AMERICAN LADY BOAT RIDE

On Friday evening we took a two hour boat ride on the Mississippi with part of Don's family prior to Grandma's 90th birthday party on Saturday. It included Grandma, 4 of Don's sisters and 2 of his brothers, some family members including our son Russ, Carrie, and their five children. The rest were working or couldn't get to Dubuque in time. We missed them but didn't let it spoil our fun. Here we're leaving the dock at Catfish Charlie's, the restaurant that owns the American Lady.

Don visiting with his mother, brother Jerry and his wife Pat.

Passing a barge.

Two of our grandsons got to steer the boat, but all I could do was take a picture of the captain through the glass.

The captain posed with us at the end-if he knew us -that probably wouldn't have happened. Thanks to Don's brother Marvin for arranging the ride. (It's the bald guy in front with the pink shirt.) For those of you who've met Marvin, you'll know why we had fun!

MOVING ON

We left the rally and went on to Red Wing, MN, so I could do some research in the small towns along the Mississippi in Wisconsin where my great-grandfathers brother lived. We found a historical society that had a room in the court house. That saved us some time. Then we moved on to Dubuque, where we're also doing research, along with other things. We started by taking the sparklers to the convent so my cousin Sr. Dolores and her friends can have a little fun while the other nuns watch out the window. Dubuque had their fireworks on Friday evening and I took pictures of the boats from the bridge as they gathered to watch. One direction-

And the other.

They claimed the fireworks would be even better this year, and they were right. Very enjoyable! On the 4th we stopped at the tea party to keep you abreast of what's happening in our great country. It was near the end, so there weren't many people left, plus it rained all day. We listened for awhile and the main thoughts seemed to be-stop taxing us and throw all the bums out of congress and start over with a new group who represent the people. I report, you decide!

Yesterday, we took care of some errands-picked up mail at Grandma's, stopped at the Chamber office to pick up bags of info for the AZ/IA group meeting in September, checked for plugs at the park where Grandma's 90th birthday party is on Saturday, stopped at the cemetery office to have my great-grandmother's stone repaired, and then Don played poker in a tournament. I'll bet that's different than your day! This has got to be one of the strangest entries I've made so far, but the only other pictures I've taken are of tombstones-anybody interested? Today we're headed to the library and the courthouse-while we wait to see our family coming for Grandma's party. Should be fun!

HEERY WOODS STATE PARK

Today we went to the Heery Woods State Park outside of Clarksville. They have a small nature center, where the ranger gave us lots of information and answered many questions.



We walked over to the lodge which was built by the WPA-it reminded me of the buildings at Eagle Point Park in Dubuque.

Listening to the ranger.

JOHN DEERE TOUR

On Friday we drove to Waterloo and toured the John Deere Tractor Assembly Plant. There are six different factories in town that make the various parts, but they're assembled at this plant. We rode a tram on the tour which covers about 2 1/2 miles, much better than walking. I thought the coolest part was the new painting line done by robots-they only use one gallon of paint per tractor. A farmer can follow his new tractor through the plant and at the end they give him a gold key to start it up and drive it off the assembly line. I thought that was neat!

They don't allow pictures in the plant, but they let me take one in the lobby.

The finished product.

IOWA WILD ROSES RALLY

On Wednesday, we moved on to the rally in Allison, with the Iowa Wild Roses, the Iowa chapter of the Escapees RV club. I think there are 36 people in the group-that includes one granddaughter, a guy named Kay and a couple with a chicken named Henrietta.

It was a lot of fun and except for eating too much, a very successful rally. We even ended up getting ice cream cones at Casey's in Clarksville-I thought the signs outside the store added to the experience.

It was hard to choose!

DON'S RESEARCH

After the rally, we went on to Clear Lake for a couple days, so Don could do some research on his Dad's family in the area. We had great results in at the court house and library in Algona and at the church in Wesley, as the secretary let us go into the dining room with the old records and copy to our hearts content. In Mason City, we had great help from the gal in the office, which made it a lot easier to find the grave sites in the sweltering heat. The Mason City library was under construction so the genealogy library moved to the Madison School and we were told things were in boxes. But-we decided to check out the situation. They've divided the old school into areas for various people to rent, and a nice young lady led us to the basement in the dark, turned the light on in the library, and told us to go ahead and use it. Our only visitor was a janitor who told us his tale of woe about "stripping floors". So, we made ourselves at home and both found some interesting records. I wonder what they thought when they saw our signatures in the guest book.





As you can see, no one was there to thank-but, they have a nice little library!

I should add that we also enjoyed visiting with Don's cousin, Karen Johnson, in Mason City, and hearing stories about her family.

WINNEBAGO TOUR

Thursday we went on a bus trip over to Forest City and toured the Winnebago plant, which was very interesting. Nancy and Jake were on the waiting list, but made it on the bus.

This is the visitors center.

An old Winnebago.

They wouldn't allow pictures in the buildings, so this is how they begin.

And this is the finished product.

Our tour director said they had 3100 employees last year and 1200 this year, but they have money in the bank, are doing well, and have never had to shut down since they started. A very neat place and an enjoyable tour.