24 June 08 - 13:31
The Journey Begins
Yesterday felt like the first day of our journey. We've owned our RV for two months and have lived in it for about half that time but we've been too busy sorting, storing, selling and saying good-by to travel.Now, we are on the road headed for South Dakota to finish the moving business. We thought about taking the southwestern route across Minnesota but I have done that before and Dave didn't care if he saw the sod house and Jeffers petroglyphs so we are traveling across northern Iowa instead.
When we entered Iowa the welcome sign said "Fields of opportunities." The first field I was aware of was a field of windmills harvesting the wind. Then we saw a bunch of railroad tank cars set out by some large grain bins and wondered if the cars were to be filled with corn syrup or if they are now harvesting ethanol. Evidence of modern crops gave me hope for our country.
I love speculating about things like that. One of my speculations concerned a headstone. The graveyard was by the road but most of the headstones were grouped near the back. One lone one was right up by the roadside fence. I found myself wondering if some family was honoring their mother's wish to be where she could see what was going by.
Our first official tourist stop was the Winnebago factory in Forest City, IA. No, we don't own a Winnebago but all RVers, I think, are always checking out the possible next rig. We took the factory tour then sat in a Winnebago View discussing it's possibilities. While it would be nice to have all the interior space, it is too tall for me. Taking hot food out of the microwave would be hazardous and I can't reach most of the cupboards nor the ceiling vent. So, the Liesure Travel Van we bought is the right RV for us--at least for now.
Our next tourist stop was the Hobo Museum in Britt, IA. This was a funky little place on the sloping floors of a former movie theater. The exhibits made me both laugh and feel like crying. Britt hosts the annual hobo convention where they crown the king and queen of the hobos with crowns made from coffee cans. They define a hobo as one who travels and works, a tramp as one who travels but doesn't work, and a bum as one who neither travels nor works. So it's official, I'm a tramp.
Then we headed for Algona to see the museum about the former German POW camp there. It was getting late so we weren't sure it would still be open. While looking for it we saw a sign for a state park and decided to turn in. We camped in what would be a primitive site except it had electricity. No running water in the campground, though. We had a Minnie Winnie on one side of us and a RoadTrek on the other and both came over to check us out. Nice people.
So now it's morning again and time to plan another day's activities. We could go back to the POW museum but we'd have to call for a special viewing and now that I've found their website at http://www.pwcamp.algona.org/ I can visit anytime so we'll head on down the road.
TTYL,
Linda
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