The land changed from beautiful wide-open cattle range to farming. Although everything was cut down, it looked like old corn stalks sticking up from the ground. We made two stops on the way, one for fuel and propane and the other to visit the world famous Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. The whole outside of the building is one huge mural made of corn cobs.
The inside is a sports facility with smaller murals on all the walls. All the murals are changed every year. It sounds corny (pun very much intended) but the building is very beautiful and very much worth a stop if you ever get in the area.
The inside of the Corn Palace
One of the murals made of corn cobs
We continued on to Sioux Falls and parked at the Cracker Barrel Restaurant off I-29 for dinner and an overnight stop. After a provisioning run to the local Wal-Mart, we settled in for the night. Claudia fired up the oven for a cookie-baking fest. I love these sessions because I get to eat all the ugly cookies. There were several! Tomorrow…on to meet up with Larry and Linda in Kellogg, just east of Des Moines.
After a great breakfast of biscuits and gravy with two sausage patties (me) and what I call “Frog in a Hole”, eggs cooked into sourdough bread slices (Claudia), we took off heading south on I-25, crossed over the Missouri River to I-80 just north of Omaha where we turned east and went into Iowa. We pulled into the Kellogg RV Park just before 3:00 pm and settled into our spot right next to Larry and Linda. We then got hooked up, set up and caught up and settled in for a three, four or whatever-day stay. We’ll decide later when to take off for the Right Coast. Right now, we are just kickin’ it!
Wednesday, May 28th…my birthday…Got a very nice card from Claudia and a big smile from Valentino. We all (not Valentino) took off to a great little restaurant in Sully for breakfast. Larry recommended the biscuits and gravy so I followed his lead. They were very good…nice and spicy…just the way I like ‘em! We then took off for a sightseeing trip of the area. This place is really cute...one little town after another and each with its own “flavor”. I liked Sully the best.
The old gas station in Sully,Iowa
All the homes are neat as a pin, well-spaced out (about 2-300 feet between houses) and no fences. We went by a school and there were at least 20 bicycles lying on the grass, right by the road, with no locks whatsoever. Try that in California! We also went to the local hardware store which was almost as big as a Wal-Mart. They had absolutely everything. A man’s dream! We then saw the property that Larry and Linda are buying and went to Red Rock Lake, a BLM campground. What a spectacular campground. The lake is huge, at least a couple of miles long, and the area is all freshly mowed grass with gravel campsites about 100 feet apart. Apparently “cramped” in not in their vocabulary!
Red Rock campground
Covered bridge at Red Rock
Thursday, May 29th…We got up late and casually started a breakfast of hot cereal when the TV blared out “NEWS ALERT”. The station then went directly to their weather center and threw up a map of western Iowa, right where we are. The National Weather Service has issued a “rare” weather warning for tornados in the area west of Des Moines. The “high risk” area was west of Des Moines but the east edge of the “moderate” warning area was right where we are. So…we are right between the “moderate” risk and the “slight” risk areas. The forecast is for rain, heavy at times, with thunder and lightning and hail. And we came from sunny Southern California for this? Larry and Linda say not to worry. If it gets bad, we’ll just pull in the slides and ride it out. The RV park owner lives right across the street and has a storm shelter, if necessary. That makes me feel much better!
With rain imminent, we did a few chores to get ready. Larry and Linda gave me an aluminum diamond-plate kick plate for the entrance steps so Larry and I installed that. The coach looks much better. We then took off for the Meskwaki Indian casino. I plunked down $5.95 and got three plates of delicious food including roast beef, fish, stuffed cabbage, vegetables, apple pie, ice cream and coffee. Claudia plunked down about $40 (probably…she won’t tell me exactly how much) and got to watch it disappear over the next hour. Now I ask you, who won that event?
We then returned to the RV park to await the evening’s festivities. It is getting darker by the minute, the rain is starting and the weather warnings are still being broadcast. I think it’s time for a cocktail. I have seen rain before. Now when I say “rain”, I mean RAIN…not California stuff. That ain’t rain! I’ve been chased out of tree stands by real mountain storms and lightning while hunting in Colorado but this Iowa rain gives it all to you…rain (real frog stranglers), hail, lightning, thunder and tornados. The last bout knocked out the satellite TV and it took a while to get it to reset. The evening was a Mexican Train game and lots of conversation (gossip). We did not sleep well due to constant thunderstorm and tornado warnings. We slept with the radio on and tried to keep track of the tornados (55 as reported this morning) as they moved across the area. All the weather seemed to be just west and north of Des Moines so we are OK but sleep-deprived. Today will be easy.
