Air Card and Communication Interruption

I've been having internet difficulties all day. So maybe this will post and maybe not, but I will write a bit and at least it will save. I did get all my bills paid this morning before my Air Card started acting up, then I wanted to send some stuff and it kept booting me off so I called up Alltel and spent over 30 minutes online troubleshooting a problem that in the end was on their side. The Advanced Tech Support people told me that it was all over the network due to some of the tie in stuff with Verizon since our companies are merging (tis the way of the world.)Tonight it seems to be working and my son in NE. called and he has a blackberry and it's not working now. Since I couldn't do any of the research I had planned, I put this aside and we went over and paid for 4 more nights. Played a little and came home even. They're having a concert tonight with a country artist that I've never heard of and there's cars parked in the parking lot as far as the eye can see, so we stayed home. I'm really not much into big crowds anymore. DH like a little kid and the bigger the better! Getting ready to call it a day. It will be a long one tomorrow. We are going to head up the road to the Balloon Festival (at least it's outside!) Then on up to Des Moines for lunch and a party! Couldn't figure out why I'm so tired tonight, until I remembered that we were rudely awakened by a Friendship (Gulf Stream diesel pusher) Coach started and left to idle for quite a while before they pulled out! That's just plain irritating before 8 a.m. Yesterday there was a guy in front of us washing his vehicle in the driveway and this afternoon when we walked home a guy was changing the oil in his vehicle in his driveway. A pop up came in this afternoon and staked a big dog out in the yard and he has barked a lot. Most of these things are no nos in most every campground we've been in. These people obviously are rookies that don't spend time in regular campgrounds or they're just taking advantage of the fact that they don't have rules posted here. If that's the case, what they don't realize, is that they are making it hard on the rest of us. These folks are really laid back and nice here, and it's really cheap and if all that continues, they most likely will be implementing some changes which will affect us all. Not us really, because we kinda follow all the rules to begin with. It just irritates me. I'll climb down from my box now..... That's my vent for today. My search is on for a Polarity/Groud/Open Circuit tester. We follow the old adage of shutting the breaker off at the pole before plugging in the Main of the Coach, however, at times I think the 50 amp that they say is there, isn't, and that's a bad thing. I want one of those plug in testers. Was reminded in an in an RV.NET post that it's a good thing to check polarity and ground before plugging in just to be on the safe side and save ruining or compromising appliances, etc. Tommorow I will search for that tester and Dog Food! Should have some interesting pictures tomorrow night!

Wheel Of FORTUNE!

We went to the Casino tonight for the drawing for a Cruise to the Bahamas. Guess What! We didn't win.....then while we were waiting we dumped some dollars into a machine with no luck. So they had the drawing and on the way out I stopped at another machine and doubled my money. Went to cash out, and DH sat down at another so I sat down beside him and doubled my money again! Then went to the cage to cash out and I had been eyeballing this Wheel of Fortune game that we never play. We sat down and got the bonus spin right off the bat and hit the largest bonus payout! Too bad we were playing pennies and not betting the max! It was still $100. I feel pretty lucky! Then we did come home. DH spent most of the afternoon rebuilding the braces around our gauges and back up camera today. I thought they were going to vibrate loose and fall down and hit him in the head! I spent most of the day with my nose in maps and books. I have our route and some activities planned clear down past St. Louis. Just don't know when we're leaving yet. The Balloon Festival starts tomorow evening, but we won't go until Sat. a.m and then on into Des Moines in the afternoon for lunch with the kids on their way through. I have an impromptu Birthday Party planned for my one year old Granddaughter! Our weather is staying beautiful. I hope it stays for the festival. If not it'll be time to move on.

Slow movin Day

Couldn't get an early start today. Not much goin' on. Did a little shoppin' and had lunch out. Fixed supper and getting ready to go play for a while. A front came through, but really didn't cool off much. I may stay up late tonight and sleep late in the morning! Yeah, right. House frau won't let that happen....

