On to Nauvoo

I was so excited to finally arrive in Nauvoo.  We camped in the Nauvoo State Park.  At most, there were only three other rigs kn the park with us.  It was a beautiful rustic setting, and with all of the pine trees, it smelled just like Christmas.

Nauvoo is right on the Mississippi River, and I got some beautiful sunset shots

Nauvoo is a total Church history site, and it is like walking back in time.  Many of the buildings have been restored or rebuilt and there are about 300 missionaries on site that run the place.  

Iowa - Is this Heaven?

Iowa is everything I thought it would be.  There are corn fields and old barns EVERYWHERE!  We reserved a spot in the Amana Colonies RV Park.  It was in a field in the middle of 26,000 acres that comprise 7 different Villages.  It was settled by Germans in the 1800's.  They enjoyed communal living until the 1950s.  It was a religious settlement lead by an Inspirationalist.  There are still 350 members of the Church, although they have not had an Inspirationalist for a number of years.  I asked who leads/runs the Church today?  They currently have 11 elders that oversee the operations of the church.  I can best describe the Amana Colonies as having a German-Amish feel, although they do enjoy all of the modern-day conveniences and they wear normal clothes.  There is a definite pride in their workmanship and they make incredible furniture, woolen goods, sausage, soap, candles and tinsmithing was also very big.  The town is laid out and operates just as it did over 175 years ago.  There are blocks of old buildings that are fully functioning today.  Interesting thing about this town, there is not one fast food restaurant,  no DQ, no hair salon or barber shop or nail salon.  There was no grocery store, but there was a convenience store at the local gas station.  We went to their Farmer's Market on Friday evening, and only one vendor showed.  We were able to get some fabulous zucchini and green onions that were great on the grill.  I loved our stay in Amana.  We did have some knarly weather while we were there.  We took a day-trip into Cedar Rapids while we were in Iowa.  It was really nothing to wrkte home about!

On to Minnesota

The weather was so crazy south of us that we decided to head East into Fairmont, Minnesota.   We drove a few hours and came upon a great RV park called Flying Goose.  There were a lot of full time RVers in this park.  There is a beautiful lake in this park with a small beach and fishing dock.

Saying good bye to Rapid City

We finally got the RV back on June 13.  We spent one more night in the area and drove it around a bit to be sure that it was fixed before we took it too far on the 80.  It was raining the morning of the 14th, but we were so ready to head east, we didn't even care.

We only had two weeks before July, and we wanted to be in Detroit by the second so we could pick Ken and Sarah up by the third.  We headed East to Mitchell, home of the Corn Palace.  In a few words, the Corn Palace is like the Rose Parade on steroids.  An entire building is decorated in 13 different colors of corn.  The theme changes from year to year, and thousands of people come from far and near to see it.  It is amazing.

We had some severe weather when we were in Mitchell.  High winds, rain, thunder lightening and tornados.  While we waited out a storm in a local scrapbook store our RV had a branch from a tree that was struck by lightening impale the side of our our rig.  Luckily it hit between two windows and Ken just happened to have a fiberglass repair kit on hand and was able to repair the hole.  REALLY?

The joys of RV ownership

We ended up spending an additional two weeks in Rapid City, SD in a hotel.  When we took the RV in to have the blow out damage repaired they discovered major problems with the brakes (that had all just been replaced when we were in Los Osos,  about 5 or 6 weeks ago.  We ended up having to get new axles and brakes.  The parts had to be ordered from the East Coast and they took over a week to get there and then three days shop time.  We were so happy to get our rig back, sleep in our own bed and have a home cooked meal!!

We did take advantage of our time in that beautiful city and saw some amazing sites and met some wonderful people.  We had been attending the Mount Rushmore Ward on Sundays and got to know some wonderful families.  We were invited for dinner after church on the two Sundays that we were in the hotel  Thank you, again, Wright and Alexander families.

Some of the highlights of our time in Rapid include a visit to the set of Dances with Wolves.  This was built at Fort Hayes.  They do a cowboy pancake breakfast every and a cowboy dinner theatre.  It was pretty amazing.  We met a real nice couple, Ethel and Jeff Jefferies.  Interesting thing about the Jefferies', they started their full-time RV status the exact same day that we did.  We had a lot to talk to them about at our four-hour lunch at The Pizza Ranch.

We took a road trip to the Crazy Horse Monument.  What an incredible work in progress.  The history depicted in the museums, exhibits and by the Indian dancers and entertainers was a real eye opener.  My heart was touched, and I have an even greater appreciation for the Indians and so appreciate their effort and desire to pass on the traditions of their forefathers.

Answer to Taco John's Question

To answer my question, Taco John's is NOT the same as Taco Bell.  We passed a Taco Bell in our travels today.