courthouse and seen a painting of the courthouse that my grandpa Hixson painted in the 70's I believe and who was engineer for the town until he passed away. When you drove into Bedford, you can in the old way. The frosty tree, you showed is delicious!! You must have came into town when it hadn't opened just yet.. but it's still in business 😁 I think they still have what's called a pizza burger (one of my favorites and their hot fudge sundae). In Mount Ayr, the theater was closed for a while but thankfully someone brought it back and their library should still be in business, you could have came at the wrong time of day.

Hey thank you for taking us thru these 4 Iowa towns. Love the visuals, commentary and very relevant facts. Know Mt airy well, you represented it well. Lived in w Iowa years ago. Thanks, schoephf.

Yay for Iowa!

Here's some info about the Hyvee store in Mount Ayr straight from Wikipedia. Hy-Vee, Inc. is an employee-owned chain of supermarkets in the Midwestern and Southern United States, with more than 280 locations in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, with stores planned in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. According to local news, Hyvee has 'secured' 12 acres about 1 mile from were I live in Fern Creek Kentucky, and are scheduled to open the store this year.

Just sitting here in rural germany and enjoying the trip into rural iowa. Keep it comeing and thanks buddy, nice content

Thank you for your Road trips. Love traveling along with you and Nicole without ever leaving the comfort of our home. Those old towns in Iowa looked pretty nice. Best Patty

I lived in Taylor County for five years. Loved every minute of that life.

Yes! fly those flags high! I luv seeing USA Patriotism. July 4th is around the corner. When I lived there many yrs ago, it's what I loved the most about Americans. Happy Canada Day fellow Canadians. Love your Channel Joe n Nic.🤩

I retired a few years ago and moved from Maryland to a small town in western IA. I like it here, folks are friendly, housing is affordable, but my first winter out here is proof that "no one moves to the Midwest for the weather.". It got down to -25F. I had never in my life seen it below 0. And the summers are very hot and humid. Guess you can't have everything!

Thanks for the video, Thanks for the drive along... Australia is so big, it's the same size as America in land size, but mostly desert, Cheers 😊

This Video Was Everything Thanks For Taking Us Along Such Beautiful Small Towns

I had no idea those towns out there in the far midwest (I'm from Ohio) were so beautiful, I'm literally stunned to see such pretty towns!!! I also had no idea the countryside between them would be so beautiful, I expected it to be like Ohio, where all the roads (out of town) are flanked by farmland, which is somewhat pretty, but not like that beautiful scenery between the towns in this video. I wonder if you might stitch all the video footage of your drives between the towns, and I'm sure you probably don't have a lot, and stitch them together into a single video, with no narration, no music, just the sound of driving. I think it might make a nice soothing video that might help those of us with insomnia. Just a thought, and something you could do with your existing and future footage that I would love to see. Anyway, this video and the previous one have been my favorites of yours so far, though I have enjoyed them all! I eagerly anticipate the next one!!!

Been watching for a while now(from UK),and must admit i'm surprised you haven't been pulled up by the local police as you cruise around very slowly. Someone could have mistaken you for a burglar "casing the place",and the sheriff pull you over. (would be a way of meeting the locals!). I toured the States further west,but this area looks really interesting and what i'd picture rural America to be.

Of all the Folks Doing this--You are the best--look forward to your Videos and seeing Rural America

The brick streets are interesting 🤔 seems like the buildings are very old and kept up immaculately.

I’m new to this channel and I love how you go through the statistics of everything and take time to explain the little bits of history. Entertaining and educational at the same time. Much love from Australia 🇦🇺

The house for sale in Kellerton was built in 1903 and is a 2brm, 1bth and is currently listed for $45,000. The cute little house in Grand River on the corner was built in 2000 and is a 1brm, 1bth and is for sale for $29,000. It is currently rented at $400/mth with a long term tennant since 2018.

I wish I had a remote tech job, so that I can simply work from one these towns. I love slow life.

Most of the small towns that Lord Spoda travels through look aimilar , no matter what state they are in . Long live Lord Spoda AKA Joe & Nic for showing us the good old USA ! Even these places are far better than places in other countries .

The house in Kellerton can be yours for $45,000. I loved the road you were driving on leading into Kellerton. I like the town square in Mount Ayr. Love the red brick roads, the old gas station and the library. Bedford looks nice too. Gorgeous courthouse! Since I’ve only been to Cedar Rapids, I enjoyed seeing other areas of Iowa. Have a great weekend!

The thought of getting away from it all and moving to one of these small towns is just romantic. I imagine actually doing it is anything but.

My Ary….not seeing many garages, and I would want a two car garage. But at the median price of $97k, I could have a garage added at little cost.

Thank you for being so informative about the states in which you travel through keep up the good work Joe t Nic.

If you ever get further north, Fort Fodge, Mallard, etc. will be cool places to visit.

If you are still up north, try to come back thru Kalona, IA. Beautiful Amish & Mennonite community. The Golden Delight Bakery is is a must!

It's beautiful there. If I ever move, it'll be to Iowa.

Iowa is beautiful and when I saw this video in my stream, I said to my wife, “Lord Spoda has a new one!”

Another great video! I heard Iowa was a great place to live. That appears to be the case. Thoroughly enjoyable!

Great video, enjoyed downtown Bedford, the brick streets and courthouse really stood out. Nice to see the level of self-respect the residents had for themselves, showing their pride for their country and maintaining their homes. Safe travels, Cheers!

