Worlds Biggest.....Hobo?

We were desperately looking for something to do on our last day in the Forest City area, and, thanks to Debbie, we found it!

First, we headed off to Mitchells restaurant in Linden for a great lunch. We had been expecting Barbecue but found out that its only available on the dinner menu. Sad. Nonetheless, we had a nice lunch and were set to set out on our discovery tour.

First stop: Crystal Lake, IA, the home of the Worlds Largest Bullhead!

ok.....now what? Aha! The National Hobo Museum in Britt, Iowa!

Britt hosts the annual Hobo Jungle, and true to form, we are going to miss it by24 hours....Hobos from all over the country arrive here to talk, entertain, and tell of the Good Old Days. We started our tour of the museum with the definition of the lifestyle:

Our preconceptions were shattered by news that millions of men and women deliberately chose this traveling lifestyle. However, many people were made penniless in a matter of minutes and were forced to travel, depending on charity and good will for survival.

Clothes were washed in a scavenged five gallon pail,

and stew was cooked in a borrowed kettle.

The main street of Britt was setting up for the festivities as we walked through some of the old buildings in town.

Returning to Forest City, we couldn't help but take a panoramic shot of Iowa farmland. Awesome!

The sunset was incredible with the latest in wind turbine technology adding emphasis.

As we prepared to leave Forest City, we reflected on the good times we had with Debbie and Larry. We hope to see them again soon.

Good food.....

Trying to extricate oneself from the base of a wind turbine blade.....

and memories of day trips taken.

Tonite, August  9, we find ourselves 280 miles north and west of Forest City, Iowa, in the small burg of Garfield, Minnesota, home of Steinbring Motor Coaches. This is where we first met Nessie2 last year, and since we were in the area, we decided to stop in and say hello...and to camp in the back lot. Most of the staff had left when we arrived at 5:15, but our salesman from last year, Lee, was still around and directed us to a place to park with electricity. Cool! We're going to try to say hello first thing tomorrow before we leave for North Dakota.

We're on the road for a couple of days, moving into Montana in a few days. Wish us well!

Winnebago and Playful Dogs

Forest City, IA, is the corporate home of Winnebago Industries and the place where Winnebago branded products are made. The company owns several different brands, and manufactures and sells motorhomes and towable rvs under several different names and at multiple locations. At this location, however, about 2100 employees work to build between 22 and 25 motor driven rvs five days a week! Unlike other rv manufacturers, Winnebago assigns each worker a specific task each day....four motorhome floors, or seven roof structures, as an example. When that task is completed, the worker may clock out and go home, but is only paid for time worked. Sort of a screwy system, but it obviously works for them. The average wage at this plant is $16.00 per hour. Photography is strictly not allowed anywhere on the campus, so I don't have any photos. Take my word....it is a huge and complex operation!

Debbie and Larry are owned by a kick-in-the-pants Pug named Max. And he is! They hadn't been together for a moment before the fun began and it's been nonstop since!

We visited the Heritage Museum of Northern Iowa, an extensive collection of prairie homes, farm implements, and steam engines. The museum is normally open only on specified days, but we managed to find a knowledgeable mechanic/docent who gave the four of us a personally guided tour of the buildings. "Prairie Breakers", huge gas or steam engine tractors were stuffed into every nook and cranny. We picked our way through two buildings before admitting defeat....we could no longer process the tremendous array of implements.

Housing tractors from the 1880's to the 1970's, the buildings are a view into the industrial farm age.

They even have an old Cat Twenty orchard tractor just like the one I grew up with!

Some interesting names were used over the years...this probably wasn't as fast as a greyhound!

A mail-order house was moved onsite and is open to the public. A traditional "four square" two story home, it is another glance into our grandparents day. The most interesting thing about the house to us was the china gracing the dining table. This china is exactly like the set that Donna and I ate many meals on at her aunt's house over fifty years ago!

 Leaving the Heritage Museum, we drove out into the country near the rv park, where we found several electricity-generating windmills under construction. Pretending that we knew what we were doing, we embarked on a self-guided tour.

Larry and Debbie posed next to one of the windmill vanes, giving some perspective to its size!

Iowa is a huge electricity generating state, much of it coming from wind powered generators.

The size of these vanes boggles the mind. This is the end that attaches to the hub of the generating unit.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of wind machines scattered across the landscape of Iowa soybean fields.

Oh, and did I mention the cornfields...

Contrary to our original belief, there are several interesting things to see in the Forest City area. Tomorrow is another day!

Hawkeye Nation

It's been quite a week. We were in Minnesota for seven days and on every one of them spent time with our extended family. We spent time eating chicken wings on National Chicken Wing Day, with a side order of a hamburger, a dinner that Uncle Bill found quite delicious!

A day trip to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin found us in one of the largest rocking chairs we've ever seen!

Sasha was a bit miffed at being left so much of the time, so she went to never-never-land.

On Thursday, we met some friends for lunch in Hastings, Minnesota. Dave and Sue have lived in this lovely town on the banks of the Mississippi for many years. We took the opportunity to walk along the banks of the river and look back at the bridge going into town.

Where we saw a bunch of Turkey Vultures sunning themselves.

While gazing at Mississippi River Lock Number Two, we had the pleasure to see a trio of eagles! Only one hung around long enough to get a quick photo.