Old Tractors and Freedom Rock

We traveled south yesterday and spent the night in Avoca Iowa at their fairgrounds. Nothing fancy, but had 50 amp. electric and was quiet and secure. We drove over to Harlan IA in the evening to look up an old friend that we hadn't seen in about 16 years, only to hear from some folks downtown that he's had two heart attacks and open heart surgery.
There isn't much in Avoca but a Farm All museum for old International tractors and farm machinery. We didn't hang around today to go through it, but took some pictures outside. This morning we headed east on I80 and turned off at Exit 86 to go see a monument created by a local artist. Freedom Rock. He has been painting scenes on this big rock to thank Veterans since 1999.
It's a very nice tribute here in the middle of the country and he repaints the rock every year before Memorial Day. This year in the green paint of the helicopter, there are the ashes of 16 Viet Nam Veterans mixed in.
There's pictures of all the scenes and the story behind this project in a small shed on the small corner of land. A guest book is provided and donation box. They have developed the little corner, adding a bench, a flagpole and a lean to with the info in it. Probably one of the shortest tours we've taken, we unhooked the car and drove 1 1/4 miles and back. I highly recommend stopping at this tribute location. It's not far off the beaten path and very cool. If you're interested you can look it up on the net and read the story. Just type Freedom Rock into a browser. We drove back to the coach,hooked back up and finished the trip down to Osceola. Yes, we're back at Terribles AGAIN! We'll be here for a week or so while we take in the Indianola hot air Balloon Festival and I chart the course for the next leg of the journey. My eldest son and family are driving through Saturday on their way to Michigan for a visit to DIL's family. We will meet in Des Moines for lunch and I can get some hugs and kisses in from the grandbabies! Their daughter Shayne will be a year old the 5th of August...so I can give her birthday presents early! We have a Grandson in Nebraska that will turn 10 on the same day. Don't know how we ended up so lucky to have 2 Grandkids with the same birthdays, and usually they're too far apart to see them on the same day. We went to the casino for a bit this afternoon and registered for this park. Didn't have any luck, and while DH stayed for some drawings and cards this evening, I came home to catch up on reading and a nice hot shower. Don't know what tomorrow holds, but I'm sure we'll come up with something.

Last night at the Iowa Great Lakes

There's not one negative thing I can say about our stay up here at Arnold's Park Iowa. Unless you count the fact that the wind blew again today enough that it kept me from wanting to take that big boat ride again.
We just meandered around the park, listened to music, finished up some shopping at the Emporium and had lunch outside. While we were at lunch, there was a parade of old tractors traveling by on the street in front of us. We went looking for them later on in the afternoon and couldn't find them, so don't know where they all went. Lots of people out today even with nothing special going on. Guess that boat ride will have to wait til the next trip up here, and there most definitely will be a return trip!
DH got a nap this afternoon, I got the laundry done and streaks washed off the coach, and pretty much everything picked up and ready to stow n go in the morninng. Lots of rigs and campers pulled out today and it's back to quiet here this evening. Caught this conversion rig hookin up to an interesting choice of Toad. An old Bronco.
The eldest DS wants another old Bronco to convert into another rock crawler. Down the road we go tomorrow, headed towards Osceola. I'm sad to leave here but looking forward to new adventures and the hot air balloon festival that starts on Friday. For the rest of the night though, we're watchin Racin! Imagine that!

