Auntie Violet's New Addition

Way back when we were in Florida (a few months ago), I bought a fish with hooks for hanging keys. I thought it would be fun to have something in the motorhome that reminded us of our winter in Florida and the Florida Keys. Forry did not want to put screws into Auntie Violet's nice cherry wood walls, so it's sort of sat around waiting for inspiration about how to hang it.

Finally he decided that he would mount it on a board that I could attach to a motor home wall with velcro strips (like I have done with everything else I've hung on the walls). While we were in Altoona visiting Bill and Leslie, Forry and Bill took an afternoon and made a Home Depot run. While they were there, one of the things they bought was a nice oak board that they had cut to size.

I put several coats of Liquid Gold on the board, then Forry screwed the fish to it. We've mounted it over the right side of Auntie Violet's doorway. The board is pretty heavy itself without the addition of the keys, so I used two inch-wide strips of heavy-duty velcro on the back.

I am quite pleased with how nice it actually looks and how well it blends with the various shades of the cherry wood. Now if we can just remember to hang up the keys...

Driving Through Iowa

We continued to follow Interstate 89 today west across Iowa. Many of the cornfields looked okay, but some of them are obviously showing the effects of the drought --

It started to rain soon after we left North Liberty and kept it up almost all the way to Altoona. It's interesting to hear speculation about the rains and the crops -- "Is it too little, too late?"

We arrived at Adventureland Campground a little after two-thirty. It was good to see our friend Bill out walking just after we checked in at the office! It's been a long time since they left us in Florida to head north for their summer jobs here at Adventureland. Leslie was already off at work, so we will not get to see her until the park closes at ten tonight.

Bill took Forry and I out for a wonderful dinner at a nearby  Mongolian Wok. I had been thinking about making stir-fry for dinner, so thought it was a great idea.

When we got back, we walked around the campground a bit. This is part of a lovely flower garden a couple of sites down from us. I wish I knew what this gorgeous vine is --

This vegetable garden actually has some cabbages and tomato plants. Bill said it has been a big job for the lady to keep it wet enough during the extremely hot weather they have had here all month.

We stayed up and watched the Olympic Opening Ceremony from London last night. What an interesting funky spectacle it was. I really liked the tongue-in-cheek British sense of humor. I chortled when Queen Elizabeth parachuted from the helicopter,,,!

Iowa!

We had stayed at the small KOA near LaSalle, Indiana last night. It is a lovely little park that we would have stayed at for another night, but they did not have any space. It was kind of interesting to see that this morning almost everyone had left, but to know they will be completely full again by tonight!

As we left Indiana, we kept looking at the fields of corn, trying to see if we could detect the damage from the drought. Some of the fields look stunted with short stalks.

We drove all except the last few miles on Interstate 80 (fortunately no longer a toll road). After we crossed the Iowa state border (the Mississippi River), we stopped at their Welcome Center to pick up an Iowa map. I do like the signs at their rest area!

I was surprised to see this historical plaque at the rest area. I knew about the Mormon handcarts, but hadn't realized they had started this far east. The mid-eighteenth century migration of Mormon converts was the direct result of Mormon missionaries in Europe. To think they walked all the way from here to Salt Lake City pulling hand carts with all their belongings. The sign went on to tell of the success of the first three groups, but how the 4th and 5th groups started too late in the summer and lost many of their number to snow and cold in the mountains.

We drove as far as North Liberty, Iowa to Colony Country Campground. Isn't that a neat hex sign on their office building?

This is another very neat, very nice small campground with just 45 RV sites. We will only stay here the one night as we are looking forward to meeting up with our friends at Adventureland near Altoona tomorrow.