June 26-27 Walmart Resort in Willmar, Minn

I love this banner that was behind the podium at the second nursing home

first nursing home where he sang

Saturday
We are driving from Mnpls to western MN. to spend the weekend with Tom's cousin, Teresa, who is a Lutheran pastor and is now serving as a chaplain for 2 nursing homes and an assisted living center.  She loves this small town and is so pleased to be back here.

I have a terrible migraine, so the weather must be going to change.  Luckily it is only the 2nd one of our trip.  Taking a beta blocker daily for the last several years has sure helped me.

There are several farms per mile on each side of the highway.  I'm glad they are surviving.  In WA State the big conglomerate farms and the Mormon Church have bought up so many of the small ones and are huge.  We saw the second bean plant within a few miles and presume it is soybeans that they process.  Olivia was a nice small town.  We haven't seen any deer, dead or alive.  His cousin said last weekend she saw 10 carcasses on the highway within 3 miles.

Our first WM stay!  There were 2 campgrounds 15-20 miles away, but we needed to come on Sat so couldn't get in.  We went in for a couple of things.  There were several Somalians who live in Willmar now shopping and working in WM.  The largest employer here is the Jennie O Turkey plant.  Jennie was Mr. Olsen's daughter and that's how he named it.  We ate at her apt in the nursing home complex and visited all afternoon before dinner at a Greek/Italian restaurant.  She didn't want to quit visiting so went with us to do a couple loads of laundry.  It rained 4 hours this evening, as it had a little bit during the day.

Sunday
Tom sang several songs during the services at both nursing homes since there was communion and he could keep singing while she distributed it to all the patients-most in wheelchairs.  They were old hymns, so many sang along and those who could, thanked him.  We drove around town a bit and saw such beautiful flowers and no dandelions in yards.  It is a beautiful day with blue skies.  We are headed down the road to South Dakota.

Jennifer and Michael's wedding pictures

Jenn and her attendants were already dressed when they walked into the complex behind umbrellas

Of course Jenn asked Aunt Kathy to sing.  Kathy helped with some of the planning, too.

Jenn had the back of her
gown changed to add the
pink ribbon in honor of

Nancy, whose original                                          
cancer was breast cancer.
Today would have been Nancy's
51st birthday, I think

There was a white buffet in the
front by where the kids stood.
Candles and this frame stood on
it.  On the bottom is a quote from
Tom's dad.  Jennifer's mom, Nancy,
was the sister who died 5-1/2 years
ago after fighting cancer 9-1/2 years

Kathy with her and Tom's mom, Gen,
with one of the fans made from
a Home Depot paint stirrer and
the program

Erin and Zach are Kathy's (Tom's sister) 
Lily is his wife

      Far right is Alex and next to him is Patrick.  These are Nancy and Jeff's sons and Jennifer's brothers

Jennifer and Michael's wedding reception

Jessie before the dancing started.  She was tired and Uncle Tom told her it was a shame she couldn't hold her Shirley Temple any better than that

Jocelyn, Jay, Mike and Sherry.  Mike is Tom's youngest brother, Jay is his son and the women are their girlfriends.

Patty is our former sister-in-law (was married to Tom's brother, John.)  Jessie is their daughter - 13.

John and his girlfriend, Janelle, are in the front row

Jess ended up dancing a lot

                                          

June 24 Jennifer's wedding

    Family was going in all directions today so we left a little early for the wedding to drive through Stillwater, MN., about 30 miles from the campground.  We visited a veteran's memorial.  The town has had about 15,000 population since the 2000 census. 100 men have died in wars since the Spanish American and Civil Wars.  Plaques list the war and their names.  None are listed for Iraq or Afghanistan.  Many families have bought bricks to build a sidewalk to it, listing veteran's names.  That area was full of large Victorian homes and old churches.  The town was started in 1853 as settlers liked the St. Croix River availability and traffic.  There are neighborhoods high on hills that don't look like fun with the winter weather they have.  It was chosen as one of the top 4 small cities in America to live in recently.
    Jennifer is the only daughter of Tom's sister, Nancy, who died 5-1/2 years ago after fighting cancer for 9-1/2 years.  She wanted to have her wedding on this date, which was her mom's birthday.  The ceremony was held at an outdoor venue that had a long path leading through pretty gardens and then other gardens all around it.  A building was set up for the men and women to dress, if they need to.  We were all standing around and someone yelled "Look, the girls are all coming up the walk."  They were all hidden behind large umbrellas they were carrying.
    Jenn picked a dress that had ribbon down the back - she added pink ribbon to represent the breast cancer color.  She and Michael met at Home Depot, so they made the programs by printing them on card stock and gluing them to either side of a paint stirrer.  Then tied a ribbon on for decoration.  They served as great fans.
    The reception was several miles away at a golf course in River Falls, WI., where she attended college.  It was a fun time with lots of '60's music played by a d.j., which surprised us.  But the young people danced to all of them.  His Best Man said Mike has always been so conscientious and has such a good work ethic.  He grew up on a dairy farm in Wisc. and it was a huge school district.  He drove himself 30 miles each way to school starting at 16.  When the weather was bad it took an hour each way.  And he stayed after for sports practice so got home late.
    We drove back a different way, through Bayport, which has an Anderson window factory, Jacque.