Celebration with Fireworks

Today started out kinda slow but ended with a bang. A little shopping, and on the way up to the lake and Park, we encountered mega traffic-a line of cars all the way through Arnold's Park moving 3 to 5 miles an hour! The calm during the week gone, this resort area came alive today! There was an antique boat show at the marina by the park and ofcourse the antique car show. Avoiding as much traffic as I could, I drove down some back streets by the lakeside and came across a pioneer indian memorial.
The Abbie Gardner Memorial in the location of the Great Spirit Lake Massacre, at which time Abbie Gardner, a little girl was kidnapped by the Indians. She was the only survivor. No boat ride today, the wind was blowing and white caps on the lake caused me to chicken out!
We took a walk down by the water's edge and looked at some of the quaint little resorts in the area. We decided to wait until tomorrow when the Celebration is over and everyone is headed home to go to the park and try to take our boat ride. It'll depend on if the wind is whippin' it up tomorrow again. Last night there was loud music and booming drums til after 11 oclock. Tonight a little after 10, there was a loud boom and we were suprised by a very nice fireworks show. It would serve as my fourth of July, since I slept through the one at Amana! The guy that is interested in buying a Holiday Rambler, e mailed me and wanted pictures. So I spent some time tonight sending him 10 pictures.
That may be the end of it....or not.....we'll see. Now I need to start looking a liitle bit in earnest. Haven't seriously looked at any coaches for 2 years, I'm out of practice. Tomorrow we will finish up here by going to the Emporium, browsing in some shops and having lunch at a neat little cafe that looks out over the lake. Then it'll be pack it up time and ready to rock n roll Monday Morning!

It's Friday!!

It has been really nice and quiet here at the RV Park, until today! They're heeere! Everybody and their dogs and their motorcycles, campfires, boats, kids on bicycles, all showed up this afternoon. We are right behind the office so everyone who comes in sees us first. I feel like we're on display and I guess we are! Lots of lookin, pointin and picture takin. Guess they don't see many 43Ft. pushers up here! As I write this, a little girl took a bad spill off of a bicycle right in front of the car. DH went to see if he could help,at least he's an EMT. She fell really hard in the rocks. It's been a quiet day for us. We intended on going to Arnolds Park and Marina, but just never made it.
I hardly went out today at all. Started making home made Chicken and Noodles and the little suckers multiplied so bad we'll be eating them for a week! I just can't cook for 2 very well. KayCee plays peekaboo with me from the couch. She watches every move I make fearing we will leave her again! I was reading one of my routine forums tonight and there's someone on there wanting a big coach with our description. I replied to it. When it comes right down to it, don't know if I will be able to part with it, but guess will see if they answer me back.

Crazy Days and Rock n Roll Bands

We had an action packed day today! Drove down to Spencer IA this morning, unaware that it was their "Crazy Days" celebration. I had noticed some things on the way through there the other day. I found a Glass Blowing Studio in an Art Brochure, and thought that might be something different to do, and it was free! We spent a couple hours there.
It was very informal and laid back and the two young artists were more than happy to explain the whole process. Their ovens were over 2000 degrees and the cooling oven was 900 degrees. We watched as he started and put on colors in a clear and then white glass.
He was making a vase for his own wedding centerpiece. The owner and his son also are involved with teaching several classes at the Community College here.
After watching, I had to browse the gallery and found a vase that will remind me of the time, besides, I really like fresh flowers and this is a good excuse to keep them! We walked several blocks and looked at things in their sidewalk sales, and had lunch at the Pizza Ranch. Time just seems to fly by, and we headed back to the home spot to drop off the Frau and rest a bit before heading up the highway the other direction. We stopped at Smith's Monaco Dealership and looked at some 2009 Monaco Coaches that were for sale. Just looking! Bought a few things that I've wanted from Camping World. They had a good variety of supplies. They had a free concert - dance at the Rooftop Ballroom this evening, and it was lots of fun! There were 4 bands, one young band with High School Seniors, and the others were older men. It was over at 8:30 and that's about my speed! Doesn't mess with the bedtime that way. Lots of people danced and they even had a Dance Contest.
The last band, Galaxy, was the best and they played a lot of the oldies. As we walked out of there, we had a mini car show waiting right on the street outside the door! Several antique cars are getting ready for the show in the park on Saturday.
I imagine we'll take that one in too..... but tomorrow I will do some cooking in the morning and we may take that boat ride in the afternoon. So much to see and do......so little time. I have a feeling I'm not going to want to leave on Monday!

