Category: Observations (Page 1 of 95)

QUOTABLE: “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.” ~ Albert Einstein

On Monday, September 16, I woke up feeling some kind of chest yuck coming on. We spent the last morning in Huntsville saying goodbye to our Alumni RV group, with me being extra careful around the people and food. We hit the road headed east by 10 AM, taking US-431 to AL-79. It was a gorgeous day for a drive, but I’ll admit that I slept for most of it. At Scottsboro we stopped to pick up a Covid test. That was negative, but I was steadily feeling worse. We took AL-35 down to Rainsville and stopped for lunch at Whataburger. There we decided it was time to find professional help. We arrived at Dekalb Urgent Care, catching them just as they returned from break. The visit took about 45 minutes, but the doctor assured me that, after two shots and three prescriptions, I should not be contagious in 24 hours. That made me happy, because my parents had both just gotten over Covid, and I certainly didn’t want to take anything over there with me. We arrived at Rocky Mountain PFA campground, our regular spot near Rome, Georgia, and were setup by 5 PM. I was down for the count after a prescription run sapped the last bit of my energy. I’m really terrible at being sick!!

For the next couple of days, except for exhaustion, the meds did their job. To be safe, we stayed out of Mom and Dad²‘s house for another day, opting to meet for a quick lunch with plenty of social distancing at Sam’s Southern Eatery. (Mom was not going to go another night without seeing me when I was right down the road!) We also fit in a quick visit with Aunt Pat at Linda’s Place the next day, then hung out at Mom’s for the afternoon. Finally on Thursday my energy started to return a bit. Mom and I got pedis, which was heavenly, and had lunch at Chick-fil-A, while Dad² and MW went on their annual Krystal run and checked out Buc-ee’s over in Calhoun. (You know they enjoyed that!) I think that was the least amount of time I’ve spent with my Mom on a visit in my life, and neither of us were happy about it. Luckily Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away.

A LITTLE BIT OF BRAGGING: My baby sister, Kate DiAngelis…the one for whom this blog was originally started…is quite handy with a crochet needle. She has made stuff for all of us, including a wonderful lap blanket that I keep in the truck and use all the time. (I don’t like the cold air blowing on my feet!) A few months back she asked what she could make for me, and I chose a larger version of that blanket in a waffle pattern she had used on something for Mom. It was finished a while back, and Kate took it to Mom’s when we were there for Uncle Russ’ memorial service. Sadly, I didn’t have room to bring it back on the plane, so it finally made it “home” on this visit. I LOVE IT! Currently our extra warmth at the foot of the bed, it is the perfect size to stretch out on the couch, too. I didn’t notice until I took the pic that the waffle stitch looks particularly good on my bedspread with the lattice pattern. Added bonus!!

Rocky Mountain Recreation & Public Fishing Area is our go-to when visiting my parents in Rome, Georgia. Here is our review with pics from a previous visit. For this stay in September 2024, we paid a little over $31 per night, which included a one-time per visit, $5 entrance fee.

On Friday our original plan was to head back to the barn, but another USNA RV Chapter ComeAround sounded so good that we decided to take a left turn and head to Iowa. We were on the road about 8 AM headed north. Sadly, despite my best efforts including sleeping on the couch for three nights, MW starting feeling a bit stuffy. Since we needed to make tracks, we headed northwest out of Rome to hit I-59 north up to I-24. We had a detour almost immediately that took us through back roads for 20 minutes or so, but then we were good until Nashville. Does anyone ever make it through Nashville without getting stopped in traffic these days? Once moving again, we made a quick stop for some home cooking at Country Junction, then had another detour on US-41A through Clarksville, into Kentucky, and past Fort Campbell. Then it was I-24 to the Edward T. Breathitt Pennyrile Parkway north. Just south of Evansville, Indiana, we arrived at our next stop, the John James Audubon State Park.

Since we traveled on Friday, Saturday became laundry day. I was up and out early to beat the weekend crowd at the Laundry & Tan Express across the river in Evansville, Indiana. It was one of the cleanest laundromats I’ve ever been to, and despite the crowds, I was able to get in and out quickly. Afterwards, I headed over to Culver’s to write a bit. I think the creeping crud is still messing with my focus, so that didn’t last long. I headed back to Priscilla with a few groceries and lunch for MW. I’m pretty sure a nap snuck up on me later, too.