My great-grandmother was born in Bedford in 1864.

If you build it, he will come…yes, Joe came and visited some towns in Iowa today! Thank you 😊

Iowa is a kind of paradise. As my Iowa uncle used to say, I’m glad everyone makes fun of the Midwest. So they’ll stay the hell away from here!

Love the old rat rod at the Mount Ayr gas station. Rat rods are left in their rusty state on purpose. That old small block Chevy would probably light right off. More cool old railroad towns on mostly old CB&Q branch lines that were abandoned in the 40s-60s. Great video, thanks much!

I love your channel I never seen Iowa before. Even though is a Ghost town status looks clean . That house you passed by is actually $45,000 lol . Thank you for taking us this far . I love all the information we get and some history.

Another great video. I love you new touches to the video, including the map of your journey showing all of your stops. One suggestion, and I’ve seen this in a few of your videos, is more pictures of parks or recreational areas. I would like to see the towns high school football stadium if there is one. I’m fascinated with all of these places you’ve gone to since there are places I have never or rarely visited. I’m a west coast guy and I like seeing other parts of the country. Thanks for your continued great work and keep the videos coming. Can’t wait for you to come out west.

What amazes me most about your videos is that there is no one on the streets.

I’ve been experiencing some anxiety (not sure of my grammar).. and I think your videos will help. I like it, it’s calm and interesting. Maybe it will help me, I’ll keep it on the background as well when I hit the sack

What fascinates me about these kind of towns is it shows we don't actually have a population problem, bc if we did, there is a lot of mostly empty lands, ghost towns, abandoned towns, etc that could house people. The issue with moving people to these areas is they don't have the jobs, schools, infrastructure to accommodate a population growth. And as its often noticeable, a lot of these kind of areas are in states that get battered by Twisters. Old people who are already there will stay and ride out storms. But younger people greatly wanna not live where spinning clouds of doom frequent. Which is why the east coast and west coast are filled with people in general but also younger people dream of living on either west or east coast.

Another awesome video! Your right they don't make court houses like they used to. That Bedford county court house is just spectacular.

The first city looks very clean and pleasant. There is no visible debris and burned and looted houses. Maybe I missed something🙃

Thanks for these videos. I’ve become a big fan of your work. Thank you

Hey Joe! I really enjoy watching your videos. I like the way you focus on the architecture of each small town you visit. I'm originally from Illinois and my paternal grandmother lived in Lewiston Illinois. It's the county seat of Fulton County. There's a larger town close to Lewiston called Canton. Named after Canton, China. There's a reason for that. Look it up. Quite interesting. 👍

I'm from Scotland so I thought I'd look up the population of Ayr to give you a comparison. The estimated population in 2021 was just over 46,000. Keep up the great work with these videos. I love travelling the US with you.

19:48 It's funny to see how gas stations back then never considered the price ever being above ¢99 with only two digits on the pump 😁 Yet again, thank you for a genuine and great video.

Really interesting stuff. Over the pond in Scotland watching these fascinating pieces you post whilst trying to follow you on a map.

The first town, where you made the comment about the house for sale on the corner. That looks like an old gas station. They usually had the overhang from the front out to the gas pumps. Looks like they walled in that part to make a house. There were two buildings on each side painted the same with red trim. They all have leases but for sale as a package for $78,000. The next town you asked about the white house for sale - $45,000 on 1/4 acre.

Very nice. Iowa is filled with small towns like these.

Another.....GOLD VIDEO....from Joe and nic 😊😊😊

And if a rural area, didn't have good broadband internet connection, that would be a hard no, for me.

You were maybe 35 miles or so from Madison County...where the covered bridges are. And the movie the Bridges of Madison County was based from.

I really enjoy watching these videos. I've never been outside of Australia and I usually look at placesjke this on google earth on my laptop. Its amazing to see so many places of a decent size just abandoned or almost abandoned

2-story white house in Mt Ayr (23:35 min) was my Grandmother's house when I was a child. Enjoyed seeing it, brings back so many memories :)

Love your trips and detailed info. FYI,if you see a meter (electric) on a dwelling and it is not turned sideways it is an active account used for something,maybe storage.

Thankyou ! For sharing these places, so much to see as your traveling along...there's alot of different and interesting buildings..."love it Joe", take carel and safe travels !..God bless America and our freedom's .🌼

I loved this video. Very pretty towns with old fashioned houses and buildings. Very appealing real estate. Thanks Joe!

I’m from New Zealand and your video’s are my favourite to watch. Fascinating because of the history behind the towns and the beautiful houses that once was. Cool

One of the cool things about small towns in Iowa is the squares. Centerville has a beautiful courthouse.

Depressing. I spent a year in a dinky town in Iowa, and it had about 11K population. Adding-in Iowa weather, and it was pure hell.

Always good you show us where you are! I'm on the Isle of Man!

Thank you for your videos. It's a true joy to be able to see these otherwise remote towns and get a glimpse of what the culture is like in these areas. I often would wonder what growing up in rural Iowa, Nebraska, etc. would be like, and this seems to cover that wonderfully. Please keep the videos coming!

24:46. That is an absolute amazing Craftsman style home. Beautiful in every way.

Just found your Chanel and I am watching a lot of your videos now. Though I am from Sweden and have never even been to the States I find this very fascinating!

Thanks so much

The well-maintained brick streets seem to be a measure of the continuing prosperity of towns despite their loss of population.