Maritime Museum & Rock n Roll Museum

Today's time out is compliments of a fierce rain storm! We went on walk about this morning about 11. Toured the Visitor's Center, Maritime Museum
and the Iowa Rock N Roll Museum, all located right around the Arnold's Park Amusement Park. This place is soooo cool! We walked on the docks next to the lake, had a sub sandwich at a little shop there. DH had a "Nutty Bar" ice cream bar....an original snack from this area.
We were going to take a ride on the Queen II Paddle Boat around the lake this afternoon,came back home to let the dog out, and my weather radio was goin' off with a warning of strong storms coming from the north! Good thing we came home. I know if we'd have taken the 3 oclock cruise, I would have been freakin! That will have to wait for tomorrow. Theres a place to play miniature golf if it quits raining today. Several more shops to go into in that area by the lake. I really feel like we're on vacation...and the cool thing is - we have all week! We'll be here until next Monday. I think as soon as this current band of clouds is done, we can go back again! Lots of stuff to see and do here.
KayCee stayed home by herself a lot today, so she got lots of attention and walks tonight. We went back down by the lake and finished shopping, then on to Smokin' Jakes BBQ downtown for supper.

Iowa's Great Lakes area

A good start to this week, we left the small country setting and the mess of people at WIT Rally in Forest City this morning. Gone is the slow almost non existant internet service, for lack of a tower I imagine. Seems about 95% faster now to my relief, since I will have important stuff to do this week, besides my pictures will load and send lots better! Yesterday we went out and met our neighbors in the campground. I was trying to do stuff and I couldn't even work I was laughing so hard!
These two women had two motorhomes, a new Thor Prisidio Coach, and an old Winnebago Class C(that is their office!). They have a sign and sticker business and were there to attend the Rally as Vendors. The theme of the WIT Rally this year is "WIT STOCK" thus the reason for the peace sign and flower power stickers.
Some of the sayings were hilarious. After the rally, they are getting a hitch installed and are going to pull that old Winnie as a Toad! Now that's gonna be a sight.
Speaking of Hitches. It occured to me this morning while we were going through our routine, getting ready to go, that I'm not for sure how to hook the car up and install the Brake Buddy and switch the car into "tow" mode. I kinda take it for granted that I won't have to do it...I've watched it many times, but could I actually do it if I had to? I can drive this coach, but I choose not to. I've taken the classes and passed the tests. I can parallel park this monster in 50 ft. cones. If anything would happen, and I'd have to hook us up, I want to be able to do it! This week I'm going to work on making a check list of the steps to hook up. Beginning with where everything is stored. Better safe than sorry!

The Day the Music Died...

It was Feb. 3, 1959 when Richie Valens, Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper had their plane crash about 5 miles north of Clear Lake Iowa after preforming at the Surf Ballroom earlier that evening.
Today, Randy Travis's Prevost (with him in it) sits in the parking lot of the Surf Ballroom and he's getting ready to take the stage tonight. That place is Awesome. Lots of performers have taken their turn in the ballroom and Kevin Costner with his band play there the 24th of this month. Sorry that we won't be around for that. The whole place makes ya feel like you stepped back in time, right down to the Coat Check Room and Dark Blue Pineapple Wallpaper! It's operated totally by Volunteers and they were expecting 1000 people tonight. Everyone we talked to was really friendly and made sure to answer all our questions. We have seen Randy, so wasn't interested in staying. There's also a kitchen and bar with a cafe room. Booths line the whole ballroom and dance floor. We didn't drive out to the crash site afterall, there was a memorial in front of the ballroom and we wanted to get back to Forest City for the Puckerbrush (don't ask me what it means! DH said something about noxious weeds - I think he was pulling my leg!)Celebration. The car show was just one block with the cars lined on both sides of the streets, but some nice rides there.
I really liked the lil' red convertibles, and a blue Ford Fairlane brought back memories!
We walked around the Courthouse square,looked at the crafts and were drawn to the Firemens Water Competition - imagine that DH got to visit with one of the Firemen about their department. We
stopped at a really nice grocery store and picked up some meat on the way home. Several people had recommended to us that we should go about 14 miles northwest of here to a place called "The Brandin' Iron" for their Prime Rib. The lady this morning said to get there early, so we were there at 5:00 and there were about 25 people standing outside waiting for them to open! Everybody was right. It was great. Home made salads on the salad bar and the Small Prime Rib looked like a roast, so we had enough food to bring home to make another meal! I'm stuffed and my feet are cold! It's already 60 degrees and supposed to drop into the 40s tonight. Another blanket on my side of the bed. Watching the Qualifying round of Drags at Seattle today. Tomorrow will take time to catch up book work and study up on some things at Okoboji. Did only one worthwhile thing tonight. Actually two. Tried out my new shower head - it works great! Attached new Velcro and hung our Pressure Pro Tire Monitoring system on the dash. Maybe now one side won't fall down all the time. That thing really provides Have a restful Sunday!

