Saturday, August 26

Today we were in search of the six Bridges of Madison County.

Hogback Covered Bridge

Holliwell Covered Bridge 

Imes Covered Bridge

Cedar Covered Bridge (burned in 2002)

Roseman Covered Bridge

Cutler-Donahoe Covered Bridge

After the bridges we stopped at the John Wayne Museum and birthplace.

Our last supper together was at the Northside Cafe, where scenes from the movie were filmed. We sat right where Clint sat. 

This concludes our Between Harvests Adventure. We will be home in a couple of days.

Friday, August 25

Today we drove to Boone, Iowa to tour the birthplace of Mamie Doud Eisenhower. The lady who greeted us there was a true historian. She shared so much history and I just couldn't absorb enough.  I loved every inch of the house and every minute spent there.

Lunch was at the Whistle Stop before a short train excursion on the Boone and Scenic Valley Railroad. The train ride was something I would recommend others to pass on. We chose tickets, the most costly seats on the open air car to provide the most scenic view. The most interesting minutes of the ride were spent having a brief conversation with the Conductor.

Thursday, August 24

Today is a travel day from the Rustic Barn Campground in Wisconsin to Winterset City Park Campground in Iowa.

Wednesday, August 23

While we were at the Sweet Memories Candy Store Sunday the lady who waited on us there also suggested we go over to Galena, IL. President Grant's home and other historical homes are there. Since Galena wasn't far and the backroads route took the same amount of time to travel as the highway, we took the backroads to see more of the countryside. Right away we spotted the first unique sight. The first photo of the day was of a spaceship with its green alien pilot sitting in a field near the road along with several dinosaurs.

Boy, did we hit the jackpot!  We probably should have gotten a lottery ticket that day. Galena was a beautiful small town where the people realized early on they should preserve their history. We enjoyed a long, full day beginning with a trolley tour that showed us the highlights of the town. The tour at Grant's home which the town gave to him when he returned from the Civil War as a token of their appreciation. Belvedere Mansion - the home of J. Russell Jones, who made his fortune with a fleet of steamboats. The mansion is furnished with much of the original furnishing and a few additions such as drapes from Gone With the Wind and a humidor used on Downton Abbey.  Dowling House - the oldest building in Galena and still hosting tours.

We walked Main St. aka Helluva Half Mile, where boutiques, shops, and restaurants abound. There was  fresh baked bread, chocolate and oils. We stopped the mailman and asked him to recommend a good place for lunch. We had a good lunch and even spotted the mailman come in for his lunch, too.

We drove to some of the places we saw on the trolley to stop for photos and out of town to a couple of scenic overlooks. We didn't imagine we would be in Galena the entire day, but we were, so  dinner was at the Log Cabin Steak House.
 It was another long, full day,  we didn't get back to our rigs until bedtime again. We never dreamed there would be so much to see and do in Galena.

Tuesday, August 22

Today was the John Deere Harvester Works Tour in Moline, IL. And in case you're wondering, yes I was on time, even a bit early. Yesterday was a horrible nightmare. Still no photos allowed inside the factory, but there was a beautiful new combine in the foyer we could get inside and all around and take as many photos as we liked. I think I could drive one of those giants!

We toured this facility on a tram with a great narrator, just as we did yesterday in Waterloo. Today there were three trams full of visitors.This is a very popular tour.  We witnessed many similarities between the two factories, but everything here is much larger. We witnessed the same attention to detail throughout the tour.

Everywhere I looked there were  large posters of the the core values of John Deere; Integrity, Quality, Commitment, Innovation. These values have been evident in each building and every story I've heard about John Deere. It seems he was a highly respected person even decades after his death. It makes me wonder if there are still men of his ilk today. I'm sure there are, they just aren't featured on the evening news.


During the trolley tour Sunday, the guide told us about the Tiffany stained glass windows in the St. Luke Methodist Church. Nothing else was planned for the rest of the day so we had plenty of time for a stop in Dubuque. We found St. Luke's Church and took a few pictures there. It was still early afternoon, so we spent some time at the riverfront. I got photos of a Civil War Shot Tower, one of  the last remaining in the country. Lead shot was manufactured there during the war and shipped out on the Mississippi River.  We watched as a  section of railroad bridge turned to create an opening to allow a pilot boat move a barge down river.