The new bridge across the Mississippi was preceded by a spiral bridge back in the day. It was abandoned when it was discovered that school buses could not navigate the curves. A friend of Daves has a machine shop and did the medallions that decorate the new bridge and the city riverwalk, one of which commemorates the Spiral Bridge.

On Saturday, our nephew Chuck (black shirt in the photo) and his lovely wife Jill (opposite Chuck) hosted a birthday party for Uncle Bill (back to camera) and his wife Linda (opposite Bill). Donna was engaged in a serious conversation with Jill while our granddaughter Hanna pretended to be interested in what the old folks were doing.

At one point in the afternoon the humidity went up along with the temp, so several of us got a little carried away trying to keep cool.

Our son, Jeff and his daughter Hanna flew back from California to enjoy the festivities. Hanna had never met this part of the family, so it was fun for all.

And of course, some knife throwing was involved!

After a huge meal of pulled pork sandwiches and a variety of salads, Bill and Linda prepared to open their gifts. Great fun with ice cream and home made cake. Ya gotta love this family!

After Saturdays birthday festivities, we spent some relaxing time in downtown Stillwater, MN, looking at Caras artwork in the Artists Guild, and even making a small purchase. Somewhere along the line, we had time to stop at Starbucks for a cool drink and discovered "Pupaccinos", a special treat for our canine friends.

Alas, our visit came to an end. We renewed friendships with our family and enjoyed them immensely. Our niece, Cara and her husband Bruce were unable to attend the birthday festivities, but they went to a great effort to see us a number of times during the week, and we appreciate it. Love them all.

Heading south out of Minnesota brought us into Iowa, home of the Hawkeyes, and corn, and soybeans, and corn.....soybeans...

And plopped us into the 3 Fingers Campground just outside of Forest City, IA. Of course, this is where Winnebago motorhomes are manufactured, and we intend to take the factory tour, but our primary reason for stopping here is to see our Florida friends, Larry and Debbie. Since meeting them some three years ago, we've managed to cross paths for a few days every summer as we both travel about the country. So Cool!

At about 7:30 in the evening a tremendous midwestern thunderstorm blew through, with lightening, thunder, and the most rain I've ever seen. Then, poof!, it was gone, leaving us with a beautiful double rainbow.

We have a couple of things to do while we're in the area, but mostly we'll enjoy our friends company. It's been a long time!

Treasure Island

On Sunday, we traveled from our Walmart resort to the Treasure Island Resort, Casino, and RV Park just north of Red Wing, Minnesota. Our GPS monster gave us a choice of using I94 west and then dropping south to Red Wing, or using a series of backroads that generally follow the Chippewa River.  Since either option was only a short two hour drive, we chose the backroads and byways option.

We crossed the Wisconsin Channel of the Chippewa River about noon, just after a tremendous rain and thunder storm. It was one of those storms where you couldn't see to drive for a few minutes, and then everything dried up and the clouds went away! We were very happy to be done with that!

Eventually we crossed the Mississippi River at Red Wing and turned north toward the casino and rv park. This isn't a resort by any means, unless you take full advantage of the casino's entertainment and gambling opportunities. We're here for another reason.

We're here to visit family and friends for a week and to celebrate the birthdays of Donna's brother and sister-in-law.

RV parks in this area are few and far between. In years past, we've stayed in a nice park in Woodbury, MN, but that land has been converted to a senior housing complex. Last year we stayed in a KOA campground in Maple Grove, MN, but since our plans changed relatively recently, that option was already booked up, so here we are, about 50 miles south of their home in Stillwater, MN. It's a bit of a drive to see them, but we're happy to be able to do it. We have a couple of day trips scheduled, and, of course, a big birthday celebration, so it'll be fun!

Till next time!

Eau Claire, Wisconsin

We're not Yoopers anymore. Now we're Yusta Yoopers. We left Houghton, Mi, this morning, traveling south and west on Michigan Highway 26. It was a bit of a trick getting out of the Houghton City RV Park we were in, but with a little luck and eyes squeezed shut in anticipation of some loud banging noise, we made it.

MI 26 leads to US 45, and we traveled through dozens of small towns, including the hamlet of Watersmeet on Indian reservation land. US 45 peels off to the east in Eagle River, while WI 17 continues south through Rhinelander and Gleason to approach the town of Merrill from the east. We had planned to stay the night in Merrill, but with the westward time change, we found that we would have the entire afternoon to kill. Not for us, so off we went west. In Wausau, we turned due west on WI 29, a four lane highway that should be part of the interstate system.

We began to research rv parks as we traveled west, but came up completely empty! A handful of city'county parks were booked for the weekend, so those were out. Near Chippewa Falls we merged onto US 53 south, beginning to get a bit concerned about having a place to sleep tonight! Donna located a Walmart in the southern part of Equ Claire that allows overnight rv parking, so for the first time this summer, we are parked in a busy but well lit Walmart parking lot.

The temperature at 10:15 is 71, down from 92 earlier in our day. We're hoping a cool breeze will come in soon, since we aren't going to be able to run our generator and ac all night.

There is one other rv parked here tonight, so we're considering ourselves safe in numbers. Traffic is heavy and there are people loitering here and there, but we don't seem to be an object of interest, so we'll hope for the best! Tomorrow it's on to I 94, on the way to Minnesota.