Dispatch from the Road 2023

  June 8 2023 Thursday This morning we drove to Clear Lake Iowa to tour the Surf Ballroom. It has been in operation at its present location since 1948. The Surf Ballroom may have already earned its place in music history in 1959, as any music legends had played there over the years. Back then you weren’t a success until you played the Surf. On February the 9th after the 1959 Winter Dance Party performance at the Surf, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and JD Richardson (Big Bopper) boarded a small chartered plane to fly to the next stop on the tour. The airplane crashed into a farmer’s field shortly after takeoff, there were no survivors. The present day Surf Ballroom has been restored to its original 1948 design, it still hosts concerts at night, but during the day it is a museum for all the legendary performers who appeared there and a shrine to the three Rock and Rollers. Millie and I were genuinely impressed during our visit; there are many autographed pictures and memorabilia of past...

No text just pictures from around Winterset Our wandering home At the American Gothic Center Vietnam Memorial at Welcome Home Soldier The house used in the painting, American Gothic. Only in farm country do you buy "meat bundles" Building at the center of square undergoing renovation. More from town square Sunday morning on the town square John Waynes homeplace

 No text, just pictures from Winterset city park. Eagle sculpture Foot bridge in the park Path to the Tower The Tower in the park View from the tower which a 1 1/2 mile hike thru the woods from the campground Many play areas for kids One of the stone bridges in the park Delicious Apples were first grown here Built in 1852 One of many chainsaw sculptures.

 June 3 2023 Saturday We left the state of Missouri today, following our usual no interstate travel preference. I must say I was impressed with Missouri, There are beautiful farms all along the route we took, and they all look well maintained and prosperous. These are millionaire farmers; I doubt any of them need farm aid from Willie Nelson. As of June 4 We enjoyed looking at the Missouri landscape so much we were surprised when we got to the Iowa border. I just got a glimpse of the sign when we went by, we didn’t go back for a picture. The secondary road state border signs aren’t much to look at anyhow. I forgot to mention in the text, Iowa has a lot, I mean an awful lot of dusty gravel roads!   Iowa was decidedly different, the terrain changed almost immediately at the border. While not mountains, the land was no longer flat like Missouri. The rolling hills where too big for planting so most were wooded and some were pasture land. Later on in today’s journey the land flatten...

  June 1 2023 Today’s journey was north along the Mississippi river to Hannibal, home of the fictional American icon, Tom Sawyer. There were only a couple areas where we actually got to see more than just a glimpse of the river, but it was an enjoyable ride through the country. As of June 1st. Actually, we’re not in Hannibal tonight, we are in a Corp of Engineers campground on Mark Twain Lake about thirty miles west of town. We prefer the peaceful solitude here over the commercial tourist camps closer to town. Weather permitting, tomorrow we will venture into town and go for a paddlewheel boat tour on the Mississippi River. We will also stop at the 1926 bronze statue of Tom and Huck for photo op. Other than that, it will be a drive by visit unless we see something that interests us. The Mark Twain It rained here for about an hour; it seems to have stopped. Hard to tell our RV is backed under a canopy of forest trees and it drips for a while after it stops raining. The campground is...

I'm not even going to try to add captions, blogger is buggy today.