Friday, November 2–We went up to the guest house Wednesday so that we could get the RV washed in Starkville and get the oil changed in Louisville before leaving on Friday. We had decided to stop in Corinth Friday night and see Dorothy and family as well as the house she is building. We were too late to go to the house that night so we’ll go tomorrow.
Saturday, November 4–We saw Dorothy’s house, which is really impressive with a lot of Dorothy’s details and shows a lot of thought on her part. We then left and started our drive. We didn’t quite get to St. Louis so we have slightly over half way to go tomorrow. We didn’t have enough propane and were unable to get any in Ackerman before we left so we were looking for it. I found a Campground that had it, but on the way there we stopped at a Love’s that had propane and filled up there. We still went on to the Perryville Campground ($36.95) for the night.
Sunday, November 5–There was rain for a large part of the night and day light saving time was over this night so we had an extra hour—and slept late. I had to take ZOE out in the rain but she managed her business quickly. It twas after 9:00 when we left the campground. There were some beautiful trees along the way, but we saw prettier ones in Iowa.
Monday, November 6–I took ZOE for her interview and to be boarded at Lucky Pawz while the others took the RV for new windshield wipers. Her interview was by three large dogs who entered the room in which she was and met her. She had no trouble passing! We then went to the Devonian Fossil Gorge made be sudden excessive water from an emergency spillway and containing fossils as well as showing layers of sedimentary rocks. We went to Blackstone for lunch and then to the Herbert Hoover Library and museum. We had not realized what an outstanding man he was. We returned to Peggy’s and had sandwiches for supper. Tom skipped the sandwiches.
Tuesday, November 6–It’s cold in Iowa! Although it’s only about 45 degrees, there’s a lot of wind and we’re cold. We set out for Pella after Peggy returned from taking her grandchildren to school. Our first stop was the Frisian Cheese Company where we watched men press curds into molds, learned about making Gouda, and then bought some cheese. We stopped in a couple of Christmas stores and a bakery before going to lunch in a meat market. Three of us had Reubens and Wanda had a wrap. We then went to a reconstructed Dutch village where we had to hurry as we were running out of time. We had a whirlwind tour of the tallest working lighthouse in the US and a miniatures village complete with trains (G gauge). We left in time to watch the Glockenspiel with moving figures at 3:00 and then headed back to pick up children at school and then go t o a Mexican restaurant for supper. The portions were enormous, and Tom and I both took out boxes. We returned to Peggy’s and Peggy, Wanda, and I watched elections until we learned that the Democrats had won the House. Peggy went to bed first, then Abby then came out and said the noise was keeping her awake so we went to bed.
Wednesday, November 7—The wind today is strong, and it’s cold. Peggy lent me a coat and Tom and me both some mittens.Today was Dubuque, which was Peggy’s hometown. It was settled in 1788 by a Frenchman named Dubuque and is the oldest town in Iowa. Our first stop was at Dubuque’s gravesite, a tower on a bluff. He married the daughter of an Indian chief, but she did not seem to be buried there with him. It was very cold and windy on the bluff. We rode an “elevator” which was a little train (the Fenelon Place Elevator) up the hill from the river level to the hill above. The hill above was where Peggy grew up. It was billed as the world’s shortest, steepest, railway and consisted of only two small cars that counterbalanced each other. There was a man at the top who collected the fare and who took our picture.
We ate lunch in a place where we sat in a booth in a corner and I think had soup and sandwiches. We then went to the National Mississippi River Museum. This was a long museum consisting of two parts joined together by a long walkway. In the first part we saw a video featuring the river. We also saw river fish, an otter, a large alligator that we were told had always lived in captivity but by no means was a part. We also were able to pet a river boa who was not very happy about being awake in the daylight. There was a model paddle wheeler that was very well done and that Tom thought one of our St. Catherine’s friends would appreciate.
There were some stores in the walkway between the buildings, but the weren’t open. The second part of the museum had another gift shop with many mugs, but Tom had already bought one in the first gift shop and liked the one he had. This part had a wall with water running down the inside, freestanding aquariums, and a large aquarium where the we’re feeding the fish and a moray ell stuck his head out occasionally. I particularly liked one of the signs.