June 25 Family time

    Tom and Kathy's husband, Bob, went target practicing today.  Since all the shots ended up in the bullseye with his retirement gift pistol, Bob told him he really didn't need to practice.  While they were having fun Kath and I went to Sam's Club for food for today's bbq.  But they had neat knit outfits and she bought one and I bought several separates that will be so neat for overseas travel and cruises.
    We had lots of family over this afternoon and evening and were so thankful the bad weather was this afternoon and not yesterday during the wedding.  Yesterday was the only day this week without rain.   I was again reminded that I don't miss the downpours and tornado warnings living in eastern Washington.
    Moving to a small town in Mn in the morning to spend the weekend with a cousin of Tom's.

June 23 Family time in Minneapolis area

    I haven't seen my cousin, Curt and his wife, Diane for over 20 years.  We spent most of the day with them.  Dalton is 19 and will be a sophomore in college.  He's learning to play and Curt and Tom played for a couple of hours.  Diane and I left for a bit to walk by the lake across the street from them.   Curt has had a lot of health problems and was a stay-at-home dad.  They owned a singing telegram business for many years before Dalton was born and Diane went back to teaching after they closed it.
     Now she is a literary coach for students and teachers.  Her job is to keep the teachers updated on new ways of teaching reading skills etc.  She says the teachers are way too set in their ways and she prefers working with the kids, who are hungry to learn to read!  They bought a small house 17 years ago and mold was found last year and much of it has been redone and is so nice now.  That contributed to Curt's illnesses and he hopes to be on the mend now from a fungal skin infection etc.  He finds it hard to believe that my sisters and I are all grandmas several times over.  He lived in Detroit, Chicago and St. Paul when we were kids, so we didn't see each other nearly as often as most of our other cousins, but he still has fond memories of us and my parents.
    Tom's brother, Mike, and girlfriend, Sherry, flew in from Phoenix today for the wedding tomorrow night.  Kathy and Bob were at the rehearsal dinner, so their daughter, Gen and the 4 of us went for pizza.
    There was rain, thunder and lightning during the night last night, so very humid again today.

June 22 Minnehaha Falls and Depot and Ft. Snelling

top of falls

    9 a.m.  72 degrees and 83% humidity.  We did laundry etc this morning, so it was 92 when we visited this afternoon and don't know what humidity was.  Had planned to visit Ev's cousin, but he was sick.
    We think the last time we visited the falls was about 34 years ago.  The kids may remember a picture of them with Grandpa C. and us there along the walkway that day.  It was probably the first time we came back from Fbks on vacation.  We walked down 119 steps to see it from the bottom today.
    Across from it on the high ground in Minnehaha Park is this little train station called The Princess because of its Victorian gingerbread trim etc.  It was built in the mid 1870's and throngs of people took the 16 minute ride from other parts of Minneapolis to the park and zoo.  Others traveled from nearby Ft. Snelling to Mendota.  By 1910,  3 trains made 3 round trips daily.  In WWI and II many more people rode to this station because of being inducted at the fort.  Tom's dad was one of 300,000 that passed through the fort as inductees in WWII era.  The station was closed in 1963 and given to the historical society.
    Ft. Snelling was used as a fort during the 1840's and was the western most fort in the country then.  It was used as part of the Indian wars.  Today we just browsed through the WWI and II exhibit in the visitor's center since Tom has been there several times and I was there with the kids when his folks lived in Mnpls.
    We met Kathy, Bob and Gen for dinner and everyone went home to relax and go to bed early.  We will have a busy rest of the week as others will arrive starting tomorrow for our niece's wedding Thursday night and time together Friday before everyone leaves Saturday.