We headed out to see Larry’s childhood home in Ottumwa, Iowa. After a tour of the town, we headed for the most famous landmark in the area, the Canteen Lunch. It was a very old building that developers had been trying to buy to build a parking structure. The owners wouldn’t sell so they tried the old eminent domain routine. The townspeople revolted and had the building declared a historical building and that ended that…sort of. The developers built the parking structure anyway…right on top of the restaurant!
The Canteen Lunch and parking structure
We then toured the old German town of Amana, sort of like a Solvang and Buelton back in California and then returned home. Tomorrow we are headed for Woodstock, IL to visit friends and then to Paw Paw, MI. We should sleep much better tonight. The weather is beautiful. Mas tarde!
Red Rock campground
Covered bridge at Red Rock
We then went into Pella to a Mexican restaurant for lunch (they call it “dinner” back here – it’s the big meal of the day). The food was pretty good. I had carnitas with fried ice cream for dessert. After dinner, we continued our tour of the area, getting back to the motorhome about 4:15. We all immediately went in and took power naps! Birthday ice cream is at 7:30 and we must be ready!
Thursday, May 29th…We got up late and casually started a breakfast of hot cereal when the TV blared out “NEWS ALERT”. The station then went directly to their weather center and threw up a map of western Iowa, right where we are. The National Weather Service has issued a “rare” weather warning for tornados in the area west of Des Moines. The “high risk” area was west of Des Moines but the east edge of the “moderate” warning area was right where we are. So…we are right between the “moderate” risk and the “slight” risk areas. The forecast is for rain, heavy at times, with thunder and lightning and hail. And we came from sunny Southern California for this? Larry and Linda say not to worry. If it gets bad, we’ll just pull in the slides and ride it out. The RV park owner lives right across the street and has a storm shelter, if necessary. That makes me feel much better!
With rain imminent, we did a few chores to get ready. Larry and Linda gave me an aluminum diamond-plate kick plate for the entrance steps so Larry and I installed that. The coach looks much better. We then took off for the Meskwaki Indian casino. I plunked down $5.95 and got three plates of delicious food including roast beef, fish, stuffed cabbage, vegetables, apple pie, ice cream and coffee. Claudia plunked down about $40 (probably…she won’t tell me exactly how much) and got to watch it disappear over the next hour. Now I ask you, who won that event?
We then returned to the RV park to await the evening’s festivities. It is getting darker by the minute, the rain is starting and the weather warnings are still being broadcast. I think it’s time for a cocktail. I have seen rain before. Now when I say “rain”, I mean RAIN…not California stuff. That ain’t rain! I’ve been chased out of tree stands by real mountain storms and lightning while hunting in Colorado but this Iowa rain gives it all to you…rain (real frog stranglers), hail, lightning, thunder and tornados. The last bout knocked out the satellite TV and it took a while to get it to reset. The evening was a Mexican Train game and lots of conversation (gossip). We did not sleep well due to constant thunderstorm and tornado warnings. We slept with the radio on and tried to keep track of the tornados (55 as reported this morning) as they moved across the area. All the weather seemed to be just west and north of Des Moines so we are OK but sleep-deprived. Today will be easy.
We headed out to see Larry’s childhood home in Ottumwa, Iowa. After a tour of the town, we headed for the most famous landmark in the area, the Canteen Lunch. It was a very old building that developers had been trying to buy to build a parking structure. The owners wouldn’t sell so they tried the old eminent domain routine. The townspeople revolted and had the building declared a historical building and that ended that…sort of. The developers built the parking structure anyway…right on top of the restaurant!
The Canteen Lunch and parking structure
They serve only one thing. It’s a sort of hamburger. Ground beef is cooked in an old stainless steel cooker, just stirred and browned by hand.
Cooking the ground beef
You order by saying “the works” or just the fixings you want…onion, ketchup, cheese (melted Velveta), pickles and/or mustard. The ladies take a hamburger bun, slap on the stuff you ordered, pass the bun to the meat lady, she slaps on a big spoonful of ground beef (not a pattie, just loose ground beef) and they wrap it all up in waxed paper and hand it to you. They are different and delicious. Larry once held the record (for five years) by consuming ten of them at one sitting. They greeted him by name when we walked in the door.
We then toured the old German town of Amana, sort of like a Solvang and Buelton back in California and then returned home. Tomorrow we are headed for Woodstock, IL to visit friends and then to Paw Paw, MI. We should sleep much better tonight. The weather is beautiful. Mas tarde!
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