Monday, August 21

Since we weren't leaving until 8:45 I had plenty of time this morning to get ready, especially since our clocks are still on eastern time and we're in the central time zone so we didn't need to be ready to go until 9:30 on our clock. No worries! I noticed Terry and Vicki were both outside early, but didn't think it odd. About 9:00 Vicki texted Ray "are you sleeping?"  He then opens the window and tells her to give him a few minutes to finish his breakfast dishes. Terry didn't say a word and Vicki just looks at Ray in disbelief then looks at Terry...WHAAT!?. Ray thought she couldn't believe he was doing dishes...but really it was "What is happening? You are late why are you doing dishes?" I get in the truck and Vicki is telling me about Ray's reply to her and what she was thinking...then I realize...it was all my fault, my calculation of the time was incorrect.  Terry told us 8:45 knowing Ray had not changed the clocks, because he never does. He actually meant for us to leave at 7:45, now we are LATE! I felt so bad, I apologized, but no amount of sorry would get us to the tour on time. Terry jetted out of the campground and somehow managed to get us to the tour right on time. Our Hero!

The John Deere Tractor Cab Assembly Operations tour was very interesting. First, we had to leave cell phones at the front desk since absolutely no pictures could be taken inside. Only  'Gold Key' guests could take pictures. GK guests are new owners who visit the factory at the time their new tractor is built and escort it through the process. Our guide told the story of  the day a GK guest took a flash photo of the tractor in the paint booth,  the flash was detected and the sprinkler system reacted as though a fire had sparked. That tractor had all the paint washed off. Funny now, but not so funny at the time. Everyone there was very friendly. We rode through the factory on a tram and the guide narrated what was happening at the different stations.

The paint process was incredible, especially the robots. The quality assurance and attention to detail was visible at every station. I was amazed at how clean the entire building was.

  A slogan that was repeated many times and posted on the walls is "I will never put my name on a product that doesn't have in it the best that is in me." John Deere, Founder. That saying was evident throughout the factory and with every person.

We met a friend of Vicki and Terry's  for lunch. She took us to a popular restaurant in Waterloo and as we arrived at Newton's we recognized where we were and realized it was the same place we dined last year on the Between Harvests Adventure. It was fun going back again.

There was a quick stop at Hansen's Dairy Farm, for some butter, cheese, ice cream and to pet the kangaroo.

There was one more stop at the site where the FIELD OF DREAMS was filmed. We walked about and got a few photos then were on our way.  It was a good day, even after the late start.

Sunday, August 20

Our day began with a tour of Taliesin where we learned about Frank Lloyd Wright and his designs and the school there. We were led through the house and studio and around the property. The students continued to work uninterrupted as we watched for a moment as they worked on their designs. After the tour, we enjoyed lunch at Riverview Terrace Cafe before heading over to The House on the Rock just a few miles down the road.

The House on the Rock was built by Alex Jordan, Jr. As a child he loved spending time at the 450' Deer Shelter Rock. He was able to purchase the land and built a house there. Not just build a house on the rock, but incorporate the rock into the house. Similar to building a treehouse. It was at times eerie and other times amazing. A Japanese garden sits at the entrance an interesting room is known as the Infinity Room where it seems to continue on and on. There are areas for his many collections. The house was not his home, but his studio. He lived about an hour away and drove back and forth.

Rain was in the forecast for a couple of days and we were getting back to the campground in mid-afternoon. There was still plenty of time to go into Dubuque so I could get photos of some of the churches I had seen as we passed by yesterday. While there we found the Fenelon Elevator aka the Fourth Street Elevator. That was on our list of things to do.

 Mr. J.K. Graves was a banker who lived at the top of the bluffs of Dubuque. The bank was only  two and a half blocks from his home but it was downtown. It took him half an hour to drive his horse and buggy to the bank due to the steep incline. Back in 1882 in Dubuque at noon everything closed down for an hour and a half while everyone went home for dinner. Mr. Graves liked to take half an hour for his meal then wanted to have a half an hour nap before going back to work, but that wasn't possible. The time it took him to travel back and forth to the bank was just much.

