More Catching Up and River Falls, WI to Frederika, IA to Amana, IA

Rantoul, IL
72 Deg., clear, S. wind @ 5 mph.
Forecast today = high temp. 93 deg. partly sunny, S. winds @ 5 to 10 mph, heat index ratings of 101 to 106.

My last post ended with us in River Falls, WI., where Jim and Linda were visiting Linda's brother, Glenn,  his wife Jeanette, and their family. After staying there for 3 days, we left Hoffman Park at about 10:00 on Monday  morning, (7-26-10), and took Rt 35 SW from River Falls, down to US 10, which then took us over the Mississippi River and into Minnesota. Then, we turned South on US61 which took us down to Rt 20. 20 then took us down to Cannon Falls. Just South of Cannon Falls, Jim pulled me into a Truck Stop and bought me a nice big drink of that good old #2 diesel fuel. After my drink, we picked up US 52 which took us in a South Easterly direction and down to Rochester. Just South of Rochester, we picked up US 63 and followed it down into Iowa. About 55 miles into Iowa, we came to the small town of Frederika and the Alcock County Park.

It was about 1:50 when we arrived, so it had taken us about 3 hours and 50 minutes get my drink and to travel 170 miles.

Now, this park is a small park with self registration, it has grass sites and 30 Amp electric hookups at most sites. To get to it, you have to go about a mile East of 63 on a blacktop road and then another 1/2 mile North on a gravel road, which was very dusty with lots of loose gravel. As we pulled into the park, I was concerned because no one else was in the park, everything looked very wet from all the rain that had gone through the area a few days earlier, and in fact there was water standing in some places.

Jim walked around in the park and decided that it would be OK if he backed me into one of the first sites, which seemed to be on a little higher ground.

Well, he backed me in, and everything seemed to be OK, but during the night, I started sinking into the grass. :-(  Not a whole lot, but all of my tires sank in about 2 inches and I could tell that the ground under me was very soggy. In the morning, Jim saw how much I had sunk into the grass and decided that it was time to get me out of there, so he woke up Linda and by 9:00 he had my engine fired up and we were ready to attempt to pull out of the site. At first, I was confused when he put my transmission in reverse, but then he backed me up a couple of inches, held my brakes, shifted the transmission into drive, gave me some fuel, released the brakes and drove me back through the spot where I had sunk down and right out of the site. :-)

Whew!!!! I don't want to do that again!!! That was way too close to getting really stuck!!!

Now, from there, the plan was to head down to a COE (Corps Of Engineers) park on the bank of the Mississippi River, down near Muscatine, IA, but all the reports said that there was flooding around there and Jim and Linda both thought that the park may be closed. So......Jim got out that big eraser of his and the plan was changed to head to the Amana Colonies instead.

From the soggy Alcock County Park, we got back onto US 63 and followed it down to Waterloo where we got onto I-380, which took us down to Cedar Rapids. There, we turned SW on US 151 and took if for about 15 miles and to the Amana Colonies RV Park.

It was 11:05 when we pulled up to the office, so we had traveled 102 miles in about 2 hours and 5 minutes.

Jim was able to get a Passport America discount for me for 2 days at this park, so the decision was made to stay for the 2 nights before heading further South. This is an OK park, with long pull-through sites, water, electric, (30 or 50 Amp, your choice), and a sewer connection if you want to pay extra. They also have a nice dump station, so Jim decided that the sewer connection was not necessary.

There aren't any trees or anything, but it's a place to park while visiting the colonies.

Being that it was early when we arrived, Jim unhooked CLT and he and Linda headed into Amana to explore and do a little shopping. They found lace shop where Linda bought some curtains to use inside of me, (I'll show you some photos after they get put up), and then found a meat shop where they bought some summer sasuage, pork chops and bacon.Then, they came back to the CG, put the meat into my refrigerator and freezer, rested up a little and then went out to eat at the Colony Inn Restaurant, where they had a great family style dinner.

Wednesday, they took CLT and went exploring again. This time they drove around to the different towns of the "Colony", and found a chocolate shop, (where they had sugar free chocolates), a bakery, and some other shops with some really neat home-made items.

Oh, they also found a gas station where they bought CLT a drink of 87 octane.

For dinner, Jim cooked one of the huge pork chops on the grill and Linda prepared some cauliflower and home-made bread, (from the bakery), to go with it. It all sure smelled good and by their reactions as they ate, it must have tasted really good too. ;-)

Did you know that the name Amana means to "remain faithful"?