Sunday, although most of my symptoms were gone, I was still pretty tired. MW wanted a breakfast sandwich, so he picked up from Burger King with an additional stop at the Donut Bank Bakery for a bagel for me. Full disclosure, he also got a few donuts. We opted to stay in and watch the service from Sneedville First Baptist Church, which was the first official one for our new preacher Tommy Seals. After that, getting out of my pajamas didn’t seem too important, so I made it a day. Later MW headed over to check out the John James Audubon Museum and Nature Center in the park, which he said was pretty good. Housed in a beautiful, stone chateau built by the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) in 1938, the museum contains the largest displayed collection of art and artifacts from Audubon. One of America’s most famous ornithologists, Audubon was born in Les Cayes, Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) and raised mostly in Coueron, France. Fascinated by birds from an early age, his father Jean Audubon, encouraged his fascination. To avoid his conscription in the Napoleonic Wars, the senior Audubon sent his then 18-year-old son to the United States under a false passport. During the trip over, Jean-Jacques became John James, and Dad’s initial plan was for him to mine lead at some property he owned in Pennsylvania near Valley Forge. The younger Audubon had a different plan, though, and began studying birds. Eventually he married Lucy Bakewell, moved to Henderson, Kentucky, and spent many an hour roaming the woods and painting birds in their natural habitats. John James Audubon’s greatest contribution to ornithology was his color, two-volume book entitled The Birds of America, (1827-1839). The world was, and still is, fascinated with his drawings of birds in their natural habitats. Such detail had rarely been seen before, and the books are still considered the finest ornithological work ever done. Along the way, the artist also identified more than 2 dozen new species and gave scientific names to dozens more that are still in use today. It’s no wonder that the biggest bird organization in the world is called the National Audubon Society. While not without his flaws, his contributions in that arena cannot be ignored. In addition to the museum, there is a wildlife observatory for bird and animal watching and a theater.

John James Audubon State Park is located right in Henderson, Kentucky, on US-41 and just south of the bridge crossing the Ohio River into Evansville, Indiana. In addition to the museum, nature center, and theater mentioned above, it also contains a visitor center, 9-hole golf course, pavilions, playgrounds, pickleball courts, 6.5 miles of hiking trails, a 28-acre lake, 649-acre wetlands with boardwalk, gift shops, and group meeting facilities with a challenge course. Additional activities include birding, fishing, and picnicking. Lodging opportunities include 5 cottages and the campground. The latter has a bathhouse, playground, pavilion, 63 paved RV sites, many in a double-site format, and 17 tent sites. RV sites are back-in or pull-thru sites with 20-30-amp electric and water. This campground is nice and wooded, but some sites would be a pickle to get into. They built the campground at the very front of the park, so just beyond a fence and some foliage is US-41…it can be loud. It is beautiful and does offer a lot to do. For this visit in September 2024, we paid almost $39 per night for a 30-amp back-in site with water.

Monday, September 23, dawned grey and mostly overcast. It was another long travel day, so we hit it early, taking US-41 (every time I get on that particular highway, I sing Ramblin’ Man in my head. LOL) up to IN-64 west. We crossed into Illinois at Mount Carmel and turned north on IL-1. At Chrisman we turned west on US-36, then stopped for lunch in Tuscola at Monical’s Pizza, a mid-west chain with a pretty good pie. From there we continued west and hit US-51 north at Decatur. It was a short hop from there up to Bloomington, where we took US-150 west for a few miles to Carlock, Illinois, and Kamp Komfort. Of course, it was raining for setup. Ugh!!

Tuesday we checked out Cornerstone Family Restaurant in nearby Eureka for lunch. This was serious home-cookin’, and very good. Then we headed to another Eureka attraction, the Ronald Reagan Museum and Peace Garden. Back in the late 1920s, our 40th president was a student at tiny Eureka College, graduating in 1932. They have a monument and museum to him on campus that is open to the public. Here are a few interesting things I learned:

• Eureka College was founded in 1855 by abolitionist members of the Christian Church. It was the first college in Illinois and among the first in the country to admit both male and female students on an equal basis. One of the founders’ core beliefs was that leadership should be based in moral values.
• This little college is the location of Reagan’s first speech…ever. In 1928, many were upset with cutbacks proposed by school President Bert Wilson, and Dutch was elected to represent the views of the student body. The speech he gave to students and professors was the first time he felt the power of words to “grab an audience”. Reagan would exercise that power later as President of the Screen Actors Guild, Governor of California, and President of the United States.
• Reagan never forgot his alma mater, once stating that “Everything good that has happened to me…everything…started here on this campus.” He returned many times, both as a movie star and a politician. In 1982, he addressed major foreign policy issues from the campus during his commencement speech. From that came the often quoted statement “Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with conflict by peaceful means.”
• Probably most touching to me, Reagan kept up with several people from his younger days throughout his life, writing letters of encouragement, update, happiness, and sadness. Many are on display and show the personality of a straightforward, funny, caring man.
• One particularly important person to him was coach Ralph McKinzie (Mac). After his freshman year at Eureka, young Reagan decided to leave college because of financial difficulties. A chance meeting with the coach while taking a friend back to campus changed all that, and Dutch’s scholarship was extended. Reagan described Mac’s influence on the course of his life as “profound” and said “The most valuable lesson I learned at Eureka is that each individual makes a difference.” Even after he became President, Reagan often addressed Mac as “Sir”. They would remain lifelong friends, corresponding often. There are several letters on file including this one, written after the President “retired” from public life. I LOVE that it is hand-written!