He had seen incline railways in Europe and knew that would be the perfect solution for him. He petitioned the city and was granted permission to build his elevator. It wasn't long before his neighbors began showing up asking to ride the elevator.

Mr. Graves used the elevator daily then there was a fire that destroyed the elevator. Mr. Graves remembered how his neighbors wanted to ride the elevator and when he re-built it he opened it to the public, charging five cents a ride. Today the fare is $1.50 one way.

We drove up to the bluff overlooking the city to the top of the elevator. We rode the elevator down to Fourth Street where we found the Sweet Memories Candy Shop. Yes, we had an ice cream and bought some  divine divinity and almond toffee before the return trip to the top.  While we were at the Sweet Memories shop the proprietor told us about other things we should see while in Dubuque and about Galena, Illinois where we could tour the home of Ulysses S. Grant. That was a great unplanned stop.

At the riverfront, we could hear a caliope playing and discovered it was coming from the Mississippi Riverboat, Twilight, coming up the river  to dock. There was a trolley  nearby and we took a tour of Dubuque that evening. That was another unplanned event.  It was a jam-packed day and we returned to the campground at bedtime, exhausted. We would have another early  morning tomorrow  in order to drive to the John Deere factory tour in Waterloo.

Now We're Rolling Down the Highway

Finally we are on the road to meeting our friends for our 3rd annual "Between Harvests Adventure". I just came up with that name.  We traveled through Kentucky and crossed the new bridge into Indiana for our first time. I was told we'll get a toll bill in the mail. We saw the signs that it was a toll bridge, but there wasn't a toll booth anywhere.  We  drove as far a Mahomet, IL where we stopped about supper time at Tin Cup RV Park for the night.  Tin Cup is convenient and with nice pull-thru sites at the front of the park. We were tired after the long day we had, so bedtime was early. We were sleeping soundly, when just before midnight the wind woke us. It sounded like it would blow the slide awnings off and into Kansas. The coach was rocking in the gusts. We startled and wide awake reaching for cell phones to find the weather radar or alerts. Something to find out what in the world was going on.

Luckily, we were parked right at the southern most point of a severe thunderstorm and just a few minutes of the howling wind led to only a brief rain shower. We were back in dreamland right away, with phones at our bedside.

At morning light we were up and on the road in search of a Cracker Barrel. After breakfast the drive continued on through Iowa into Wisconsin. We checked in at Rustic Barn RV Campground where we found friendly folks eager to chat and share information about things to do, places to eat and shop while there. Just after we checked in Vicki and Terry arrived. We chose one of the four famous Wisconsin supper clubs recommended to us for the award winning prime rib dinner.

Rough Start

We had a rough start this morning as we prepared to embark on another short adventure. I could make  this part short and sweet, but I won't.  Ray is outide the coach watching to be sure the two slides retract without a problem. The bedroom slides in just as it always does and we move to the full wall slide. I unlock the safety lock and hear Ray say he is ready. I engage the ROOM RETRACT switch, but wait, the slide stops moving. Immediately I switch to ROOM EXTEND, that works and I can hear Ray asking what I'm doing and I answer that the slide stopped. He gave me the go ahead again. I engage that same switch. I hear POP! Again I change the direction of the slide.  I go over and hang out the driver's window to see what's going on out there. The door to the utility cabinet was left open and caught in the slide. Now one hinge is popped off and the bottom rim of the door is rolled over. Yikes! All that equals delaying our departure four hours in order to make the necessary repairs.

The four hour delay brought us to lunch time, so naturally we had to have nourishment before setting out on this adventure to Iowa and Wisconsin. We drove just over the halfway point to where we'll meet Terry & Vicki, who are joining us for this adventure..  I hope they packed  plenty of patience. We've stopped for the night at Tin Cup RV Park. I called them at the perfect moment and got their last available site. Check in on us again to see what we get into next.