Moving East Through Iowa

September 8 – Since we got in so late last night and we were much closer to our first stop today, Bill let us sleep in until 8 and then we didn’t get moving very fast. I made bacon for breakfast and some for sandwiches for lunch and pan waffles and cantaloupe. Tomorrow it will be back to cereal.

 

John Wayne's Birthplace

A bridge in Madison County

We finally left at 10 after airing up the tires. We were only 20 minutes from our first stop at John Wayne’s birthplace in Winterset, IA. The main street is named after him and there’s a bronze statue at one corner of the main street of him. The house is tiny, only 4 rooms and there’s a house next door that is the gift shop and where you get your tickets. I stayed in the truck with Xena and Molly while Bill went in and did the tour. Winterset is also where some of the movie, “The Bridges of Madison County” was filmed as it is in Madison county and the bridges are all in the area. We got to see one in the city park. Wish I had factored in a day to tour the covered bridges. Oh well, next time.

 

Outside of Bob Feller Museum

The next stop was also one of Bill’s at the Bob Feller Museum in his home town of Van Meter, IA. Luckily it was Saturday and the bank next door was closed so I could park the RV there while Bill went in. I took a couple of photos of him at the building. He was a bit disappointed in it as it was primarily pertaining to his major league career and the items they had for sale were expensive autographed ones. He couldn’t even get a magnet as they didn’t have things like that.

 

We took I-80 to I-35 and headed north. We found a rest area with no facilities, which was fine, and we stopped and I made our BLT’s for lunch. Yum! Then it was a long drive to Route 20 and on to Oelwein, IA where were had reservations for the night at the Lake Shore Resort campground. Route 20 was a divided highway like the interstate and no traffic but we are getting tired of nothing but corn fields and more corn fields. There aren’t even any bill boards. I will say that some of the landscapes when we entered Iowa were hilly and the soybean fields were very pretty in shades of greens and yellow. They looked like fields of flowers.

 

The resort is pretty nice. It’s 70% seasonal guests and they save some spots for over nighters. All of the sites are back in, so the guy working managed to direct me in as his buddies all watched. The space was a little off but one set of boards and we are perfect. The hook ups are all in the rear so Bill had to use 2 hoses to reach. The wifi didn’t work so I used my hotspot.

 

I grilled chicken breasts on George and steamed a spaghetti squash that I put butter and grated parmesan on. Bill had the rest of the leftover veggies and I had the rest of the black bean salad. I grilled an extra breast for tomorrow’s lunch.

 

We got a decent signal with the antenna and watched some reruns. I did some email and caught up my journal. Will post one and tomorrow I need to download more photos.