Forest City, IA Day Three

It is our third day in Forest City and we hoped to have the coach completed today, so we stayed close. As we have for the last two mornings we dropped the coach off at the service center and went to Sally’s for breakfast. Sally’s is a typical small town family owned restaurant that does breakfast and lunch only. Nice little place, and the food is pretty good. One of the fun things about being on the road is finding places like this.

We returned to the Winnebago facility and found a quiet spot to try to plan out the next leg of our trip. The visitor center had a nice comfortable area, but the WiFi was spotty and made our research more difficult. We have a rough idea, though.

We returned to Sally’s to investigate the rumor that Sally has terrific pies. Turned out to be true, and afterward we visited an area called Heritage Park. This is an interesting attraction in that it is an assortment of museums of early farming and industrial machinery combined with a large collection of historic buildings that have been moved to this site from their original locations. It is not fully available for visitors everyday, but opened only for special events. It is, however, open to drive and walk  through. This would be a great area to return to on a future visit. The community should be proud of these attempts to save the past.

Three o’clock rolled around and it was time to pick up the coach. Turns out it is not quite complete. We are awaiting material to fix the sink in the bathroom. I rushed the coach back up to the parking area to watch the final America’s Cup race. The race had already started and New Zealand was out front. We have to watch it on the internet and the WiFi was acting up. Through the starts and stops of the service we saw Oracle pass the New Zealand boat and continue to gradually build their lead all the way to the finish line. What an exciting comeback from being eight down by wining nine straight. Unheard of.

Good news! Since they are not expecting the material we need first thing tomorrow we get to sleep in!

Forest City, IA Day Two

Knowing the coach would be in the shop all day we left right after an early breakfast (again, the coach goes in at 7:00 each morning) and drove to Staceyville, IA to visit our friend Elly Anderson. She is home caring for her dad over the summer, while her husband Curt remains at home in Orlando. We had a nice time with Elly and her dad, and then we went over to brother Dale’s farm to check out the vines that are coming due for harvest in about a week. Dale and his son operate a well-run farm operation that is quite diversified. They are heavily invested in corn and soybeans, but also have cattle and hogs. For the last eight years they have been developing a vineyard. The grapes are being grown for a specific award-winning vintner.

When we returned to Forest City the coach was not complete, but they were done for the day. We brought the coach back to the parking area and dove right into the coverage of the America’s Cup. We had missed the first of the two races, but picked up the coverage half way to the second mark with New Zealand in the lead. Rounding the second mark Oracle Team USA took the lead and pulled away from there on. They won both of the races today to tie the score after being down 8 to 1. The race tomorrow will decide who keeps the cup.

OMG!

What a beautiful sunset! Look at that moon!






















Oh, wait! That's a SUNRISE! Yuck!

Our day started with me in line at the service  center at 6:30. Not much to report today, but we did get a nice breakfast in town, and got laundry done as we waited for the day's work to be done. We met nice folks that were also waiting, and how about Oracle Team USA! Five unanswered wins in the America's Cup. They need only three more wins and we keep the cup (oldest continuous athletic event for those that don't know).  The problem is that New Zealand needs only one win to take the cup. They have been excellant.

Forest City, IA

We arrived at the Winnebago factory in Forest City, IA around one o’clock following a nice leisurely drive up from Clear Lake. The drive took us through rolling farm country, and as we are approaching harvest time we were treated to beautiful scenery and moderate temperatures. Lots of folks beat us to the service center and the spaces in front were all taken. We were able to find a space at the visitor center on a slight hill overlooking the service area lot.

We are packed in pretty tight here, so only have slides out on one side of the coach. 

We were sure to dump all waste and stock up on water in Clear Lake because we knew that we would only have electrical hook ups here at the factory.

Once settled in we walked Nia a bit and then settled din to watch America’s Cup racing. The weather cooperated and race one for the day was a very close one. Oracle Team USA managed to hold off the New Zealand boat to win by twenty seconds. They won the second race by a slightly better margin. They now need to win four races to take the cup. The bad news is the Kiwis only need to win one more and the cup heads down under.

The Night The Music Died

Morning dawned fresh and clear and was such a wonderful change from the humid heat of Florida. By early morning the heater was coming on about every ten minutes, and since it is below the bedroom it was waking me up frequently. It had good reason to be coming on since it got down to 39 overnight!

We went in to the town of Clear Lake to the farmer’s market and a walk down Main St. While small, unlike in the Orlando area, this market had farmers and their produce. We went in search of corn on the cob, but came away with peach habanero jelly! I would say, “COOL”, but the lady that canned it says the opposite.

Barbara found a wonderful antique store on Main St. and picked up some cute wooden boxes. Main St. runs right down to the lake where there is a nice park and band shell. Clear Lake is really a wonderful little town, but while peaceful now, it is very busy during the summer.

