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!