Colony Country RV Park

We're at the Colony Country RV park in North Liberty, Iowa and will be here for a couple of days before moving on. Tomorrow, we will take Pete and Debbie to Kalona to see the Amish community and then to the Amana Colonies for some shopping and good German food.
As an added plus to our stay here, one of our very best friends lives right across the road from the park. We surprised her this evening after dinner and spent 4 hours reminiscing and catching up on all the news. Pictures tomorrow.

Last Day Of The Rally

It's just about over. I have absolutely nothing scheduled for today. I'm going to kick back, relax and maybe have a cold drink or two and just enjoy the exhibits and tour the "show coaches" and see what I want to trade ours for. Just kidding!!!!!!!!!!! No new motorhome for us. We'll just have to make do with this old ratty one of ours.
We now have our stabilizing jacks fixed so life is good. HWH came to the coach yesterday and installed a new shuttle valve and now everything works fine.
We'll leave here tomorrow morning (not early) and start working our way to Sioux City for my 50th class reunion next weekend.

Circus in Baraboo Wisconsin

Well, not really a circus, but the old winter headquarters of the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus. Many of the old buildings have been preserved in the original state and are open to the public. The railroad built a spur into Baraboo and all of the railroad cars were stored here during the winter. Now, there are only a few cars left (Most were scrapped years ago). The museum is restoring and preserving the circus wagons from circus' from all over the world. I took so many pictures that I will edit this post and post more when I can download them from the camera.

We spent the entire day just roaming the grounds and strolling down "Memory Lane".

The next day, we headed off to Madison Wisconsin for the FMCA Rally. We arrived on the grounds of the Alliant Energy Center around noon, set up the coach and watched the parade of motorhomes arriving on the grounds. They are esimating around 4500 to 5000 motorhomes to be here when the rally starts on Wednesday.

Yesterday, we had a new experience. We went to the nearest WalMart to get a few groceries. This store was built on a parking lot. Parking is on the ground level, and you take an escalator up to the store. Wierd.

Today, starts my meetings and they will be all day long for the next 2 days. Then I'm free to enjoy the rest of the rally.

Arrived At The Wisconsin Dells

It was only a 2 hour drive from our previous stop, so we arrived early enough yesterday to do a little sightseeing. When we checked in at the RV park, we were given a 2 for 1 card that was good at most of the attractions in the area, so we decided to put it to good use. Our 1st (and only) stop for the day was to take a 2 hour scenic boat ride on the Upper Dells of the Wisconsin River. I had done this with my parents when I was 11 or 12 years old (as near as I can figure) and was fun to do it again. Then it was back to the motorhome and potty the puppies and off again to a dinner at Crabby's which is a pirate themed seafood buffet. Stay tuned to this channel tomorrow to see what we can find to do today.

Duluth and Beyond

We could have spent more time in Duluth, but we needed to move on and get closer to Madison, Wi, but not at the RV park. It seemed like the ore trains came thru about every 3o minutes and we were only 50 yards from the crossing. The blowing whistles were loud and annoying.

We arrived early in the day and went down to the waterfront and discovered that we could take a harbor cruise and out onto Lake Superior so we signed up for it and found that it was their Pizza cruise. Unlimited pizza and salad while cruising.

On our way back to the harbor we passed under the bridge and watched it raise so we could pass. Following us in was a Great Lakes Freighter loaded with cement and it looked like he would run right up our tailpipes. Pete and I managed to snag a couple of geocaches while there when we toured the nautical museum. If Duluth weren't so far away from home, it's a place where I could spend more time.

Left the next morning for Stoney Creek RV Park is Osseo, WI. Even a blind squirrel can get a nut once in awhile. This is not a park, it's a resort. Beautiful grounds, miniature golf course, skate park and a small water park for the youngsters.

We will leave in the morning for the Wisconsin Dells and spend the next 2 nights there before heading into Madison, Wi for the FMCA Rally.

Keep tuned.

Leaving Today For Duluth

We spent the last 2 days in Bemidji and met the nicest young couple that are the owners of the KOA. Normally, we try to bypass KOAs but this one was very convenient. They even trimmed tree branches so that our slides wouldn't rub the trees. Not many places will do that.
Yesterday, we went to Itasca State Park to show Pete and Debbie the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Normally you can walk across the rocks from one side of the river to the other and never get your feet wet, but with all the rains and snowmelt in the higher elevations, the water level is extremely high, so I opted to walk across the log from one side to the other instead of the rocks. At my age, I didn't want to make a fool of myself and fall into the water. We did a bit of souvenier shopping and generally relaxed. We also toured the Bemidji Woolen Mills. The young man that gave us the tour gave us a lot of information on the different wool plaids and how some of them are registered and in order to make that particular plaid, they need permission. After the tour, we met the owner of the mill and he gave us a lot more information. Of course, Pete and I did manage to do several geocaches while in the area.

Now In Bemidji Minnesota

We left Jamestown and moved north to Minnewaukan and spent 2 days at the Country RV park. After we arrived we went for a short drive into town and discovered it was their summer festival so watched the parade (color guard/3 fire trucks/2 4 wheelers and a semi. Visited with the locals for a bit and then had a cold one at the Dakotah Spirit bar. The next day, we drove the tow car up to Munich to see Buster and spent the day with him. He told us about an Icelandic Festival in Mountain, ND so went and took a gander there. All in all, we had a nice visit with our son.

The next day we left and headed to Bemidji, Minnesota and after getting settled, we had to drive into town and see Paul Bunyan and Babe the blue ox. Today we will drive around Lake Itasca and walk across the Mississippi river.