The sun was bright this morning over the morning dew we could see across the fields of corn. It takes a couple of hours for the haze to clear and then you can see for miles. You can see the elevators in a couple of towns a few miles across the valley. They are snow white and really stand out against the green of the corn and bean fields.

In talking with our host, Ed, he mentioned that their place here, a summer cottage, is on their home place. His brother still lives in the home place and across the road there is a cemetery where their parents and grand parents are buried as well as other family members that have passed away. I do not know how many years the farm has been in the family, but one of the boys wants to take it over after his father is gone and will continue to farm it into the future. I think it is quite interesting to see families that are still interested in carrying on the family traditions of farming, even though there is not enough ground to make a living, but there is plenty of ground to rent and farm to make it worthwhile and a good living.

Today, we took a trip into the big town of Genoa and visit the post office. It is only open 8-10am on Saturday and only open 8 til 11:30 and 1-4 on week days. The Postmistress was still there and got our mail in today's bag so it would go out today.

We then drove out sr22 which is the designated route the Mormons traveled on their way west. There is a 1600+ mile auto route that closely follows their route.

Later in the day we went to Columbus, NE and visited the Wal mart as well as the new Menards store to get some things that Ed and his brother Dick needed. I had made an appointment at the Goodyear store there for an alignment on the van. We are to be there at 11am on Monday. I am not really a fan of Goodyear stores for mechanical work, but they come well recommended by locals. We will see come Monday.

Tomorrow we will worship at the local Methodist church with Ed, Bonnie and Dick and then go out to eat. We are meeting Mike and Carlin Drew tomorrow evening for dinner at a local restaurant, down south or Polk, NE. We had not seen the Drew's since last November in Hondo, TX. It will be good to see them again.

Last evening as it was getting dark this unit pulled in in front of us. It was late and we took this photo this morning. It has an Illinois plate on it with a young couple and a small girl, about 3 years old.

The trailer looks to be about 12 or so feet long and appears to have been redone on the outside with new paint wheels and tires, etc. What was surprising was that it was being pulled by a Honda Element. I did not know they were rated to pull anything, but apparently it made it from Illinois. They headed south from Yankton toward Nebraska. Good luck.

We are currently in the country near Genoa, NE. We will be here for about a week before heading toward Selina, KS. Maybe move to Polk, NE first, will have to wait to
see about facilities there.

The other photo is of the bridge across the Missouri River between South Dakota and Nebraska. Interesting pillars of rocks all along the bridge.

When we got up this morning there was not a breath of air moving. The lake was like a looking glass and you could see the clouds and reflection of birds flying by just as if it was a mirror.

We were leaving today, so we headed back to the city park to dump the holding tanks and fill up with water. Evelyn needed to do some laundry as well as go to the post office and some other errands. I parked the motor home in the camping area and about the time she came back, I got another small job to do, so I finished it up, we ate lunch and hooked up the van and headed out of town, via the post office again and mailed the work.

We headed west on sr22 to I29 and south to Sioux Falls where we picked up a prescription and continued west and south finally ending up on US81 south toward Yankton, SD. On the way down it started to rain on our newly washed motor home and van that just got washed this morning. By the time we got almost to Yankton, it quit raining. Of course it had already done its dirty work and wasted a lot of our time, however there are not any bugs on the front end to contend with.

The storms of a few days ago that went south of us apparently really dumped a lot of rain as we found fields and pastures flooded, streams and rivers out of their banks, literally water every where.

We are currently at camp Wal Mart where it is quite cool and overcast. We had to go shopping and the wind really was sharp, not what you think of the end of July. We will need an extra cover tonight as it will be cool.

Tomorrow, we are off to Genoa, NE, a trip of maybe 120 miles or so, should be an easy drive, if we can find the place. We have a street address and I am sure Gertrude, the GPS will know the way, if she does not run us down some dead end dirt road.

Our photos are of Clear Lake, SD and our last look at such a pretty lake for some time.

Not a lot going on today except some work. Got if finished and tried to get it into the mail, but they close at 4:15pm. Wanted some washers and the hardware closes at 5pm sharp, so got some groceries and called it a day, as far as shopping was concerned.

Evelyn finished washing the motor home while I did the engraving and then we missed the mail anyway.