Wednesday we awoke to a gorgeous morning with cool temps…the perfect weather for walking around outside. We headed over to Bloomington, Illinois, to check out the Miller Park Zoo. For a small attraction in a regular park, we were surprised at the variety of animals there. While a few were caged, most were in habitats that were well designed and maintained. Not surprisingly, I learned a few things here, too:

• There are SIX species of flamingo! Not to be redundant, but the greater is the largest. They live in colonies numbering in the tens of thousands. That must be something to see! There aren’t too many animals who grow over 4′ tall and remain a svelte 9 pounds, either!!
• Oh, it’s not radiation in the radiated tortoise. Bummer. Glowing would be pretty darned cool. The name actually comes from the pattern on the shell that “radiates” outward.
• What hangs out in troops, but is not a soldier or scout? De Brazza’s monkeys. Their main weapon is a pair of pretty impressive canine teeth, but they mostly use them to threaten. With that cool-looking beard, I’d call them brandpa monkeys, though.
• Did you know that the red wolf’s original range was from central Texas north through Oklahoma and central Missouri, then east over through Pennsylvania and New Jersey and into the western part of Long Island. Wolves always make me think northwest. Today, thanks to a restoration program, they can be found in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in eastern North Carolina.
• A snow leopard can leap 10′ vertically and 45′ horizontally.
• Goats were brought to San Clemente Island by missionaries and settlers in 1875, and by 1934 numbered in the thousands. They were almost exterminated, until some were brought to farms on the mainland. Today there are roughly 750 left.
• The Galah is the most widespread of the cockatoo species, and yet I had never seen one. Like Canada geese and many other birds, they mate for life.
• Kookaburras are in the kingfisher family. You’ll see one of their cousins in the next post.
• Guanacos live in large groups of up to 60 individuals. Like llamas, they will spit with great force when threatened and their aim is quite good. Don’t get too close…what they are hurling at you is regurgitated stomach contents. Blech!!
• Did you know that anteaters and sloths are related? Well I didn’t! They live for 20-25 years, and are 6-8′ long, weighing up to 100 pounds. Most impressive, though, is their 2 FOOT long tongue coated with sticky saliva to gather up thousands of eggs, larvae, and insects each day.

This zoo is definitely worthy of a visit, and we sure did enjoy the gorgeous sunshine. Afterwards we headed over to the Lil Beaver Brewery nearby for lunch before heading back to Priscilla. Let me just say…go there and order the Birria Grilled Cheese…scrumptious!

By the time we made it back, our companions had arrived…the Wades and the Baldwins. Our meeting is on the way to Mason City, Iowa, where we will attend the next USNA alumni gathering. MW had a fire ring and wood delivered to our site, and with great weather, we hung out around the campfire all evening. Everyone brought munchies, and we cooked hot dogs over the fire. That’s a perfect camping night!!

Kamp Komfort is a seasonal (April 1 – October 1) campground located just off of I-74 in Carlock, Illinois. It is just a few miles outside of Bloomington, and provides easy access to Eureka, Normal, and Peoria. Amenities include a pool (Memorial Day thru Labor Day), pavilion, playground, picnic area, dog walk area, dump station, and free wifi. They offer 37 pull-through, short-term, full-hookup sites with 30- or 50-amp, and a baker’s dozen of long-term locations. Sites have picnic tables, and they will bring a fire ring if you’d like one. Wood is available for purchase at the office. For a private park, this was not bad. The sites were level, graveled, and there were concrete pads for the picnic tables. Cell signals for AT&T and Verizon were strong and there were plenty of over-the-air TV channels. The one negative was the noise from the highway, but it wasn’t terrible. We would stay again. For this visit in September 2024, we paid a little over $40 per night for a 50-amp.