Winnebago & Forest City for the Weekend

Yesterday I spent a great deal of time outside. Washed and polished on the outside of the coach, walked around with the dog and got some pictures of the area. DH walked their golf course and played 9 holes. I went to the RV Supply place in the next town and replaced my shower head. Somehow that isn't close to having fun at a golf course. LOL. Was a pretty low key day and went to bed pretty early so......I could get up at the butt crack of dawn (6a.m.) and get things stowed and ready to go. Left at 8 to go bid the Amish Community good bye with a visit to one of the bakeries. OMG!!!!! That's good stuff. DH said it's the best Cherry Turnover he's ever ate! I don't feel bad, I haven't ever made 'em! We said our good byes to our hosts at that Resort and headed down the road for Forest City. A little over two hours of travel and we arrived, but not before taking a wrong turn and touring the downtown streets of Forest City. THAT wasn't fun!I'm sure we're not the only ones who have done that - and they are having their annual Winnebago Rally next week so there's LOTS of coaches and people around. This little park is out in the country 4 miles and it is really nice and peaceful here. Now I feel like we're sitting out in a field! Because we are!!!!
On the way here I spotted a barn quilt along the road and got a picture. We made it to the Winnebago Plant for the last tour of the week with just a couple of minutes to spare. It was interesting to see all different classes of RVs being built, and the fact that they have had staff cuts and line cutbacks tells me the difficulties with our economy reach here too, but if there wasn't work at that plant here the likes of this town would be ghostly I'm sure. They didn't allow pictures either, but thier museum was interesting. Tomorrow the day will start at the American Legion on the Courthouse Square with a Pancake feed and then we will visit lots of the craft booths and go to a car show in the afternoon. Kinda keeping the schedule open and just going with the flow. The place where Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper died in the plane crash is not far from here and we may go see that tomorrow as well. Our next stop in Arnolds Park has a Rock n Roll Museum that I'm looking forward to seeing. It was 56 when I got up this morning and they say it'll be in the 40s tonight. I've had a jacket on all day. Don't know what happened to summer but not really complaining much. Better than 90 degrees and 90% humidity! My connection out here isn't good.....if I'm not back with a post...and I may not get my pictures loaded until next week, thanks for understanding!