June 21 Little Brown Church In The Vale

   

    This little church was the inspiration for the song Church In The Wildwood.  It is in Nashua, just a short drive from Clarksville, so we detoured to see it.  It currently has 70 members and is used very often for weddings and other occasions, along with the wooded area next to it.  It is kept open for tourists to view the inside.
    We drove 3 hours today, occasionally in rain showers.  We had a radio station on from someplace nearby in Iowa and the dj said the humidity was 100% at about 10 am.    The reception was so good in the hills that it had to be a close town.  The highways were terrible- county roads, state hiways and I-35 in Mnpls.  It appears about 1 of 10 motorcyclists wear a helmet in Iowa and Minnesota.  One guy had his hanging on the back of his bike out on the highway.
    As was very popular around Clarksville, the rest of the eastern Iowa farmland revealed quite a number of barns that have a big quilt block painted on the end.
    The news on a Mnpls station said one of the two zoos there is spending $20 million to renovate and to add a couple of new exhibits, including its first penguin one.  That is an amazing amount of money in this economy.  Sister-in-law said she's pretty sure it's a state owned zoo.
    Arrived at a nice campground, and it is across from that zoo, but doubt we'll go over.  I walked ahead of Tom to the site and visited a minute with a man outside his motorhome whose car had a big Methodist symbol on it and said Nomad Mission Volunteer.  He said there are about 1000 of them across the country who build or renovate churches, mostly small ones.  I had heard of this before and told him we have a group of diligent members at our church who go to disaster areas to help rebuild.
    Enjoyed dinner at Tom's sister's, with her family and Tom's mom.  Longest day of the year, but it was dark by the time we got back to the camper at 9:30.

June 20 The Last Train To Clarksville

Well now, you younger readers won't recognize that title as an '80's song by the Dave Clark 5.  Actually, our Ram and camper went to Clarksville, IA. this morning so we could stay with my college roommate, Jan, and her husband, Bob Longmuir.  We hadn't seen each other since I drove across Iowa to their wedding in 1967-43 years!  I told her we can't wait that long to see each other next time.  We've always exchanged Christmas cards, but that's all.   She said I haven't changed except my hair color and I said she hadn't changed at all since she uses a bottle on her hair color!  We enjoyed meeting Bob, a School Superintendent.  Jan just retired after a life of teaching and being high school librarian.  She and another good friend of mine have been librarians all their lives, when I am the one who worked in a public library and college library from age 14-19 and then went to school to become a librarian, but gave it up when I decided to marry Tom - best choice I ever made!
     They took us to a friend's farm to see his train collection and memorabilia.  He was recently laid off from a railroad job, but collected lots of stuff over the years that was being thrown out.  He has a section of track laid next to a small outbuilding, plus a small signal and the RR crossing sign.  That building is full of stuff, as is a larger building.  He has collected 17 sets of toys by Marx that were popular in the '50's and '60's and is currently assembling the Disneyland one to incorporate into his train layout in his basement.  He already has many set up:  military bases, Cape Kennedy, farms, airport, etc.  Has many train sets that can go simultaneously.  He gives tours of this layout and also of area railroads as a part-time job.  His website is Trainsonthefarm.com.
    While the guys were in the outbuildings Jan and I enjoyed visiting with Carol and looking at her beautiful flowers from the front porch swing.  I commented on the big quilt block that was painted on one end of the barn and she said she and Francis had painted it on huge squares of plywood and then he nailed it to the barn.  We had seen quite a few of those in eastern Iowa.  When we entered the house to see the trains, I noticed a quilted wallhanging and asked if she had done it.  Yes, so she pulled out finished ones and quilts and unfinished projects.  I didn't know quilters ever had unfinished projects -  Ha!
    Back to Jan's for pizza and teaching them a card game.

June 19 Des Moines, Iowa

     86 and humid this afternoon.