Thursday we stayed on interstates most of the day, taking I-74 all the way into Iowa near Moline, then turning west on I-80. At West Branch we stopped at the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, home of his Presidential library. Every time we visit one of these libraries, I learn so much. Prior to this one, MW and I could think of only two things we did know about this President…public sentiment blamed Hoover for the issues leading to the Great Depression and there is a giant dam named for him. That was it! Turns out there was a LOT to this man. Herbert Clark Hoover was born in this Iowa town of ~350 people in 1874 to Jesse and Hulda. The senior Hoovers had come to the area, along with Jesse’s parents, by covered wagon to build a life. Bert, as our future President was called, was the second of three children born to the Quaker couple in a tiny cabin that still sits in its original location. Jesse was a blacksmith and later sold farm implements, but sadly died 1880 of heart issues. Just four years later, Hulda died of typhoid, leaving the children orphaned. The 10-year-old Herbert was first sent to live with a local aunt and uncle on their farm, but a year later went to Oregon to live with Hulda’s brother’s family. At 17, Bert was the youngest member of the first class at Stanford. He wasn’t a dawdler and honed his organizational and management skills on the baseball and football teams, a laundry he started, and a lecture agency, all while attending class. He also won his first election…student body treasurer. He met future wife Lou Henry there, and they were married in 1899, four years after graduation. That was just the beginning…

• Hoover’s degree was in geology, and he began working in California mines at the bottom of the ladder, shoveling ore. A new job a couple of years later as a mining engineer took him to Australia and China, where his reputation grew. By 1901, when he became a partner at Bewick, Moreing and Co., he was known as the “doctor of sick mines”, traveling the world to solve problems. In 1908, Bert was ready for a change. He retired and started an international consulting firm based in London. That would put him in the optimal position for his next gig.
• Hoover once said, “I did not realize it at the moment, but on August 3, 1914, my engineering career was over forever. I was on the slippery road of public life.” What happened that day? Germany declared war on France and invaded Belgium, beginning the Great War. Immediately ~120,000 Americans were trapped in Europe, and U. S. Ambassador to Britain, Walter Page, sent for Bert. Within 24 hours of their meeting a giant, volunteer machine was in place to take care of food, clothing, and shelter needs. Hoover’s team worked diligently to get passage booked across the pond, and along with nine of his engineering friends, even loaned the desperate folks about $1.5 MILLION dollars of personal funds!! That’s the equivalent of $46.4 million in today’s bucks. (Amazingly, all but $400 was returned to them.)
• Lou Hoover was in the fray, too, leading the American Women’s War Relief Committee in London. She is credited with establishing a knitting factory and hospital staffed and supported by American volunteers. She also led the push to preserve Belgium’s vital lace industry, skills that had been famous for 300 years!!
• By 1917, Hoover was tasked by President Wilson to head the new United States Food Administration. Americans had seen his good work in the news, and his reputation grew with this new position. Soon after the war ended, the first whispers of a Presidential run made it to his ear. No way!! “I do not believe that I have the mental attitude or the politician’s manner. Above all I am too sensitive to political mud.”
• Hoover became known as “The Great Humanitarian”. In 1918, he served as Director General of the American Relief Administration and, at other times, had influence over the National Committee on Food for Small Democracies, the Famine Emergency Committee, and many others. He said that “Starvation does not await the outcome of power politics.”
• He founded the Hoover Institution of War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford University in 1919. This was a seriously busy, devoted man!
• In 1921, he was appointed Secretary of Commerce by President Harding, a position he retained under President Coolidge. While there, he revolutionized the department and also became our first television star… video of him talking into a telephone was transmitted from D. C. to AT&T’s lab in Manhattan in 1927.
• He served as president of Better Homes in America, an organization that helped lower the cost of a new home by a third while stimulating an increase in new construction. You can also thank (or curse) Hoover for building codes…his idea.
• In 1928, refrains of “Who but Hoover?” rang out, and Bert finally agreed to run and was elected the 31st president of the United States in a landslide against Democrat Al Smith from New York. Instead of an inaugural ball, the incoming leader opted for an affair to benefit a local charity. That’s pretty cool! While in office, his long list of changes included creating the Federal Farm Board to support farm prices, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and the Veterans Administration; reorganizing the Bureau of Indian Affairs to protect Native Americans from exploitation; proposed a federal Department of Education and a $50 per month pension for Americans over age 65; strengthening America’s relationship with Latin American countries, regulating stocks and securities, and expanding the National Park System. His focus was on making life better for average Americans, and most loved him. Sentiment, however, can turn on a dime!