Clocks, Churches, Barn Quilts & Strawberry Point

Today was a busy one! We once again began our day at the Country Cottage for Brunch. Not much of an earlier start made for a long day.
I planned a loop to the north, and headed straight up 150 and drove several miles into the country by the town of Fayette. There we found the world's smallest church and park. It was originally built with wood in 1846 and rebuilt into a small chapel. There was a small cemetary behind the chapel and those buried there, had direct ties to the area. No one else was there, and walking by the river and around the park, visiting in the chapel and photograhing the area was very calming and peaceful.
On the road again we came across the town of Spillville, and the home of the Biley (pronounced Beeley)Clock Museum, also the Antonin Dvorak Exhibit.a famous Czech Musican and Composer that spent one year there. He finished one Symphony and wrote one more song while he was there. I thought going in it would be boring, but was pleasantly suprised. Very worth the admittance price of $6.00 per person. This is predominately a Czech village and the two brothers that designed and carved all of the clocks in this building were born and lived here their entire lives. I was amazed of the ornate detail of the carvings on the clocks and the amount of clocks! As per agreement with the city, no pictures were allowed of the inside, so a brochure had to sufice! This little town is also home to the Inwood Pavilian, a reception and dance hall. We stopped for a picnic lunch by that pavilian. I had planned to visit a Norwegian Museum in the town of Decorah, but we spent too much time in Spillville, so we drove around Decorah and looked at the downtown section, took some pictures of the museums, some buildings and had our coffee break at Culvers! That town deserves another visit! The rest of the late afternoon was spent mostly driving and looking at beautiful hillsides by the Mississippi River. Barn Quilts blanket the countryside,a new phenomenon that is sweeping the nation combining the barn and the quilt into an innovative new art form across the area. A large board is painted like a quilt block and hung on the side or the front of a barn. A committee selects which barns to include and which quilt pattern and colors to use. It is a fascinating concept to carry on the area's heritage and to preserve these historic barns. They are fun to watch for. Toward the end of our journey today, we happened across St. Olaf. I had to stop and have pictures taken with the sign to a very small town. In the show "The Golden Girls" Betty White's Character is from "St. Olaf" She acted really backward and like a northern redneck.
Beyond that, the last town we drove through before being back here was the home of the Largest Strawberry in the world...aptly named Strawberry Point. They use the fruit in lots of names throughout the town. I posted that picture on my Facebook page. Tonight I'm tired, tomorrow will be a day off for us to kick back and hang out. DH may play golf and I will lounge on the beach and spend time with my KayCee Brown. We had 2.70" rain last night in our little storm here. At least all the hail and wind missed us and the weather radio never went off so I wasn't scared.
and haven't taken time out to load them on Picasa yet. Will try to figure that out.....Now on to updating our trip log thus far and it's time for a rest! See ya in the funnies.

Amish Country

The weather and DH sleeping too late made me decide to change our route for today. The plans of a full time RVer are usually written in jello so they can change at will! We started the day at the Country Garden cafe in the town of Oelwein, with brunch! Since it was raining, we headed to Waterloo to look for an ATM and on the way there and back drove out in the country through an Amish Colony. It just amazes me that these people still heat with all wood, and for the most part do not use any modern conveniences. There were fields of hand shocked oats, horses and buggies everywhere. Wagons pulled by horses and lots of corn fields already tassled. Amid all the farmsteads with buggies, standing along side these primitive places, were these huge, new houses! Now I think we have this figured out. The Amish rent out the ground to those with tractors and combines and the corn farmers have these big modern houses, while the Amish tend to their gardens, small shops and families. There were lots of small country schools, which were in recess also. Many children, barefoot in the yards, working or riding ponies and playing together. This sign and another one that had speed limit 55 and a picture of a buggy, struck me funny! What are they feedin them horses? Space Oats! I didn't see any goin' 55 though! In Waterloo we had the good fortune to spend our "Coffee Break" in a local Dairy Store...sampled the Moo-Roo ice cream, it was created on a nearby farm, and bought some home churned butter and Blue Cheese for dressing (I make my own!) I really like access to all these small mom & pop stores. Wal Mart is good for a lot of things...but is all mass produced and they don't take advantage of buying local. We stopped at an RV place not far from here, and I found a shower head that I have been looking for. No Camping Worlds close to here. Tonight I went to this park's book exchange and took some time seeing what all they had. I finished "The Street Lawyer" and traded it for another John Grisham book. I have a couple of craft projects that I want to start, but just don't have enough hours in the day! Our weather is really staying quite cool. The youngest son is camping in Louisville, south of Omaha in a cabin and I guess it's really hot and humid. Today it struggled to get up to 80. I'm all for getting away from that, but so far we are lucking out. It is thundering now, I just hope I didn't brag too soon! Our trip north happens tomorrow if I can get up and get an earlier start!