Food is a bit high here, head lettuce is 1.90 per head and they do not look very good. Bagged salad is much better. Milk is over $4.00/gallon but Land O Lakes 1/2 gallon is only $1.75, go figure. Generally the half gallon is almost as much as the gallon. They had some fresh sweet corn that was quite fresh and tasty.

The lake has really been pretty today. A nice breeze and cooler temperatures since the storm went through last evening. We did not get any bad weather here but apparently there was some to our south.

We will get our errands done in the morning and make ready to hook up and hit the road in the afternoon. Check out time is 4pm, so we will be gone before then and head south to Sioux Falls, SD to pick up a prescription and on towards Genoa, NE. We are ready for a change of scenery, looking forward to Nebraska and what it has to offer.

We moved from the city campground in Clear Lake, SD to the city campground across the lake. Maybe a mile or so by road and maybe .5 miles as the crow flies. There are sites on both sides of the drive and we took one that was fairly level next to the lake. We are about 8 or 10 feet above water level. It is a pretty lake with only a few houses around it. Only one other camper in the park plus what appears to be a rail road crew work unit that sleeps about 4 in separate compartments. Apparently they are working in the area.

We have only water and 20A electric, which is sufficient to run the a/c. The spaces are all grass and are quite wide with side by side hook ups.

We got ambitious and washed the front and left side of the motor home. The bugs on the front were a mess and we just soaked them until we could get them off. The left side was only dirty from driving in the rain and the mess that gets thrown up by the other vehicles, semi trucks particularly. It looks pretty good. Maybe tomorrow we will get the other side and the back done. The van really needs washed but we may run it through a car wash, which is easier.

It clouded up this afternoon and the wind picked up and it looked pretty bad. I turned on the weather radio and they were talking about bad weather in western Minnesota and southern South Dakota. I looked up the radar for this area and there was a line of thunder storms in the area, but they were moving pretty fast and an hour or so later, the dark clouds moved out and the sun is out again and all looks well. The temperature dropped from the upper 80's to 78. It is now back up to 81 outside. We are a cool 78 inside and very comfortable.

Things have slowed down considerable since yesterday. Many of the hams that had trailers stayed last night and had a cook out and party. We were quite tired and stayed home and rested.

Most of them were gone by early afternoon, back to their respective homes and jobs tomorrow. There were a lot of kids running around. It was interesting to see them play as we used to when we were kids. They are certainly rural kids, learning to play together and have lots of fun. There were 3 or 4 dogs running around with the kids, having just as much fun.

There is not even a McDonalds in this town. No one ran out to get everyone some breakfast or lunch, they all ate at their trailer like people should. I am not even sure there is a restaurant in town. At least, I have not seen one. We will be going out to the Post Office tomorrow so will be on the look out for one.

We did not do much today other than some cleaning from all of the grass, etc. we tracked in. Took a walk/ride around the park and made a couple of phone calls to the boys from the upper level of the park. Down here where we are we are considerably lower than the general terrain so cel service is not good. The air card seems to work well.

We will be here another day and then probably head south to Nebraska for a while. Check out that Corn Husker state.

Our photos are of the Clear Lake Recreation area. A really nice facility with a nice campground on the far side of the lake from where we are camped.

As predicted it rained and stormed last night. One of the hams said we had .84" of rain. This morning dawned with a bright sunshine and another typical small hamfest. The ham club in Brainerd, MN changed their date to this weekend so that would probably make a smaller turnout for this one. The fellow in charge stated that this was a small club and if 50 hams attended it would be considered a success. Needless to say, we were not excited about that kind of attendance.

We got up early and set things up, however I did not move the machine outside due to the wet grounds and water standing in some areas. They served breakfast at 8am, sausage, scrambled eggs, toast and coffee, $3.00. All quite tasty. They also served lunch.

Business began to pick up about 9 o'clock and there were several people milling around and I would estimate 50 or more, just a guess. Business was steady until early afternoon and when it was all said and done, we did more business than at the Indianapolis Hamfest where there were several hundred in attendance.

The local club could not believe we came all the way from Indiana to attend a small hamfest this far away. We would not, but it was not much out of our way as we are headed for Oregon early in September.
This is a nice little city park with water and electric hookups, a nice playground and a pool. It is away from the street, if there was any traffic. Evelyn was out yesterday at rush hour and could count 5 cars on the main street. A real bustling city. One of the hams indicated that this there is not many people living in this area and most of the hams only talk via radio and only see one another once a year, at the local hamfest.

