Our luck of months of good weather ran out when we entered Iowa. The five days we stayed in Davenport were cold and rainy with high winds so we didn't do much sightseeing. Looking for better weather we crossed the Mississippi River and spent one night in Kieler, Wisconsin. We planned to stay longer but a RV group had rented the entire campground for the weekend. So we drove back across the Mississippi and spent the weekend in Dubuque, Iowa. Since Memorial Day the campgrounds have been full with weekenders and summer vacationers. Our schedule has us in St. Cloud, Minnesota in a week so we called ahead to make reservations - sorry, no campsites available. If we can survive the summer months, after Labor Day the campgrounds will be ours again.

Dubuque has many beautiful churches with elegant steeples and we drove around the city looking at them. The county courthouse, with a gold plated steeple, is the most elegant we have seen anywhere. We stopped, went inside, and looked her over. Our campground was on the Mississippi River near Lock and Dam #11. We packed a picnic lunch and spent a Saturday afternoon watching boats go through the lock. Nan, a tugboat was pushing 15 barges up the old river and the barges had to be broken apart as they were too long for the lock. As the crew worked with the barges we stood behind a fence four feet from the barges and talked to the crew. It took them over two hours to transcend the lock.

Nearby Dyersville, Iowa hosted the "Mighty Summer Farm Toy Shop" the first weekend in June. We visited the show and saw many very expensive old farm toys and also some expensive new toys. Dyersville has a farm toy outlet store, the Ertl Toy Company, a doll museum and a very interesting antique mall. Just north of town the movie Field of Dreams was shot in 1989. The house, baseball field, bleachers, and of course the corn field are still there. Guests are encouraged to run the bases, bat a few balls and play pitch and catch. It is interesting the baseball field is located on two farms, apparently competing farms. Each farm has their own souvenir shop with separate parallel driveways to the ballfield. The Lansing family owns the house, bleachers, the infield and right field. The Ameskamp family owns center and right fields. We bought a souvenir from the Lansing family because their proceeds go towards the upkeep of the field. The Ameskamp family souvenir shop is run by an out of state investment banking firm. For those not familiar with Field of Dreams, an Iowa farmer risked ridicule and loss of his farm by building his dream - a baseball field in his cornfield. It brought memories and dreams for many people and gave some a second chance. The Lansing family encourages visitors to sit on the bleachers and dream. Norm was a pretty good baseball pitcher in his day. He won Most Valuable Player in both his Little League and Babe Ruth league organizations. In his senior year of high school he pitched in the Kentucky State Regional and had professional baseball scouts watching. He received one small offer to play semi-professional baseball but declined the offer and joined the Air Force. But the Field of Dreams is about second chances. Norm and Linda are living their dream, traveling the country fulltime in a motorhome.

Decorah, Iowa is a nice town with a beautiful city owned campground nestled in trees with a creek flowing through the campground. The sites are very large and level so we decided to stay a few days and tour the area. Norm met his book publisher while in Decorah. He had published a genealogy and history book through Bonnie Rinken of Anundsen Publishing Company and this was the first time they had met face to face. Decorah was settled by Norwegians and the town has an excellent Norwegian-American Museum. We took a guided tour of the museum grounds that contains houses from Norway in addition to the houses and buildings the settlers built in America. West of Festina on a county road we found what is claimed to be the World's Smallest Church in the mist of corn fields. The Catholic Church was built in 1855 and measures 20 x 14 feet. The beautiful interior has four pews and seats eight people. (Pictures below) Nearby in Spillville we found the Bily Clock Exhibit. Two brothers, Frank and Joseph Bily, carved elaborate clocks their entire lives and never sold any. Their entire collection was donated to the city and is housed in a museum. Henry Ford once offered the brothers ten million dollars for one of the clocks and they refused the offer. Please note, the Spillville City Council voted that no pictures can be made of the clocks. The museum also honors the life of Dr. Antonin Dvorak, a world-famous musician and composer. He spent time in Spillville and wrote some of his best works while there.