Easy Move Today

No New Pictures. More from the other day. Pretty easy move today...we said goodbye to the Quaint little park at Earlville and the Tri State Racetrack. Headed back down Hwy 20 and up 150. Was following the directions in my Trailer Life and turned at the wrong corner! Right into the Oelwein City Park -- which after you're in it's too late! Had a tour of the park! It sits on a lake and is pretty. Pretty darn scary with our rig! We finally got back out and to the right place. This park is also on the lake with a beach and everything. We will be here til Friday. Took a time out this afternoon and did all my laundry for the week and cooked a good meal tonight. One thing I have noticed here in Iowa is that there are some really different names for towns! Dubuque, Earlville, Bettendorf, Dysart, Oelwein, Guttenberg. Some I can butcher the pronunciation! Then some towns named the same as other states. Denver, Central City, Independence, Manchester & Bellevue. Kinda makes ya wonder who named them! Tomorrow we'll be off to drive some major miles and visit several state parks and motor up to Decorah. We may take a ferry ride over to the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi, time permitting! The weather is hanging in there on the nice side.

Eastern Iowa

If anyone tries to tell you that all Iowa has is flatland and corn, tell them they're crazy! Saturday started out as a day to tour the "Field of Dreams" Baseball Field, but on the way stopped off and took some pictures of a really ornate Catholic Basilica,St. Francis Xavier. Double Click on the picture to see all the beautiful detail! This area has several towns with original Catholic Churches that the Archetecture is absolutely stunning. Stained glass and carved windows..they were created in the late 1800s. Onward through the town of Dyersville and to the northeast we found the "Field Of Dreams" It was a movie set in 1989, the movie starred Kevin Costner. It is still a family owned working farm, but kept in working order for the pleasure and amusement of all that want to come and experience "The Dream." DH got out on the field and several other men, and I thought for a bit that a game was on! KayCee made some new friends there and I got some pretty good pictures. We had lunch at the Country Junction Restaurant, which compares to Cracker Barrel, but smaller. A nice gift shop and good food. Drove on in to the edge of Dubuque and went to Wal Mart. KayCee got a new bed...and if it's possible she's even more spoiled than before! On the way back to Earlville, we detoured up route 52 to Guttenburg, a Historic River Town. The ride was awesome, with overlooks of the Mississippi River, and in the town of Guttenburg, the Corp of Engineers operates a dam and lochs for the Barges and Recreational Boats to pass up and down. The curvy tree lined highways with graded hills almost reminded me of Northern California! It's really a beautiful place to relax for a bit. The river's edge through Guttenburg is lined with a small grassy park and there's benches and picnic areas all along. At the most northern scenic overlook we watched a tug boat pushing 5 barges down the river. Most likely they were coming home from Minnsota having delivered grain or some commodity. Driving back to town on 20 we spotted a Large Tractor from a Professional Tractor Pull and DH wanted a picture....I stepped on it to get around and what we got was a ding in the windshield from a rock. I didn't want to cook supper after all the strenuous sightseeing and driving I did so we brought KayCee home to try out her new bed and drove 8 miles to a restaurant that advertised a Prime Rib Special. The streets in front of Diney's were packed full at 8 p.m. and it was a good thing we ordered when we did 'cause they ran out of Prime Rib right after us! The meal was excellent. They have been in business since 1977. As I write this, KayCee is asleep in her bed, DH and I are watching the Drag Finals from Denver Nationals today. Time to chill and go through some brochures. We move tomorrow afternoon. To be Continued.....

Another Great Weekend!

We enjoyed the races even if we didn't know anybody there! It's a lot more primitive, low key and not near as noisy. There were quite a few older cars and lots of different classes for this small track. It was a beautiful day for racin' and sitting out watchin'!