This is a beautiful area of the country, if you like the wide open spaces. Lots of grain, mostly oats and hay and some corn and soybeans. Lots of cattle and a few dairy herds sprinkled around. The roads run straight as there is no reason for them to turn, just up and over one hill after another. You can see your road several miles ahead generally.

Our photos are of our set up and probably the biggest gathering of hams you could find all day. Just a good group and a good time was had by all.

Today was an off day for us, we are here in Clear Lake, SD waiting for the hamfest on Saturday. We decided to take a drive and went north to Watertown, SD. There we found a small city, some 20,000 people, with very clean streets and yards. Main street was lined with all colored Petunias. It is located very near to a large lake and Sandy Shore state park. It has very nice homes all around but not very many boats were visible.

We were looking for a couple of things so we stopped at the local Wal Mart but did not find the snaps we needed, so will find them somewhere else. Not a necessity at this time anyway.

It was almost 12:30 so we decided to get something to eat and on the same property was a nice looking Chinese Buffet and we had been talking about some Chinese food for a few days, so what better time than now. There was a Subway in the Wal Mart, but we eat Subways on the road so we decided to go for the Chinese. A very nice restaurant and a nice selection of items, hot and cold. Needless to say, we got our fill and then some and headed back to Clear Lake.
We decided to drive on past the town and take a look at Clear Lake. We found a nice small lake and on the east side there is another city campground where some of the spaces back up to the water and you get a very nice view of the lake. We may go over there for a few days after we get through over here. It is high and I am sure the phone and air card service will be better.

Our photos are of the street in Watertown and the nice lake near by.

It is up early tomorrow as the hamfest crowd like to get started early, so the early bird gets the worm. Just do not be the early worm.

Our time in Pipestone MN was only over night, however on the brochure we got at the visitors center indicated that there were a lot of things going on in this little town. The town has an Native American connection. They lived in close harmony with nature on the tall grass prairie of this area. Many American Indians traveled great distances to the sacred Pipestone Quarries where stone used to fashion ceremonial pipes is found.

The first white man to record his trip to the quarries was fur trader Philander Prescott in 1831. In the summer of 1836 noted artist and writer George Catlin visited the site. By sketching the site and collecting some of the legends surrounding it. Catlin did much to make the quarries known throughout the world. Two years later cartographer Joseph N. Nicollet literally put the site on the map.

Although he never visited the site, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was inspired to write of the area in his well known poem "Song of Hiawatha".

The city of Pipestone was founded in 1876 by Charles Bennett and Daniel Sweet. Bennett was intrigued by the prospect of visiting the site he had read about in Longfellow's poem. These were difficult times for pioneering families, and droughts, blizzards, prairie fires, and grasshoppers drove many would-be Pipestone residents from the area. In 1878 the hoppers were gone for good and the young village began to fill with people. In 1879 22 businesses were operating in Pipestone and by the following year that number had grown to 53. Pipestone was incorporated as a village in 1881 and for the next 20 years was a real boomtown. By 1890 Pipestone had train service on four different rail lines and had become a major travel and business center.

All the existing stone buildings in the Pipestone Historic District were constructed between 1884 and 1910 by skilled stone masons whose art has been all but lost. The people of Pipestone are proud of the heritage which has been preserved in the national historic district, and welcome visitors who wish to share the legacy of the past.

Our photos are from the area. The first is one of the historic buildings, a performing arts building made of quartzite. Very pretty in the sunlight.

The second photo is of a mural downtown and the third is of lake Benton near the town of Lake Benton about 20 miles north of Pipestone, MN.

We are currently in Clear Lake, SD at the city park. A nice park with nice facilities for a small town. They have just installed wi-fi this afternoon, a joint venture between the city and the local amateur radio club that will be having the hamfest on Saturday. A small town about 7 0r 8 blocks along the highway and 3 or 4 on either side. We have gotten out of the flat lands of Iowa and now it is more rolling with some grain but more hay and cattle ranches. Not as boaring as Iowa. We will be here until at least Tuesday.