• In 1929, a series of stock and bond market crashes and subsequent bank failures, threw the country into recession. Mother Nature doubled down the next summer with a severe drought in the heartland, one that was the beginning of the infamous Dust Bowl. These and other problems had the American economy circling the drain. In truth, there were many things that combined to create the problems…successive market downturns, the tentative structure of American banking, too many banks, excessive stock speculation with bank deposits, failure to anticipate the cooling from the post-WWI economic high, excessively high supply and little demand…the list could fill pages. It was a perfect storm that was years in the making, but our President of only a few months became the scapegoat. With wages down and unemployment more than doubled in 1931, no one was happy. By a year later, The Great Depression had more than 25% of the people without work. No one was happy. Hoover’s strength had always been his belief in independence, individual initiative, and grassroots charity and cooperation. But that wasn’t solving the citizens’ issues now. He created programs to halt farm and home foreclosures, tried to salvage banks on the brink, cut federal salaries by 15%, and donated most of his own to charity. For his detractors, he could never do enough. He would later compare holding office at that time with being a repairman behind a dike. “No sooner is one leak plugged up then it is necessary to dash over and stop another that has broken out. There is no end to it!” Some say that his biggest flaw was his desire not to dramatize things he was doing to help…terrific for a humanitarian, terrible for a politician.
• The scariest thing I learned – Hoover was told about this conversation during his last week in office: “Professor Tugwell, advisor to Franklin D. Roosevelt…said they were fully aware of the bank situation and that it would undoubtedly collapse in a few days, which would place the responsibility in the lap of President Hoover…We should worry about anything except rehabilitating the country until after March 4th…” A frustrated Hoover responded…”When I consider this statement in connection with the recommendations we have made to the incoming administration, I can say emphatically that he breathes with infamous politics devoid of every atom of patriotism. Mr. Tugwell would project millions of people into hideous losses for a Roman holiday.” You know there isn’t an elected official in Washington that will do anything to help a bad situation if it might accidentally shine on someone else. Therein lies the problem!
• In March, 1933, just before leaving office, Bert told his secretary “Here’s what I am going to do. I’m going to lay off for six or eight months and then I am going to start raising Hell. I’ve caught a lot of it in the last four years, now I’m going to talk and write and do any damn thing I want to…anyway I’ll have a lot of fun.” He and Lou retreated to their home in Stanford, California, and true to his word, he licked his wounds for a little bit. Then the game of armchair quarterback began, and one of his targets was Roosevelt’s New Deal. He also wrote multiple books, gave speeches, and raised millions for favorites causes like Stanford University and the Boys Clubs of America, where he served as chairman. By 1941, he had created the Hoover Institute at Palo Alto, a scholarly center and recruiting ground for conservative presidents.
• Bert lost his beloved Lou in January 1944, when she died of a heart attack. A widower at 70 years old, you’d think he’d begin winding down, but in 1945, President Truman invited him for a chat. That led to taking on a post-war, global relief mission. His dedication to this task reminded America of all that he had done for the world. It also cemented a friendship with Truman that Hoover would treasure for the rest of his life. For his part, Truman believed in the “Great Engineer’s” skill and asked him to also reorganize the executive branch of government to make it more efficient. From there, his advice was sought by presidents of both parties during times of strife. For the rest of his life, Hoover worked 12-hour days writing , giving speeches, and offering insight to those who asked as a revered elder statesman.
• On October 20, 1964, President Herbert Hoover died of internal bleeding. He was 90 years old. No one knows his last spoken words, but the last thing he wrote was a get-well message to his friend Harry Truman. Generally regarded as a failed politician, he lived long enough to remember the old and see his new humanitarian and engineering feats. Biographer Glen Jeansonne wrote that Hoover was “one of the most extraordinary Americans of modern times…led a life that was a prototypical Horatio Alger story, except that Horatio Alger stories stop at the pinnacle of success”. The truth is, over the course of his life, he saved MILLIONS of people. How many can say that?
• Oh…the dam. In 1929 Hoover signed the Boulder Canyon Project Act to tame the Colorado River. The dam construction, which lasted from 1931 to 1936, was truly amazing, and if you get a chance, go see the National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. Originally called the Hoover Dam in construction bills and by some bureaucrats, upon completion it was christened Boulder Dam by Roosevelt’s administration. That lasted until 1947, when a bill passed unanimously restoring the name to Hoover Dam.

