DOWN RIGHT CORNY

 

Iowa that is.  It is unbelievable to see the fields of corn. Every where you look there is corn.  Said to Chuck, that would not be surprised to see a golf course planted with it. Of course there are a few fields of soy beans here and there.  We had left Rapid City, headed for Harlan, Iowa.  With my heart in my throat, as we had to pass through Kadoka, North Dakota.  Two years ago we broke down and spend 11 days there, and all I can say is it was a very, very long 11 days.  Fortunately we breezed right by.  Spent the night at a passport park, and it was a first.  We had power and sewer, but no water connection.  As it were we were tired, had water in the tank, so we did not even unhook.  In the morning we had water, but coming from the sky. 

We were off to visit with a couple who we met  when we were wintering in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.  As they spend their summers in Harlan, where they own a lovely country home, which was just a few miles off our route, we could stop for a visit.

Dave & Bev

We arrived just a head of the annual ragbrai, ( http://ragbrai.com/about/)                       which was very lucky for us, as there are some where around 15,000 bicycle riders, making the ride border to border of Iowa.

The first stop was Harlan, which at least triple the population of the small town.  But it made for a fantastic fundraiser.  There were so many food booths and would not even hazard a guess how many pies, but Bev’s church alone had over 300.  Along with a spaghetti dinner.  A lot of them travel with a company that provides tents, handles luggage, pretty much all they have to do is ride, and find food.  

There were tents everywhere, Everything seemed to go very smoothly, and the next morning there was hardly a sign that they had been there. 

               

We spent a couple of days camped in their lovely back yard, enjoying the quiet country living.  Did get a few bridge games in too.  They had made plans to attend a get together of “Winter Texans” who spend the months at Alamo Palms.  There are a number of people in the surrounding area.  Destination was the Amana Colonies.  Well, we are always up for a new adventure, and it sounded interesting, and having spent 2 winters there we surely would know a few people.   Along the way we came across some of the bikers again. 

We had not heard of the Amana Colonies and were pleasantly surprised.  http://amanacoloniesiowa.com/

There are five small villages, plus a large campground, (Passport America) and the prices of everything was very reasonable. 

The gathering took place in the building of the RV park, and there actually were more people than we had expected to know attending.  Of course Chuck knew a whole lot more than me, but it was fun.  It was a cocktail party the first afternoon, and a wonderful catered dinner (noon) the next day.  

         

The only disappointment was that we were too full to take advantage of some of the scrumptious sounding restaurant fare.  Although we did manage to have a farewell breakfast with Bev and Dave before we started traveling in opposite directions the following day.  We are off to Goshen/Elkhart, Indiana.