     Neither of us has spent any time in Des Moines, though we lived in Iowa.  We visited Fort Des Moines that I mentioned yesterday.  When we got there he said, you know this is where I was inducted (into the AF in Aug '66).  It was actually a fort in 2 different locations during the 1800's and then this one was built to train black officers for WWI military service.  No other state would allow the camp.  So disgusting.  I asked Tom why they weren't trained with white officers and he said in WWI some black troops served with white officers, but not other soldiers.  The National Defense Act of 1947 created the Department of Defense, with Department of the AF, Army, Marines, Navy etc., under it and also changed the rules where blacks and whites could serve together.  I said that was ridiculous that it took until then and he agreed.  One picture and commentary in the museum said between 1914 and 1920 White Supremists lynched a known 382 black men, many of them still wearing their Army uniforms.  The fort is now used to train Army Reservists and we could see a Marine Corps sign at the end of a building within a fence, but don't know what it said.  People were setting up for an outdoor wedding in the yard of the fort and the sky is overcast, so hope it is done before another storm.
     Walked around and into shops in an area of old buildings near the railroad tracks called Valley Junction.
      On the drive into town we went down Grand Avenue which had blocks of old mansions and lots of older, smaller homes that were still large from turn of the century, I'd guess.
     Salisbury House is a 42 room mansion with various wings that was built for the Weeks Family from 1922-27 and patterned after a huge estate in England.  Much of the stone was brought from the White Cliffs of Dover area.  The floor boards in the dining room are 500 years old.  There are an organ and a grand piano with carved sides in one of the great halls.  The paneling in his bedroom is Iowa walnut from the trees they cut down before building the home.  Some of the furniture is from the 1600-1700's.
The windows in the bedrooms upstairs open out.  Inside some was a small screen that pulled down to cover the opening.  They were made by the Rolscreen Co. which then became the Pella Co.
     The driveway is made from bricks that the City was throwing out when they were going to pave a street and he was able to get them free.  Someone donated a 1929 Packard to display in the large garage.  The servants quarters were a separate 5 bdrm house.  They employed 5-9 servants and gardeners.
   Several authors, including Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway, were friends of his.  Several letters from them were on display.  They often had guests and said Louis Armstrong stayed one time in the guest bedroom.  He owned the Armand Cosmetic company and that is where he made his money.  He invented foundation makeup and held the patent to it until 1947.
     A company was setting up for an outside wedding here too.  The cashier saw my entry in the guest book and said he grew up 1-1/2 hrs from where we live, in Pomeroy.  I asked him how much it costs to rent the lawn and/or house for a function.  $2500-6000, depending on if you will use the house and how much of it.  Sure hope they don't get rained out this afternoon!  There were no canopies over the many chairs set up for the ceremony.  They didn't allow any pictures to be taken inside or out., so don't know what wedding parties are allowed to do.  The chairs etc were facing the house.
     It's 4:15 and we actually haven't had any rain today.  We're going to figure out our short trip tomorrow and Monday's drive and make a couple of more campground reservations and relax this evening.  John invited us back tonite, but Janelle won't get home until 7:00, so too late to make her entertain.

Bridges of Madison County and John Wayne's birthplace

Holliwell Bridge-featured in Bridges Of Madison County movie.  In all 6 cases of the remaining bridges, they were in city parks or the highway has been moved away from the bridge

John Wayne's birthplace in Winterset, IA.  Gift shop is in white house next to corner one.  The home is a museum about him and his movies.  We didn't pay to go in, as the gift shop had so much information free

cute quilt shop in Winterset

Threatening sky on the way to Winterset.  We were hoping it wouldn't become a tornado and had a driving plan if it did, that did not include following it to take pictures!  Tom said the lady at the quilt shop must know the weather man because it had only stopped raining a few minutes before we got there and she had quilts hung all along a fence next to the house, with wire

