Couple Describes Iowa Similar to Living in a Painting
“Get a shirt on, lady, you’re getting sunburned!” Chuck Offenburger hollered at a red-skinned bicyclist passing him on the Raccoon River Valley Trail in 1990. “When we caught up with her and her sister at a stop, I apologized for the bad interpretation of my good intention.”
The lady, Carla Burt, wasn’t too offended. In fact, she has spent the last 15 years deciphering Chuck’s language — the couple was married in 1991 and currently resides just south of Cooper, Iowa, in Greene County.
“We’re now living a quarter-mile off the same trail we met on,” Chuck said. “A realtor we’d been referred to, Judy Von Ahsen, found us a 105-year-old farmhouse on three acres that a young couple had spent three years gutting. But they were really worn out on the project, and sold it to us for what they had in it. We hired local contractors to finish the job, and we’ve loved the place ever since.”
After living most of their lives in the Des Moines area, Chuck as a 26-year veteran at the Des Moines Register and Carla as an instructor at Simpson College, the two began to shop around the state for a change of pace. A son’s attendance at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake turned the Offenburgers’ focus northwestward.
“We knew BVU and the area, so we gave it a shot,” Chuck said. “Carla taught at BVU for five years, and I taught two years before I went back to freelance journalism. After those five years, Carla was ready to do something else, and her idea of having big gardens turned our search toward country acreage.”
In their move from Storm Lake, the Offenburgers had only a few requirements of their new location — at least an hour’s drive away from Des Moines, placement near a paved road or paved trail, and access to high-speed Internet. The property Judy found for them fulfilled their requirements and surpassed their expectations.
“Our proximity to the Raccoon River Valley Trail allows us infinite recreation opportunities year-round, from biking to cross country skiing,” Chuck said. “There’s a gorgeous countryside out here, and it changes every day. It’s like living in a painting.”
The Raccoon River Valley Trail, which currently stretches 56 miles from Jefferson to Waukee on the west side of the Des Moines metro area, will soon include a 33-mile north loop. That will connect the communities of Dallas Center, Minburn, Perry, Dawson and Jamaica to the nine towns already on the trail. The Offenburgers helped usher in this trail expansion through their work on the Raccoon River Valley Trail Association, a sort of chamber of commerce for the trail.
“As cyclists and RAGBRAI veterans, Carla and I are big advocates for the Iowa trail system,” Chuck said. “The Raccoon River Valley Trail is an $11.2 million piece of economic development infrastructure, already in place, if you want to look at it that way. The Association promotes and markets the trail, while also working to encourage development of B&Bs, restaurants, music venues, campgrounds, and other amenities its users look for.”
Chuck and Carla have also taken their love of cycling and Iowa across the U.S., organizing a 1995 ride by 308 people, promoting the state’s 1996 Sesquicentennial. Off their bikes, Carla stays busy in the county seat town of Jefferson as an administrative assistant at the Greene County Medical Center, where she coordinates the hospital’s foundation, as well as working as general manager on a $500,000 renovation and development project on the boyhood home of pollster George Gallup. She is also president of the Raccoon River Valley Trail Association. Chuck continues honing his craft, as a freelancer, coordinator of the couple’s news and opinion Internet site Offenburger.com, feature writer for Okoboji Magazine, and columnist for the Iowa Farm Bureau publications. Chuck is an active author of books, currently writing the biography of Iowa State two-sport All American and college basketball TV analyst Gary Thompson.
The Offenburgers say that beyond its trail offerings, Western Iowa has much to offer businesses and residents, including a supportive mentality. “We’re growth-focused out here now,” Chuck said. “Western Iowa is keen on the idea that it wants to grow. Ever since it was clobbered by the Farm Crisis in the middle 1980s, it’s been on a growth agenda.”
Iowa Highway 141 and Interstate 80 make Western Iowa “well positioned for transportation and accessibility,” according to Chuck. “We’ve pretty well got high-speed Internet service available everywhere in the area. And now we’re working on lifestyle enhancement by developing attractions like the Whiterock Conservancy outside Coon Rapids. We need to capitalize on our strengths, like being right in the middle of the agricultural revolution that is producing all kinds of new opportunities.
“This region is conducive for younger generations, for entrepreneurs, for individuals with any background or interest, and for those looking for financial support for ideas they’ve always wanted to try,” Chuck said. “There’s lots of room out here — old farmsteads sitting idle, aching for inhabitants.”
