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The Journey
Please join us for a written journey along the "trails" of Siouxland Trails Foundation's history. . .
It all began with a "trailhead" idea of John Vodochodsky. A long-time fan of the Mayor's Annual Ride
in Des Moines, John wanted to start a similar ride in Siouxland. He contacted Beth Grigsby, a bicyclist who was very active in the community. Beth knew that
Bob DeSmidt and Dan Vanderlinden had been thinking about establishing an endowment or some sort of mechanism to keep the area trails growing and viable, so she put John in
contact with Bob and the metaphorical "trail" now known as Siouxland Trails Foundation rapidly started to add footage!
With the recruitment of Tony Stoik and Ron Kiel, as well as Martha Vodochodsky and David Grigsby, the group started meeting regularly, selected a name, incorporated, and
filed all the paperwork necessary to be a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization. We unveiled our new "trail" to the world (or at least our corner of it!) with a press conference
on February 18, 2004. At that time, we also announced the receipt of a very generous, $10,000 challenge grant from
Klinger Companies, a gift that really helped get the Foundation on the trail to success.
Our trail doesn't have many rest stops - the Foundation is constantly on the go. Planning for the annual bicycle ride, to be used for both awareness and fundraising, was
underway nearly immediately. John from the very beginning had the Saturday closest to May 14 in mind, to commemorate the day Lewis and Clark began their historic journey
over 200 years ago. Accordingly, the theme for the first ever organized bicycle ride in Sioux City was Lewis and Clark (complete with a t-shirt featuring the two explorers
on a tandem bicycle with Seaman lumbering alongside). After a long, and often-entertaining, discussion, the group decided on
"Tri-State Trails Tour" as the name of the ride because, after all, just how many places can boast of being able to ride in three states in one
short morning?
Generous corporate and individual sponsors, along with over 250 riders, made that first ride a fun and very successful event, and making the Siouxland Trails Foundation
a viable "trail," adding "scenery" of community awareness and funds to be used to benefit the REAL area trails!
Members of the Foundation spent a good portion of the summer of 2004 riding, walking, and rollerblading on Siouxland area trails, completing a
Trail Survey used both to identify problems and needs associated with the trails and to create written and pictorial descriptions of the
trails.
To date, the Siouxland Trails Foundation has made the following grants which were identified mainly as a result of the Trail Survey:
- $2,350 to Adams Homestead & Nature Preserve for mileage markers and a brush cutter
- $10,000 to South Sioux City for expansion of the Floyd Underlook Trail
- $3,450 to Sioux City for a sweeper attachment
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