June 18 Bridges of Madison County and John Wayne

   With our trusty map in hand, the driver and navigator drove across country roads and through poke and clean towns (I read that in a novel this week.  The town is so little that by the time you poke your head out you're clean through it!) in search of the bridges.  There were originally 20, but only 6 remain.  The County ordered them built with covers to preserve the large flooring timbers which were more expensive to replace than the lumber covering the sides and the roof.  Most of the construction work was done by farmers to pay their poll taxes.  (A tax levied on adults, linked with their right to vote.  Never heard of that in history lessons, that I can remember.)  The bridges were usually named for the nearest resident.  We drove to 4 of them. 
    There are 2 styles of roofs.  Many have been moved from one location to another and some have been restored with costs ranging from $32,000 to $225,000.  This is a major tourist draw to this county.  One was destroyed by an arsonist in 2002 and a replica was dedicated in 2004.  One now sits in a city park in Winterset.  The Holliwell one is the one used in the movie.  It is the longest at 122' and was renovated in 1995 for $225,000.
    Next stop was John Wayne's birthplace in Winterset.  It was pouring and blowing so hard that we sat in the truck for 35 minutes before going into the visitor's center.  Watched electrical employees remove branches that were falling onto wires in a yard.  The town has a nice downtown with lots of locally owned businesses, plus a Pamida and Ben Franklin.
    Off to the city park to see one of the bridges and then we passed the house from the movie.  It was partially destroyed by fire a few years ago and sits way back on the acres and has a huge fence around it so we couldn't pull in.  It and all the bridges have electronic surveillance cameras.  We didn't see anything that suggested this fire was arson, but don't know.  Continued to one more bridge.  The corn is much higher here and we heard they got it planted early.  Again, fields are full of water.  There are miles of a tall weed with blue flowers along the country roads.
     The last bridge we saw was in St. Charles.  An old Presbyterian church has been renovated as the visitor's center.  People paid $1000 to restore each of the stained glass windows.  Then hail broke part of one so they had someone make a piece showing the bridge to fill the spot.  That congregation had become so small that they merged with the Methodist church many years ago.  A woman bought the building and used it for storage for 30 years!  It has a nice basement even.  After her death her family donated it to the city.  They solicited funds for the windows, replaced the roof and did lots of interior work.
    We were surprised at the number of very large, newer homes scattered all over on small acreages everywhere we drove today.
    Drove back to Adel and visited a cute quilt shop and saw a Breadeaux pizza place.  On to Panora again, where Tom's brother, John, lives.  Had a nice evening with he and his friend, Janelle.  We saw lightning bugs in their yard and watched an electrifying lightning show all the way home on those dark country roads, since you could see forever.
 

June 17 Around Des Moines, Iowa

   Thurs.
 Only about a 100 mile drive today.  We have driven almost 5400 miles in 6-1/2 weeks, even with being at his mom's almost 7 days!  So many short trips and day trips with the truck that it doesn't seem like it.  Today I sent checks to the Bozeman hospital for the E. R. and the Livingston hospital for my share of the bills - "only" $1320.  That would have filled the truck about 14 times.  Diesel is sometimes as low as $2.85, but we usually pay about $2.95.  Have paid $3.15 several times.  Still good compared to WA.  And that's even in these tiny towns in the middle of the states or way up north.
    We passed a Bass Pro Shop, the Iowa speedway and a Maytag dairy.  Saw a sign for Sully, Iowa.  We stopped at one of the great rest stops on I-80 in Iowa.  They have RV dumps, big buildings, lots of covered picnic tables, WI-FI and vending machines and are located every 30-40 miles.  There was a sign about Fort Des Moines, saying it was used as a military fortress a couple of times in the 1800's and in WWI was used as a training base for black officers and in WWII as a training base for the Women's Army Auxiliary.  Des Moines is the capital and largest city in Iowa.
      Not far past there a pickup pulled up next to us honking and pointing at the back of the truck.  Tom pulled off and one of the sway bars between the camper and truck had come out of the hitch.  It happened a couple of weeks ago too.  We got off in a suburb of Des Moines and found a hitch place that was able to get the whole new mechanism with the bars and hitch.  It really was the hole in the hitch that was worn, but it's 20 years old, so not a bad deal.  The highway had been so bad and the juggling is what made it happen, just as on that last highway did.  (Editorial:  America needs to quit sending billions everywhere in the world and start fixing our infrastructure like interstates and bridges.  What we don't understand, though, is why these highways are so bad and there are hundreds of trucks, yet we haven't seen any with the truck wheel ruts that are always having to be repaired on I-90 in WA.)  Anyway, about 2-1/2 hrs and $400 later it was replaced.  It was 85 and so humid and I asked if I could sit in his yard next to his shop and his dad's girlfriend came out to talk to me and also printed stuff on where we were going the next day for us.  Off we drove to the KOA campground outside of D.M. in Adel. 
     We saw a grocery store with an emergency clinic on the second floor.  What a neat concept for saving space!  By this time it hit 90 and was so humid that we were really sweating.  We went to dinner at our ex sister-in-law's and had a nice visit with she and her new husband and our 13 year old niece.  We drove home about 25 miles on dark country roads, watching for deer and the lightning that had started.  We stood by the camper watching it.  The clouds looked like mountains and the lightning was behind it.  We had a thunder and lightning storm during the night.  It has rained every night for 2 weeks, some days as much as 1-1/2".  There is so much water standing in the fields everywhere that I hope the crops survive.