The National Historic Site encompasses West Branch’s downtown area, which has original buildings and little shops and restaurants. After finishing up at the museum, we walked over to The Serving Cafe for lunch, which was awesome!! (MW had the Pastrami on Rye, which had the normal stuff and a little bacon jam. Mine was THE BOMB, though…a Grown Up Grilled Cheese with bacon jam, cream cheese, mozzarella, cheddar, smoked gouda, tomato, and spinach on sourdough! YUMMMMMMMM!!!) Stuffed and finally back on the road, we continued west over to I-380 north and I-20 west to Waterloo. Then hit US-218 north to Nashua, IA-27 to Charles City, and US-18 west and IA-122 into Mason City where we stopped at the MacNider Campground. Most of our folks were already there including hosts Tim and Joan (Class of 1981) Platz, so we visited a bit, then had Mexican Fiesta supper with Tom’s margaritas (of course) in the evening.

Friday our hosts planned a tour of the local Winnebago factory, but that fell through at the last minute. Not ones to be daunted, they quickly arranged a tour of the Sukup Manufacturing Company over in Sheffield, Iowa, which is the world’s largest family-owned and operated grain storage, drying, and handling equipment manufacturer. If you’ve been reading since the beginning, you know that MW and I have a bit of a fascination with grain silos. I’ve been pointing out the Sukup (which I pronounce Suck-Up) brand for years and noting the appropriate company name. Turns out, it’s the owner’s last name and is actually pronounced Sue-Cup. Do they know they are missing an opportunity with that pronunciation? All these years I pretty much thought that these things were just very large tubs that hold grain. That’s kind of true, but there is a lot of technical stuff there, too. For instance, the gauge or thickness of the metal is greater at the bottom than at the top. Why? To withstand the pressure of thousands of pounds of grain pushing outward, which increases the further down you go. Most of them have some kind of stirring mechanism to move the grain around, because if it sits still, it creates hot spots and mold…even dried stuff has some moisture. It varies by model and manufacturer, but they all have systems for getting grain in and out. The bins range in size from the small 15′ diameters you’d see out on a farm to the giant ones that commercial granaries and co-ops use that are up to 165′ in diameter and hold up to 2.25 MILLION bushels. Wow! Even the small models cost thousands of dollars, so why would a farmer spend several years worth of profit to install one of these things. Let’s say you are selling corn. Right after harvest, there is plenty available because EVERY corn farmer has just harvested theirs, too. That’s economics 101: More supply = lower demand = lower price. Now, let’s say you hold on to that corn for a few months. Less supply = higher demand = higher price. Farming is pretty low-margin, so every edge you can get helps you stay in business for the long haul. There are a couple of other interesting alternative uses for their bins: 1) Gazebos! They look like little grain bins, bt have the sides cut out. Pretty neat! 2) Coolest, though, is their Safe T Home project, which is basically houses made in bins. The company partners with GoServ Global to deliver them to countries around the world that are at risk of natural disasters. Other organizations, such as churches, as well as families and volunteer groups can get involved as well. (Email SafeTHome@Sukup.com if your group might be interested.) We weren’t allowed to take pictures on the inside, but Mike and Randy gave us quite an extensive tour.

Back at the campground by lunchtime, I loaded up and went to South Federal Laundry to get my chores done. Then since we had the afternoon off, popped in at Culver’s to write a bit. Our next group activity was happy hour at the pavilion where we were greeted by the Mayor of Mason City, Bill Schickel…I’m telling you the Platz team goes all out!! For supper we all headed downtown to The Quarry, which was great. (I can personally vouch for the Pear and Fig Salad and Crab Bisque, and MW’s Pork Osso Bucco was good, too.) ONLY because of some ridiculous arm twisting by Joan, we ended up at Birdsall’s for ice cream before heading back to Priscilla. (You know I can’t stand that stuff!! *wink* *wink*) This place is a Mason City institution, in business in the same spot since 1931. Their website maintains that it is scientifically impossible to be in a bad mood while eating ice cream, and they may be on to something. It helps that they really make a darned good version. Y’all know I’m a Blue Bell girl, but I’ll concede that this was on par…very creamy and rich. That’s high praise, indeed!!

On Saturday morning a few of us headed over to check out the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake. This is a small theater that doesn’t look like much from the outside and has an odd-for-the-midwest, beachy vibe (hence the name). However, when you start looking around inside, you get it. The original venue was across the street on the shore of Clear Lake, but it burned down in 1947. They quickly rebuilt across the street in what was originally the parking lot, re-opening in 1948. From the start the Surf was open five nights a week with a live music format, and it quickly became THE PLACE. In the 30s and 40s, you couldn’t make it on the national scene without playing this little Iowa spot, and everyone who was anyone showed up regularly. Locals could dance to the likes of Duke Ellington and The Dorseys. Then the 50s rolled in and brought rock ‘n’ roll. OMGoodness, what a time those days would have been living close enough to come and see Roy Orbison, Ricky Nelson, Little Richard, Conway Twitty, etc. There is a tiny room beside the stage where acts waited to come out, and somewhere along the way, they started signing the walls. We found signatures from The Temptations, ZZ Top, Brian Wilson, Little Feat, and Dickey Betts, to name a few. (Sadly, they had to put up a sign to tell visitors NOT to sign the walls over the existing signatures. WHO would do that????) As you walk around the rest of the building, you see notes, signed photos, and memorabilia from just about everyone you can think of. That is all enough to make this place a must see, but here is, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story. In 1959 the Winter Dance Party Tour was making its way around the country in an old bus with no heat. It had been a long tour when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens,the Big Bopper, Dion & the Belmonts, and Frankie Sardo made it to Clear Lake. One of the drummers even got frostbite! Holly was fed up and hired a private plane to fly the group to the next stop. They played a terrific show, then prepared to leave. After some cajoling, Holly’s bandmate, Waylon Jennings, gave his seat to the Big Bopper, who was sick with the flu. The other bandmate, Tommy Allsup, refused to give up his seat to Ritchie Valens, despite the latter spending the entire evening trying to convince him. In the end, Allsup agreed to a coin toss, and Valens won. So the bus dropped Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens off at the airport, while everyone else faced another miserable ride. Holly said to his friend Waylon “I hope your ass freezes on the bus.” Waylon’s response…”Yeah well I hope your ole plane crashes!” (Something he would be haunted by for the rest of his life.) In the wee hours of the morning on February 3, the plane departed from the Mason City Municipal Airport, only to crash in a field just a few minutes later. It wasn’t until the light of morning that it was discovered..the Day the Music Died. (We did not go, but there is a monument in the field a few miles away.) In 2009, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame pronounced the Surf a historic rock and roll landmark, and 2 years later, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

