As the creator of the “Iowa Scenic Views by Foot” project, Sullivan has traveled to almost every county in Iowa during the past 10 years.

He’s also run on the roads and trails of more than 1,300 cities and towns in the state during the past seven years. And he’s visited around 500 Iowa museums in the last two years alone.

Sullivan spoke to approximately 35 people at the Fort Dodge Public Library Saturday morning. He discussed the origins and evolution of his ambitious scenic views project; while sharing many of his experiences, observations, photographs, and poems, based directly on his extensive travels in Iowa.

Like a renaissance prodigy, Sullivan first started writing poems while in kindergarten. Always fast on his feet, he’s been running in sporting events since middle school. He excelled in distance running on his high school cross country team, inspired by his track coach, Bob Brown.

-Messenger photo by David Drissel
ABOVE: A crowd gathered at the Fort Dodge Public Library to learn about Tyler Sullivan's adventures exploring Iowa on foot. So far he has visited 97 of Iowa's 99 counties.

“An amazing man,” Tyler said of his former coach and longtime mentor. One of Tyler’s books is even dedicated to Brown.

Sullivan’s adventures on the highways and byways of Iowa’s counties and towns can be traced back to 2015 when he started driving 330 miles twice per month (round trip) from Iowa City to Mason City and back again. The original purpose of these weekend road trips was to see his girlfriend in Mason City, but his travels soon evolved into something else that was much more expansive and adventuresome.

His intellectual curiosity was piqued by the often-unfamiliar names of various counties and towns that he would encounter on his bimonthly treks to Mason City. Unusual county names such as Chickasaw and Bremer intrigued him.

“There has to be something special in all of these counties,” he mused.

As a result, Sullivan began exploring many of the counties and towns flanking his bimonthly route, but soon decided to expand his efforts and explore all 99 of Iowa’s counties.

-Messenger photo by David Drissel
Laura Stover, left, and Lynette Nielson listen to Tyler Sullivan's presentation Saturday.

“These towns are magical,” he said. “They each have their own interesting charm, history, and attractions.”

Thus far, Sullivan has visited 97 out of the 99 counties in Iowa, with only Harrison and Humboldt counties remaining on his bucket list. He’s put in more than 53,000 miles behind the wheel of his car in recent years as a result of his travels. While sightseeing in each town, he visits welcome centers, courthouses, city squares, history museums, libraries, parks, shops, restaurants, factories, farms, schools, Freedom Rocks, and other local landmarks and institutions.

Sullivan went through numerous examples of unique sites he has encountered in Iowa, including the birthplace of the Maid Rite sandwich in Muscatine, the first Hy-Vee store in Ringgold County, the Kaleidoscope Factory in Pocahontas, the unique Preparation Canyon near Pisgah, the murals of Ida Grove, and even the fictional future birthplace of “Star Trek’s” Capt. Kirk in Riverside.

When asked about Fort Dodge, he said that he was particularly impressed by such sites as the Fort Museum and Frontier Village, and the Guido Van Helten Silo Mural.

Sullivan has developed a real passion for seeing history museums in small towns that are often staffed by elderly volunteers, but rarely receive new visitors. He recalls visiting one small-town history museum, for example, that was staffed solely by a 93-year-old volunteer.

“I was his first visitor at the museum in three years,” he said. “He was excited to show me around.”

Sullivan’s migratory mission includes documenting his journeys in two self-published books, “With You Every Step Along the Way” and “Living This Thing Called Life.” He also posts regular updates on his “Iowa Scenic Views by Foot” Facebook page.

In both his books and social media posts, he includes photos that are captioned with detailed accounts of his experiences, describing the people and places he encounters in each town that he visits.

Additionally, he writes at least one poem for each county or town that he visits, based on his reflections of the people and places in that town or the surrounding countryside. While visiting Callender for the first time a few years ago, for example, he authored a poem that includes the following lines:

“Waiting around for Iowa’s perfect weather is like finding a needle in a hay stack. I love days when you can look up and see the sky is filled with countless cumulus white clouds. Floating across the sky for miles upon miles. Then out of the blue the next day is the complete opposite.”

As a former cross-country athlete, Sullivan decided to add running to his traveling schedule several years ago. He was encouraged to run by one of his close friends, and it soon became an obligatory ritual. He runs at least one mile in each new town that he visits. As he pounds the local pavement, he frequently composes new poetic verses in his mind, stimulated and inspired by his unique surroundings.

He even sometimes parks his car and runs through unincorporated “ghost towns” that used to be inhabited by people in their glory days, but now contain only abandoned buildings and eerie echoes of life from a bygone era. He brags that he plans on visiting “every place on the Iowa map and even more.”

Indeed, around 100 of his travel stops have been in ghost towns that he has encountered by chance while driving through the Hawkeye State. Ghost towns are “places basically that are forgotten,” Sullivan said. “They don’t usually even appear on a map, but I find them and run in them.”

When asked about what counties or towns interest him the most, Sullivan responds that he has enjoyed his time in every community.

“Each county and town has something special to offer,” he said. “They are all beautiful in their own way.”

Given this sentiment, he plans to eventually publish one book for each county in Iowa.

The audience at the Fort Dodge Public Library appeared to be very receptive to Sullivan’s presentation.

Laura Stover, of Fort Dodge, said she attended the event “to learn more about surprise places in Iowa,” noting that she enjoys visiting new places.

In contrast, Ina Tucker, of Manson, admits that she does not travel a lot, but came to the presentation “to see the state of Iowa.”

Lynette Nielson, of Fort Dodge, said that she enjoyed seeing Sullivan’s presentation.

“I was impressed with Tyler, his stories, poetry, and running,” she said.

After seeing his photos of the Kaleidoscope Factory in Pocahontas, the “tree in the middle of the road” along the Audubon/Cass County line, and Hawkeye Point outside of Sibley, she proclaimed, “I’m ready to hit the road!”