Pictures from the Amana Colonies in Iowa

One of the buildings(top left), general store still sells many of the old items and looks about the same, a finished quilt and antique shop that is also a nursery.  The inside of the Amana Community Church that was built in 1865 and the outside of it is the bottom right picture.  They still worship as their great grandparents did in the mid 1800's.  Our niece, Stacia Campbell Foster, John's daughter, who is a few days older than Jacque, standing next to a playground by the highway. 

June 15-16 Amana Colonies in Iowa

  75 degrees and sunny.  We passed the world's largest truckstop.  Drove through a downpour, too bad we didn't bring the ark.  Short trip from Davenport to the Amanas.  It was sunny when we arrived, but sprinkled all afternoon as we drove and walked around.  Supposed to rain for the next 3 days here.
     Living in Iowa, and since, I always thought the colonists were Amish, but they aren't.  They were a group of people and their leader who came over from Germany in the 1800's to continue living the communal life they always had, but to escape religious persecution.  Their order was called the Community of True Inspiration. 
     Everything they needed was supplied by the commune and they all worked together. They started in NY but moved west, finding 26,000 acres east of Des Moines.  They formed 6 villages and then bought the 7th.  Their multi-family homes were made of brick and are still occupied.  There were communal kitchens where the women took turns working to feed 35-50 people 3 meals and 2 coffee breaks a day.   The women who weren't on the schedule brought picnic baskets to carry their meals to their families.
   We visited the cooper's shop-new word for us.  He was the barrel maker and also worked on wagons and wheels in the winter.  He also probably cut ice on the lake and in the good weather he helped in the fields.
    We knew they are famous for their beautiful furniture.  Tom held me as I cried while watching 2 men making dressers, missing Dad and his brother, Homer, and their other brother and father, all such wonderful carpenters and woodworkers.  The furniture showrooms showed such beautiful furniture-some table tops had burl designs in them.  They hand make clocks, too, and the grandfather ones were so neat and the ones built into large curio or china hutches.  My brother-in-law's grandparents had a lot of furniture from the colonies, so dad saw it at their home.
    In the 1930's they went to an independent lifestyle.  Since the 1950's anyone could move into the community.  Now about 800,000 people per year visit.  Ther are several gift/antique shops that are nice and a very nice quilt shop and one antique shop sold completed quilts.   We were a little disappointed that more exhibits weren't there, but people have to make a living and it only cost for a museum tkt that got us into several places.  There is still an Amana Society, which receives some proceeds from things like the museum tickets and is used for the good of the community, I would say.  We visited the church.  The 80 something lady said they are a typical modern group of people now, but have never changed the style of worship that their great grandparents did.  They have a huge building with wooden benches, a table with a Bible at the front (no cross anywhere, inside or outside) and oil lamps (now electric) on the walls.  They have added 2 ceiling fans.
    Wednesday we went to the village bakery for a pastry for breakfast.  The courtyard bordered on the entrance to an antique and gift shop and the lady there had great patriotic displays with flowers, flags, old laundry basket, big dishpan etc. outside.   One lady was sketching it and I asked if she is a painter and she said she was one of many taking a watercolor class this week in the colonies.  As we drove around we saw a lady sketching a real old barn and another one sketching a flower garden at a house.  So many of the yards have the orange tiger day lilies like were always in my grandma's yard and they were growing wild many places along the roads between the villages.  Tom commented that we hadn't seen any dandelions in yards or along the roads.  When we walked around the campground that night we found a few in the hay field we were staying in.  It was so wet from all the rain and they only had a small amount of gravel for the wheels to drive on.  The road was good.  It was what we referred to as a loblolly growing up - a muddy mess.  Both nights we heard frogs near the camper and there wasn't a creek real close!
    We drove past the Amana manufacturing plant in one of the villages.  It is now owned by Whirlpool.  My sister's husband has been a wholesale salesman for them for about 30 years-mostly in AZ.
    We drove 6 miles away from the villages to another small town called Oxford for lunch.  Someone recommended it as a nice place.  Appears the owner lady is from Louisiana.  Cooks some cajun stuff, but what appealed to us was the Iowa pork tenderloin sandwich.  You can't buy those west of about Nebr.  Usually they are pounded thin.  We knew we wanted to split one and he said he'd bring an extra bun.  When he brought it out it was a whole tenderloin, not pounded, laying across 2 buns.  It was good.
    The campground started filling up.  There are small pop-up tent-like campers called A-liner's and there is a rally of them in the camp this weekend, but many were here when we got here early in the week and many came in.  So tiny, but some had screened porches they attached.  They'll be lucky to get out of here if it rains 3 more days.  They have buildings groups can rent and had 2 large event tents set up.