TRUST: Before heading back to meet up with the rest of our merry band, we walked through the weekly farmer’s market held in the parking lot next to the ballroom. There was a potter there named James Kerns from Cedar Falls who had some amazing pieces that Janet and I were both drawn to. He took cash, check, or Venmo. I didn’t have my purse with me, so the first two were out, and I only do Zelle. “No problem” he said and handed me a self-addressed, stamped envelope with the amount I owed written on the back of his card tucked inside. “Just drop a check in the mail when you get home.” What???!!! He said that, in 35 years of doing this, he has NEVER been stiffed. Wow! I left with my amazing plate and sent him that check right away.

Back at the campground, we met up with a few other interested parties and headed over to take a look at The Music Man Square. Robert Reiniger Meredith Willson (aka Meredith Willson) was born in Mason City, Iowa, in 1902, and the town is quite proud of their native son with good reason. He was an accomplished musician, writer, composer, and bandleader. His first instrument was a bass drum, but later was a member of the John Philip Sousa band and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra playing flute and piccolo. By his late 20s, he had relocated to Hollywood, working first in radio, then composing musical scores. He was a bandleader on the Burns and Allen radio program before getting his own show. Throughout the 1950s, Willson worked on many projects, both live and on radio. He wrote the ending song, May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You, for The Big Show with Tallula Bankhead that ended up being recorded by dozens of artists from Eddy Arnold to Liberace to Gene Autry to Tammy Wynette. He wrote one of my favorite holiday songs, too, It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas! (I LOVE the Bing Crosby version.) During that time, he was also hard at work writing what would become his most famous work, The Music Man. The semi-autobiographical musical made its Broadway debut in 1957 and was a rousing success, running for 3-1/2 years and winning EIGHT Tony Awards. The original starred Robert Preston, Barbara Cook, and Shirley Jones, and national and international tours and productions followed. (There have been two Broadway revivals with the likes of Dick Van Dyke and Hugh Jackman.) Willson followed up that amazing success with three more plays…The Unsinkable Molly Brown (532 Broadway performances and a movie starring Debbie Reynolds), Here’s Love (332 Broadway performances), and the least popular 1491 (played elsewhere, but not on Broadway). While writing and composing musicals is what he is most known for, Meredith also wrote classical music that has been performed by orchestras around the world, produced television specials, appeared on television, conducted orchestras, and wrote songs and books. Throughout his life he remained a proud Iowan, returning to Mason City several times for the annual North Iowa Band Festival and scheduling the film premiere of The Music Man in 1962 there. His final trip home was in 1984 for his funeral and burial at the Elmwood-St. Joseph Municipal Cemetery. Three years later President Reagan posthumously awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States. Here are a couple more random Willson facts:

• Meredith weighed 14 lbs. 6 oz. at birth, and at that time was the largest baby ever born in Iowa.
• Meredith was not the only Willson to play in the Sousa band. His brother John Cedric (Ced) played bassoon. He later became an engineer and an expert in concrete and light weight aggregate products.
• Meredith’s sister Lucille (Dixie) ran away with the circus…literally. She performed with Ringling Brothers for 2 years, then wrote about the experience. She also wrote in a variety of formats, including novels, plays, and cookbooks.
• The first Grammy ever given by the recording industry was awarded to the cast recording of The Music Man.
• Meredith was appointed to the National Council of the Humanities by President Lyndon Johnson.
• The song Till There Was You sung by the Beatles during their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show was written by Meredith Willson.
• Meredith’s song You and I was number one in the country for 19 weeks in 1941.

Today at The Music Man Square you can check out the Meredith Willson Museum, walk down a replica streetscape from the set design of The Music Man motion picture complete with ice cream shop, check out the gift shop, and take a gander at Meredith’s studio that was moved from his home in Southern California.

And don’t forget to tour the Willson Home next door.