We got away from Cedar Falls, IA about 9am. Went by the Post Office and mailed some mail and then headed down toward US 20. We had been on the road yesterday and it was pretty good with some rough stretches. So we decided we would continue on west on it however it was really rough most of the way to Holstein. We turned north on US59 which was a little better road but not much. We turned west at Cherokee on sr3 which was a really nice road.
West to Le Mars and north on US75 and into Minnesota which was a pretty good road. We had planned to stay at Blue Mounds St. park just north of Luverne, MN. Evelyn called to see if they had room for us and we would have to unhook the van or pay additional and then the cost was $27.00 for electric only. A but much in my opinion. We drove right past the park to the town of Pipestone, MN. A really nice town with all kinds of parks, sporting facilities and all set up for festivals with public restrooms, a dump station for RV's and all. We stopped at the Pipestone camp ground on the north side of town. A really nice park and with Passport and Good Sam discounts it was only $12.50 plus tax. I guess it pays to
look around.

Our photos are of a small church out in the country near Holstein, just a perfect setting out in the middle of thousands acres of corn and soybeans. The other photo is of a windmill farm in the area. They were at about 1400 feet in elevation, about the highest point we have seen in Iowa.

On our trip up US75 we passed a factory that had a lot of wildmill blades laying on racks, apparently they were manufacturing them. There must have been a hundred or so ready to be shipped. We did see 3 blades on separate trucks enroute to somewhere to be installed. They must be 70 or 80 feet long.

We are only a hundred miles or so from our destination of Clear Lake, SD, so it should be an easy drive tomorrow and then we will see what happens the next few days.

It rained most of the night. We were up early and I had a job to do so what better time than now. It was ready for the mail as well as another left over from yesterday. It was cool during the night and quite comfortable for a good nights sleep.

We were on the road before 10 am with a light rain. The rain ended by 11am and it cleared up nicely with a few clouds and some overcast, so it was a cool morning to drive.

We were off across I80 west to US61 and north to US20 and west. We are currently in Cedar Falls, IA at the local Wal Mart for the night. We learn more things the more we travel. We had the address of the Wal Mart and thought we knew where we were going. We stopped at a local gas station and the gal gave us directions around town, as the traffic was getting bad. Well we missed a turn and was going the wrong direction. Finally, Evelyn says, why don't we put the address in the GPS and let Gertrude tell us how to get there. Believe it or not, it all worked out as it should have, however we could have saved at least 45 minutes and probably 20 miles of driving if we had done that in the first place. Those things really work, but you have to remember to turn them on. Duhhhh

I
It is warm this evening however we have the generator on and both a/c units and it is quite cool in here. The humidity is quite low so it should be quite comfortable for the night.

Our photos are of the bridge over the Mississippi at the Quad Cities and a couple of shots of the Casino boat.

Tomorrow it is off to western Iowa and into Minnesota. Hopefully it will be another cool overcast day for driving.

Well, we are back on the road again. Our summer has been filled with just routine things, other than Dr. appointments and x-rays, etc. All turned out quite well, not any problems, new ones at least, so here it is in July and time head west. We really enjoyed our Church family and, as always, it is good to see them again and catch up on the news. We had a class party last Saturday with lots of good food and fellowship. It was hard saying good by to them, but it was time for us to go.

We had several visits with the boys and a reunion at the Jack Hensley's. The photo is of some of Jacks Day Lillies. They were just beautiful.

We left Fishers, IN about 2:30pm and headed west. We traveled up US 31 to Westfield and west on sr 32 to I74 and west toward Illinois. We stopped at US231 at McDonalds for a milk shake and then on west where we ran into rain just before the state line and it rained for a while, cleared up and before we got to Champaign, IL it started raining again. It continued to rain off and of until we got to Bloomington, IL and there was a Cracker Barrel right there on the corner so we pulled in. We decided to call for permission to stay as it was still raining and we were parked way out in the lot. They said it was alright for us to stay the night and they open for Breakfast at 6am sharp. So we will see how things are in the morning. If it is still raining, we may just hit the road and eat at another Cracker Barrel on down the road.

Our first destination is Clear Lake, SD. There is an amateur radio gathering in the city park on Saturday, so we plan on being there sometime Thursday and hopefully get a spot with electricity for the a/c and the engraver so we do not have to run the generator. We will see how that works out.

So, it is on west to the quad cities and across Iowa.