June 14 Davenport, IA.

A baby robin was walking around and right into Tom's hand

It rained hard until about 10 this morning, so left then to walk around an older downtown area that was to have some cute shops, etc.  But, it's Monday, so all but one was closed!  Ate an early lunch and drove several miles of subdivisions in the old area and we were amazed at the blocks and blocks of gigantic homes from early 1900's, we'd guess.  Not the old Victorian style in lots of cases, but more square.  Can't imagine how so many people had money to build those houses.  Then the bigger, newer ones, that were still old, on the road on the riverfront.  Lumber was a big industry here then, so maybe people had money from that.  I am so glad Tom enjoys driving through subdivisions, too, and always wish my sisters and parents were with  us when we do.

We went to a museum that had a floor featuring Iowa history.  In 1880's a German immigrant came to Davenport and opened a pearl button factory because countless truckloads of mussels could be gotten from the Mississippi.  There were several factories here in the Quad Cities and another Iowa town, Muscatine, had 30 facilities making them to keep up with the demand for them in the late 1800's.
We watched Hubbel 3D on their IMAX.  It was really good and you should go if it comes to your town.  Our grandkids like watching the stars and constellations with Tom in the hottub.  They'd really like this.

We'll leave early morning tomorrow for the Amana Colonies for 2 days.  It stayed humid, 82 and overcast all day after this morning, but is supposed to rain here for the next 3 days.  It looks more clear over there on the weather map and we'll be doing a lot of walking, so hope so.

Jacque called to tell us Dalton (12) played (pitched a lot of the time) 6 games in traveling team tournament in Moses Lake this weekend and hit his first out of the park homerun!!!

6/13 Photos Arsenal Island

The Grotto in Dickeyville, WI.  The Arsenal Buildings on Arsenal Island at Rock Island, IL. A tow pushing 9 empty barges up river through the locks, and the combination railroad and auto Government bridge over the Mississippi River at Rock Island.

