2013-19 Burlington to Dubuque Iowa

2013-19

Burlington to Dubuque Iowa

Watching the Corn Grow

Campground:  Kristine and John’s Farm.  Camping in the cornfields of Iowa with Randy and Kathy.  30 amp/water.  Friends discount.

Campground:  Dubuque County Fairgrounds.  Campsites are filled with trailers/locals perhaps.  I got a site on a dirt roadway back-in next to the former maintenance bldg.  Pretty muddy after a good rainstorm.  $15 elect/water.  $40 for a three day stay.  Good Verizon 4g and lots of over the air tv stations. I would not recommend this site.

Cornfields

I left Fairfield and about an hour later I was at the farm with Kathy and Randy, friends from our winter campout at Desert Trails.  Now perhaps you’ve lived on a farm or have had visits to one in the past.  For me, I’d really only been on a farm for a few hours maybe twice in my life.  So as I started full time Rv-ing, it has been my dream to stay on a farm for at least a few days. .  

It's about 18" and growing...

Christine and John who were given the farm a number of years ago by Kathy and Randy were off on a health food retreat or some such back to nature thing with their 7 adopted kids.  So Kathy, Randy, I and three dogs had the place to ourselves.  Now basically they lease out the land for planting, so it was my opportunity to just enjoy watching the corn grow.  Of course one can only watch corn grow for so long before needing a few other distractions.  So we all took a break from the corn watching to go see our good friend Ruth Ann.  She lives in Wapello.  Her kids (all adults by now) live in the area and she’s found the cutest little house with a great yard to live in.  We had a grand tour, seeing all the changes she’s already made to the place.  Bringing a fresh new life to an older home.  

I love the name Wapello and might add, have been in the town three times.  Going to Ruth Ann’s, checking out a great little city park for camping and later having lunch at the local Mexican restaurant.  Good food and a great deal.  Wapello, what a great name for a little town.

I must admit, we did have a few, ok every night, cocktails out on the lawn because someone has to watch the corn grow you know.  Amazing how light it is staying out.  The sun isn’t setting till 8:30 and that’s when we’d go for a walk along the country lane to the postal box and back.  The little dogs jumping and running through fields as if they were jack rabbits or deer.  My cousins in Finland tell me they now have light out all night long.  They must really be up north.  

The pond on the farm

Did you ever hear of a sandwich called “loose meat”.  Well, I never had and finally had to ask what it was.  A local restaurant chain called Maid Rite makes them.  I gather it’s like ground beef that’s just scrambled around in the skillet and seasonings are added and then it’s all dumped on a bun or bread.  Actually sounds kind of good seasoned with things like taco seasonings or maybe teriyaki sauce.   

Nauvoo Illinois

LDS Temple rebuilt on original site

We drove across the raging Mississippi river to Nauvoo Illinois.  It’s the historical town that the Mormons had built in 1839 settling in this Illinois town along the Mississippi river. Quickly developing the town into a well organized city even with their own militia.  As they became more powerful, the common folks in Illinois started to fear their power and new religion and planned to chase them out.  With the backing of the State, rioting and harassment of the Mormons continued.  The Mormons would not fight back feeling they did not want to be the aggressor.  Finally their leader, Joseph Smith and his brother of the LDS Saints was shot dead.  At that point, Brigham Young would become their leader and lead the Mormons west to Salt Lake City.  The LDS church has since purchased back much of the land that they had to abandon and in 1999 broke ground and rebuilt the Temple.  The historical park is maintained by all volunteers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Paying their own expenses to come to Nauvoo and serve as guides and story tellers of their faith in this historical town.  

They have two different horse wagon rides that one can take to learn more about the settlement and all the the historical buildings have interpreters to tell the story of each building.  Everyone dressed in period costume as well.  

One other day trip brought us down the road to the Toolesboro Mounds site. It's located along the Iowa River close to where it meets up with the Mississippi River. The largest of the mounds is behind a wire fence in a wooded area on private land. And may be the largest of the Indian mounds in Iowa. Remains of Indian mounds can be found all along the Mississippi River, indicating that Native Indians had settled along the famous river and established communities the entire length of the river.

All in all, having time to Watch the Corn grow in an Iowa field will probably be the highlight of my travel season.

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