My main interest in coming here was to visit the Surf Ballroom, which the older folks will know as the site of the last concert of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and The Big Bopper. After the show they departed in an aircraft that crashed a few miles from the airport. The ballroom eventually fell into disrepair, but was restored in 1998. It has been a successful venue for top acts ever since.

The lobby area walls are filled with autographed photos of the people that have played there. Every rock, country, and big band group that you can think of has played here. It is a real historical place. The Green Room of the stage where the acts would wait their turn to take the stage bears the signatures of all the acts since the renovation. Pretty interesting. I was impressed at the size of the facility. 

There is a large dance floor and seating for hundreds at tables on three sides of the ballroom. Sorry the picture of the ballroom is a bit blurred, but the phone camera can only capture so much.

You can visit the site of the crash. We drove out into the corn and soybean fields and parked along side the road near the trailhead that leads to the site. At some point the farmer evidently became tired of people wandering through his bean fields and fenced in a path to the site. Someone has marked the trailhead with a large pair of Buddy Holly’s trademark black rimmed glasses. It is about a half-mile walk through the soybean field to the site, which is marked by some small steel sculptured memorials. It looks like many people that visit leave little memorial items, but they evidently are not cleaned out very often so things do look a bit shabby.

We returned to the campground to watch the Virginia Tech game, but found we did not get ESPNU. Rather than go out again we decided to just relax in the wonderful clear air. Our next event was to watch America’s Cup racing, but it was delayed and eventually cancelled due to unfavorable wind. New Zealand only needs one more win to rap this up, so we will tune in again tomorrow to see what unfolds.

Tomorrow we will be in Forest City at the Winnebago factory for service starting Monday.

Clear Lake, IA

It was much cooler when we awoke this morning in Amana. It turns out there was some damage in the park last night when that storm came through. All we suffered was a lens blown off of one of the rear marker lights. Duct tape to the rescue.

There is not much to report today. We drove up to Clear lake, IA and got settled in at the Oakwood RV Park in time to watch today’s America’s Cup races. 

The AC72 catamarans are something to watch. They are extremely fast when they are up on foils, but the first race of the day was in very light winds and they could not finish the race in the allotted forty minutes. A good thing for the US team who were 1200 meters behind when the race was called. One win by the Kiwis and they take the cup home to New Zealand. The second race of the day was more successful, not only because there was more wind, but because Oracle Team USA won.

Once the races were over we got the grill out and fixed smoked brats that we picked up in Amana yesterday. Ahh, life is certainly good.

Tomorrow we will explore Clear Lake. I think I earlier referred to the Crystal Ballroom as the place Buddy Holly played his last concert. But I had that wrong. It is called the Surf Ballroom. Pictures tomorrow.

Amana Colonies, Iowa Day Two

Barbara and I really enjoy getting away from the built up metropolitan areas and out into the country. Frankly, the people are much nicer and life’s pace is, well, livable. The scenery is gorgeous, too.

Many of the early immigrants to this country were fleeing persecution for their chosen way of life or religion. The founders of the Amana Colonies here in Iowa were such people. The Insperationalists left Germany in the mid-1800s and formed a communal culture that grew to six villages. They lived in large communal homes housing 30-40 people and ate in communal dining houses. All of the property surrounding the homes was put in to service as gardens to grow the food that would sustain them through the year. They were farmers and craftsmen that pooled resources. This way of life continued until 1932 when, following the death of the groups leader, the resources and assets were distributed among the member families and they developed a more capitalist economy. The homes and many of the crafts are proudly displayed in museums and shops. Tourism and artisan products augment the agrarian economy. There are plenty of artists, craft shops, and antique shops in the villages. Oh, let’s not forget appliances! Whirlpool’s Amana division is based here.

Fun Rube Goldberg like sculptures. The windmill powers...

...This sawyer. A video would have been better, but he saws the log.

Barber took a little extra off, but we are having fun.

Honey, I shrank my husband.

The two major restaurants in Amana echo the German heritage of the region, and Barbara and I had a great German beer and sauerbraten for lunch. I about lost my head when I told the waitress we were happily done and she strode off. I looked across the table and noted that we were definitely not BOTH happy. Barbara had her eyes on chocolate cream pie. I quickly called the waitress back.

Early in the evening we were bemoaning Oracle USA’s standing in the America’s Cup racing in San Francisco when I noted a weather warning on the iPhone. (Thank you WeatherBug) I looked at the radar and noticed a wall of weather approaching from the west and suggested that we pull in the slides that expand the volume of the motor home and make it a more comfortable abode.  The motor home is more stable and better sealed against the weather with the slides in. Good thing we did. 

A gust front hit us with substantial force and rocked us around a good deal. It brought a torrent of rain. The local airport reported winds of 50 miles an hour, but it was impressive what ever the official reading was.

Tomorrow we are off to Clear Lake, Iowa