June 13 Quad Cities, IA and ILL and Arsenal Island

    Left flat farmland in western Wisc. and drove through rolling hills full of farms.  Saw lots of marshmallow farms (actually fields of the large, round hay bales wrapped in white plastic).  One farm had about 15 wheelbarrows lined up on a lot line-would have been so pretty with flowers in them.  Another one had 10 wagons of all kinds, including an Amish buggy.  Enjoyed older country on 2 radio stations.  One of our longer rides at 4 hours.  Stopped at a rock grotto next to a Catholic church in Dickeyville.  Had one patriotic area and the rest religious.  Countless rocks and shells.
    Crossed the Mississippi and drove through Dubuque, IA.  Then south to Davenport, IA. on the river.  Arrived at campground at noon.  My niece asked if we'd seen a firefly yet and I said no, for one thing it didn't get dark in northern Mich. until about 10:30 and we were definitely inside and usually asleep by then.  As Tom walked into the office yesterday, one flew onto the porch just before it started pouring.
    I read that the first railroad bridge to cross the Mississippi was built in 1856 between Rock Island, Ill. and Davenport.  A steamboat company sued the railroad company because one of their boats hit the pier.  An attorney argued that people had just as much right to cross the river as to be on it.  The jury was hung.  The Atty was Abraham Lincoln from Springfield, Ill.  In 1862 the Supreme Court ruled for the railroad on a similar case.
    We drove across the Government Bridge, built in 1896, which has a double train track on the section above the vehicle section.  It has a 360 degree swing span for the river traffic below.  This is one of  the bridges to the 946 acre Arsenal Island, where the Rock Island Arsenal is.  Weapons and ammunition have been built here for our military since the Civil War.  Today it is the largest government-owned arsenal in our country.   The area is comprised of block after block of huge stone buildings that were built between the 1850's and 1870's.  Since it is an active Army installation, they are all still in use.  We saw one with a sign saying it is the headquarters for the Illinois warrior transition center - I would guess for returning soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan.  One office had a Marine logo on the sign.  250 military personnel and 6000 civilians work on the island.  There is a housing section, school, PX and commissary for the military.
       At one end of the island is a locks system for moving ships down the river.  We watched one tug push 9 big barges, at once, through it!
       Rock Island Arsenal museum- visiting here was one of the highlights of the whole trip that Tom was looking forward to.  He said there is an unbelievable amount of weapons of all kinds in there and information, by serial number, on a lot of them.  He said any gun collector type should definitely visit it.  After he came out we drove around the island.  It held a Confederate prison with 12,192 prisoners there between Dec. 1863 and July 1865.  1,960 died and are buried in a  Confederate cemetery with nice markers that the V.A. maintains.  Rock Island National Cemetery (for military) is down the road.  It was started as a place to bury the Union guards who died at the prison.  There are nearly 24,000 white and gray markers, representing 29,000 burials.  Many headstones of the military buried there had a wife's name on the back of the stone.
    A big lot is full of large firepower-tanks, cannon-type weapons etc.  Tom enjoyed walking by them and reading the plaques.
    We drove back to Davenport and drove around the river area.  There is a huge casino boat in it.
    This is a nice campground that filled up tonite.  There is an Airstream caravan with 13 units.  One is really pretty with lots of burgundy on it.  The motorhome next to us has a couple with a 10 yr old daughter and a cocker spaniel.  They are driving from Calif. to Wash., D.C. and going home via the southern route.  We watch all these people walking their dogs in the rain at these campgrounds and think, no thanks!
    They have had so much rain here recently and it is supposed to rain tomorrow, but we want to see what we can in the 4 cities here before leaving Tuesday morning.  Neither of us ever saw this area of Iowa when we lived west of here.
 

June 12 Around Wisconsin Dells, WI.

Tom had read about a scenic railway museum a few minutes from Wisc. Dells.  We drove down, arriving 10 minutes before they were leaving for a 50 minute ride.  We didn't know that was available.  Got on that and it was raining when we got back.  Some men were re-enacting a WWII encampment and they had to cover up a lot of their stuff.  They only do it one day a year, so that was neat that he saw what he did.

I forgot to mention more stuff that we saw again yesterday in Wisc. Dells: golf courses, amusement parks, double drive-in theater, huge casino, water ski show, monster truck place, drive a race car - just amazing.  They are busy all year because so many of the water parks, etc, are indoors.  We walked around some of the long strip of touristy shops and restaurants and were only interested in picking up a couple of kinds of Wisc cheese in a shop.

Sign at a church outside of town:  exercise daily - walk with the Lord.

In the evening Tom played and sang for the couple next to us who we had visited with briefly.  They really enjoyed it and had never seen a 12 string.  They have 4 kids and 2 of the girls work 3 and 4 part-time jobs to make ends meet and they each know women who have 4 and 5 kids apiece and are on the Illinois welfare system, bringing in $900 for each kid each month!   Our country is soooooo screwed up!
They can take cash from their card, buy groceries with some, etc etc. - all kinds of options.

Leaving Wisc. for eastern Iowa tomorrow.  We have found that a number of tourist places are closed on Monday.  I checked the computer for the Rock Island Arsenal, which is one of the highlights of the whole trip for Tom, to see Monday's hours.  They are closed.  Luckily we knew we'd be in town by noon Sunday and he could go that afternoon.

June 12 Pictures from railroad museum-New Freedom, WI

diesel engine

snow plow on train                                    Mid Continent Scenic Railway-New Freedom, Wisc.

                                

these are the cars for hauling

ore-carries about 100,000 pounds

June 11 Wisc. Dells pictures

the people who own Mt. Olympus resort and amusement park own this, plus huge garage off back.  It's on an island in the lake.

Some "little" homes were being built on the lake!

a banjo made of a cookie tin at the country music barn

                                                                                                            in the parking lot of the ducks place

                                                                                                       

There were 4 delivery cars in the parking lot when we stopped, all with the moose on top.  Enlarge this moose - he's cute