The Mormon Trail and Beyond (07-02-19)

After leaving Fort Robinson, (and Mike and Julie) Paul and I needed to figure out our game plan for getting to Michigan, and more importantly, for the Fourth of July.

We are planning on touring the factory  in Michigan that made our pontoon boat, but of course they would be closed for the holiday.











After much searching, we found a county park near Muskegon MI that had sites available (It always makes you wonder how bad a park is if it has sites available for the holidays). Nevertheless, we booked it, so all we had to do now is get there.





We had plenty of time, so we meandered across Nebraska, and decided to loosely follow the Mormon Trail- backwards.

We mostly stayed off the highways and stopped at any of the historical markers that looked interesting.

I had downloaded an app that has all the Nebraska Historical Markers, which was nice, because it also had the verbiage, in an easier to read format.

With temperatures in the high 90s, we traveled a little differently than usual. We were slow to move in the morning, took our time, didn't hike,  stopped at a Planet Fitness when we found one..
















and re-planned our dinner menus to accommodate the fact that it was too hot to cook.  Aldi is a favorite grocery store of ours, and yeah, they have some weird stuff (I did NOT eat any of those).

Paul's 3rd great grandfather started his walking trek in Iowa City Iowa, and walked with his family, pulling a hand cart, all the way to Salt Lake City Utah.

Unfortunately they were part of a well known handcart company. The Willie Company (led by James Willie) was delayed in their departure from England, which of course meant that they left Iowa City later than they had planned.  A little too late.

They made it as far as Wyoming, but at that point their food rations were exhausted, and they were caught in an early snowstorm. Two people were sent ahead to look for help.

 A rescue party did finally reach them, but by then quite a few of the members had perished. Luckily, all of Paul's family made it to Salt Lake City.

One of towns we passed through along the way was the small town of Gothenburg NE, a town that was one of the stops for the Pony Express.

 We've all heard of it, and realize the importance of it in our history, but what flabbergasted me was that the Pony Express only existed for 18 months.

Formed in 1860, by the end of 1861,the telegraph came in to play, making the system obsolete.   Riders that could ride from Missouri to California in 10 days, were no longer needed.

The museum, although small,  was actually interesting because it told their story...In early days, they would carry some personal belongings, several guns, etc.  but they soon realized that those things slowed them down, so they started traveling lighter, and with only one gun.










Once we arrived in Iowa City, the Mormon starting point, there were two things we were interested in seeing.

The first was a historical Society Museum.  We didn't realize that the building also housed an antique car museum- more bang for our buck!

This particular car was a precursor to the modern RV, with a fold out bed and complete kitchen, what more could you ask for?

The other place we wanted to see was Mormon Handcart Park.  This is where the Mormon groups, including Paul's family, camped while making their preparations for their journey. Although the park is overgrown, at least it doesn't have a skyscraper built on it!

From Iowa City it was just a hop skip and a jump to West Branch, home to the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library.
Paul and I went back and forth on whether we wanted to visit it.  In the end we decided, since we were there, and had the time, it was silly not to do it. Well, karma got us.
We got to the site, which actually sits on 186 acres, and is set up to resemble a small town.








There is a school, meeting house, Hoover's father's blacksmith shop, and the actual cottage, built by Hoover's father and grandfather, that Herbert Hoover was born in, in 1874.

Once we got to the main library, the doors were locked. They had an electrical problem and it blew out everything, including the air conditioning. Oh well, at least there was a visitor center too.











We have visited a few presidential libraries and one of the things I like is that, regardless of how a president was perceived while in office, the libraries showcase the positive things they accomplished.  In Herbert Hoover's case, one of his accomplishments was the establishment of UNICEF.

Of course, we haven't been to Nixon's yet.

Iowa- don’t Blink (09-12-13)

Before leaving for Iowa, we spent one incredibly hot afternoon in Shipshewana (or Shopshewanna, as my friend says).  As many times as we have been to this area, we've never made it to the huge flea market. We finally remedied that, but with record high temperatures, we didn't walk the whole thing.  After all, we don’t buy much anyway.

We took two days to drive across Indiana and Illinois, into Iowa. This is the view we were greeted with when we arrived:

Acres and acres….and acres….of corn fields.  Mile after mile.  Of course, there were some acres of soybeans in there too, but farming is clearly  the main business in Iowa. I searched the internet looking for something to stop and see that wouldn't be too far out of our way as we crossed the state.  I found “The Kellogg Museum” nearby and thought it would be pretty cool to see where Corn Pops are made.  But when I looked further, I realized that this Kellogg had nothing to do with the cereal.  Oh well.  We skipped the museum.


We decided to spend a couple of nights at the Core of Engineers  Park on Lake Red Rock, near the small town of Pella. 




Our interest in Pella was a sports bar-the Sports Page- that was showing the Patriots football game on Thursday night.  We used it as an excuse to go out for dinner, and watch the football game.  Dinner was actually really good, but we were the only customers left by the time half time arrived.  We left a little while before the end of the game and listened to the last bit on the truck radio on the way home.








The next day we took off on the nearby bike trail. We had a pleasant 12 mile ride, and saw a fair amount of wildlife along the way. At least the weather has cooled off and it was only in the mid 70s.



This deer is barely visible in the picture, but he carefully watched us as we stopped to take his picture.  Before I could get a clear shot, he decided he’d had enough and took off.

Along the shores of the lake we saw pelicans, great blue Herons, and a young bald eagle.

  

And, last but not least, the Monarch butterfly migrates through this area on the way to Mexico.

One of the things I've really enjoyed since we left Michigan is the price of the RV parks we've been staying in.  Paying $35-$55 a night for a spot for the trailer gets pricey after a while.  It feels great to pay $12-$20 !!