Later back at the campground we had happy hour at the pavilion, before heading out for supper. Along the way we checked out one of the Freedom Rocks by Ray “Bubba” Sorensen. (See more info and others here.) We also stopped to give everyone a close-up look at a modern wind turbine. Then it was on to The Branding Iron restaurant in Thompson, a little hole in the wall that had some pretty terrific steaks and did a great job of accommodating our large crowd.

On Sunday we met our crowd at LD’s Filling Station for breakfast (very good), then MW, Janet Wade, and I headed over to First Baptist Church. (Janet’s husband, Hoot, had to fly back to their home in South Carolina to assess storm damage from Hurricane Helene, but would return on Monday.) We enjoyed the beautiful church and a good message from Pastor James Bridgman about Jesus’ church.

Next we headed over to meet some of our group for an architectural tour. I’ll confess that Wright’s architecture and Prairie School designs in general are not my thing. There are certain elements that I enjoy, like the generous use of windows and some of the wood work in the accents, though, and I always love a good tour. (The craftsman style that I’m leaning towards for our future house grew out of this era of simpler lines. I took a few pics of elements to incorporate there.) The Historic Park Inn Hotel is one of six designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Five were built, and this one in Mason City is the last that remains. Built in 1910, the building originally had a hotel, a bank, and several mixed-use, commercial areas. By the early 2000s, though, the place was rough. The property was purchased by the non-profit Wright on the Park, and meticulously returned to its former glory. Today you can take a guided tour and learn about the hotel design and restoration. You can also immerse yourself by spending the night in the boutique hotel. It is right downtown, so you can also take in some of the sculptures and enjoy Central Park across the street.

Here are a few pics from strolling around, too. The downtown area is very nice, with lots of shops, bars, and restaurants. There are also around 80 sculptures scattered about, supported by River City Sculptures on Parade. The walking tour to see them all is a little less than 2 miles, with both permanent and rotating exhibits. The latter are displayed for a year while viewers vote on their favorite. The winner receives an award, is purchased by the city, and added to the permanent display. Oh and if you really fall in love with a piece, you might be able to buy it for your own garden!

Later in the afternoon we all met at the Stockman House, another of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie School designs. Built in 1908, this is one of his “Fireproof Houses” and the plan was purchased in Ladies’ Home Journal in 1907. Originally located at 311 1st street SE, the entire place was picked up and moved in 1989 by The River City Society for Historic Preservation. There are pics showing that amazing feat, using giant beams to lift it up. Too cool. Today it sits on the north edge of the Rock Crest/Rock Glen Historic District. The restoration was completed in 1992, and today you can tour the house and check out the adjacent Architectural Interpretive Center, which includes a gift shop, exhibits, and a movie, too.

Speaking of the Rock Crest/Rock Glen Historic District…that was our next stop. This area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a planned development with eight houses that is the largest cluster of Prairie School homes in the country. All were designed by Walter Burley Griffin, Marion Mahoney Griffin, and Barry Byrne…all students of Frank Lloyd Wright’s style. We walked just down the hill to Joan & Tim’s place, formally known as the Sam Schneider House and designed in 1915 by Walter Burley Griffin, where we were treated to a scrumptious dinner on their back patio.

Monday morning I took my bike out for a spin in town, which felt good after so long. Later we made a grocery run, and I spent some time writing. Our group of nomads got together for our last happy hour and a potluck supper at the pavilion. (After a little trial and error, I made that brownie recipe I told y’all about from Huntsville. It wasn’t perfect, but was good nonetheless. I think I have it down now, so I’ll be giving it another shot soon.) We were ready to head back east, but sure did enjoy the extra Navy time!! Joan and Tim were excellent hosts and shared a good bit of what Joan calls “my Iowa”. It was lots of fun, and I’d certainly recommend Mason City as a stop for several days.

MacNider Campground is a seasonal, municipal facility located right in Mason City. It is adjacent to a city park which houses the Mason City Family Aquatic Center, playgrounds, and picnic areas. There are also miles of walking/biking trails accessed there that run all over town, and the roads are bike-friendly. Facilities include an office/camp store, bathhouse/laundry, a dump station, and pavilions. The bathhouse doubles as a tornado shelter and has a generator. There are a total of 90 campsites, with 30 full hookup, 45 electric & water, and 15 tent, water only sites. The RV sites are level, gravel or paved with some pull-thru and some back-in and include a fire ring and picnic table. There were plenty of trees and the layout was nice. Despite being right in town, it was not noisy at all, and we really enjoyed it. For this visit that ended in October 2024, we paid right around $31 per night.

Another couple of weeks down, and it’s time to head back to Tennessee. Next up…Pointed East…Again, Friends…Again, And Back To The Barn. See you on the path!!

Talisa

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