There was a tiny eel in one of the smaller, freestanding aquariums—only about six inches long. There was also an octopus coiled in one of the walls. I would have missed him, but one of the workers pointed him out. We also had a chance to pet the stingrays and the worker told us that their barbs had been removed, but that the had to remove them again every few months. We returned to West Liberty in time to pick up her grandchildren and then go to a Mexican restaurant where Tom had chimichanga and I had chicken fajitas. Both were enormous and we took boxes back to Peggy’s. Since we weren’t sure what was happening with the RV batteries and whether we would have heat, we slept in the house in what had been Wanda’s room, and she slept on the couch/bed in the TV room.
Thursday, November 8–The battery was still not doing well so we drove into West Liberty to get propane at Fred’s Feed Store and gas at a BP and then back at Peggy’s we left the RV plugged in. We left around 11:00 to go to the Amana colonies. There are seven colonies, and we went to the largest one, Amana. These town are on the National Historic Landmark list. They were founded in Iowa by Germans in 1855 as communal villages, but in 1932 changed to allow more individual activities in order to preserve their community and keep people from leaving. We had lunch at a restaurant that served a family style lunch although one. Could order individual plates if preferred. Peggy’s son,, Kris, joined us from his work, we think at a Whirlpool manufacturer that made Amana products as well as others. We all ate family style except Wanda who ordered potato pancake which turned out to be enormous. Tom ordered a smoked pork chop, which was also big, and I had sauerbraten (roast) with potato dumplings. They also servers delicious Cole slaw, applesauce, corn, and bread. We had dessert. Tom particularly liked his chocolate cream pie, but my German chocolate cake was a little dry. Peggy had pie also. After lunch we went shopping through several of the many shops. There were a couple of Christmas stores that demonstrated to me why Peggy was so interested in Christmas decorations while we were in DC. In an art store I bought a wire tree and a ragu vase. I also bought some gloves since I hadn’t brought any with me on the trip and was using mittens that Peggy lent me—and because the gloves were nice! Peggy showed us a house in Amana that she had tried to buy. It was very close to the museum and in the middle of town. It’d would have required a lot of work, but it was beautiful. She tried to show us another house in which she was interested, but couldn’t find it. We left Amana to go to Davenport where we were supposed to meet Pam and Bob Duehr and Sharon and Larry Johnson Fromm our Australia trip at the Machine Shed for supper at 6:30. We were early, but they let us sit at the table to wait. We ordered onion rings and spinach and artichoke dip for starters while we waited. It was lovely to see our friends from Australia again and we had another good—and big—meal. Peggy and Bob discovered that they had both grown up near the top of the Fenelon Elevator! Tom had half a rack of ribs and another piece of chocolate cream pie. We took pictures after supper and a man sitting behind us offered to take some of all of us. We talked with him and discovered that he was an artist from Seattle who was returning from delivering a 22 foot tall sculpture to Toronto. He was going through Iowa to avoid going through Chicago. He can be seen behind us in the picture below of Bob, Pam, me, Tom, Sharon, and Larry.
Back at Peggy’s, we ate leftovers from some of our large restaurant meals. Tom and I slept in the house again.
Friday, November 9–We woke up to see snow on the ground, but no snow falling and not much on the ground. The grass still shows through the snow. Wanda’s flight was at 1:30 so we all planned to leave about 10:30. We had a leisurely breakfast and did leave as planned.
The battery for the RV was doing relatively well and seemed to charge when we cranked the truck engine. Hopefully they aren’t damaged too much. Tom drove for the first two hours, and we stopped at a truck stop to eat in the RV, and I started driving before Tom finished his lunch. It started snowing soon after we left West Liberty and continued almost until St. Louis. We stopped at the Perryville Campground where we had stopped on the way up.
Saturday, November 10–There was no snow this morning, but the temperature dropped to 18 degrees during the night. Nothing seemed to freeze although we had left the water connected. When we were ready to leave, we had to call the campground operator who came to the office to let us pay. The trip back to Ackerman was uneventful, and we were back right at dark.