In southern Minnesota we visited Gerald and Margaret Melcher and camped on their farm. They are Norm's oldest son's in-laws. They treated us to a fine meal and took us on a tour of the area. Next time we travel through southern Minnesota we plan to visit them again. As we drove north we noticed something we had not seen since we started fulltiming - we had a tail-wind. Month after month strong winds have blown head-on and to the side, but this was our first tail-wind. We checked the campgrounds near St. Cloud, Minnesota and found the only one with an opening was KOA (Ugh). As usual with KOA's, the sites were small with trees rubbing the motorhome. Smoke filled the campground which is not unusual in KOAs. Kids ran around our motorhome and dogs ran free. Our neighbor dumped his gray water on the ground. Then there is KOA's charge if we had visitors and a charge to do e-mail.

We had gone to that area to visit Norm's oldest son, Troy, his wife Sandy, and their two boys, Luke (age 3) and Logan (age 1). After two days in the KOA we moved to Troy's driveway and spent two days there. (Next time we will skip the KOA and stay in Troy's driveway the whole visit.) We had not seen Troy's family since Christmas (six months) and the boys sure had changed. Last time we saw Logan he had not learned to crawl and now he was running. Troy has a medical practice in St. Cloud and he took a four day weekend to spend time with us. The time went much too fast as we visited Stearns (County) Museum, walked gardens on the bank of the Mississippi River, attended a baseball game and ate lots of delicious food. Luke stayed with us two nights in our "truck house" and that was the first time he had spent the night away from Mommy and Daddy. It was Norm's fifty-fifth birthday and Luke and Logan helped him blow out the candle. (There was only one candle on the cake as we did not want to burn down the house.) We hated to leave but it was time to hit the road again.

As we drove across South Dakota the wind increased and hit the side of the motorhome making driving difficult. During one fifteen mile stretch of construction our driving lane was reduced to eleven feet with barriers. The 30 mph side-wind made it a white-knuckle drive as we had eighteen inches clearance on each side of the motorhome but we did not leave any of the Dutch Star on the barriers. Wall Drug Store, located in Wall, SD (pop. 800), has an interesting history. Ted and Dorothy Hustead purchased a small drug store in 1931 and struggled to make the business succeed, but their business never grew. In 1936 Dorothy realized there were many cars traveling nearby heading to the Badlands, Black Hills, under construction Mt. Rushmore and to Yellowstone National Park. The cars contained thirsty travelers so she suggested they erect signs on the main road "Free Ice Water - Wall Drug Store." After Ted planted the road signs he returned to the drug store to find it full of people asking for ice water and buying other items. They immediately had more business than they could handle. Today, Wall Drug Store still offers free ice water and 5 cent coffee. We camped two blocks from the drug store and stopped for our free ice water and 5 cent coffee. And just like in the 1930s, Linda drank free ice water, a 5 cent cup of coffee, then purchased $79 worth of merchandise. Hey, free ice water still brings them business as Linda can testify. The drug store began in one small building and now it is a mini- mall that covers a city block of interconnecting buildings with 240 employees. In town at the Badlands Bar we ate buffalo burgers and washed them down with drafts. (Note: Wall has a large parking lot for RVs and allows over night dry camping.)

Badlands National Park, near Wall, was called "bad land to cross" by early explorers. Millions of years ago it was a sea and later marsh land. Wind and water have eroded the sands and gravel and in the park fossils of many extinct animals can be found. We spent a day walking and marveling at the multi-color formations that are so soft every footstep causes more erosion.

At Hart Ranch, between Rapid City and Mount Rushmore, we found the best RV park since we have been traveling fulltime. It is a beautiful park at the foot of the Black Hills and best of all, the cost is only $6 a day for a full hookup site since it's a Coast to Coast park and we are a member. Sunday, June 18, we drove a scenic back road to Deadwood (pop. 800). That is the town where Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane lived and they were buried next to each other in a mountain- side cemetery. Deadwood was having their annual festival with wild west shoot-outs in the street, rope tricks, and there was a stage on Main Street with music and singing. Deadwood is a restored old western town with casinos lining Main Street. We dropped $18 in slots, lost a little, won a little, and quit when we got back to the $18 mark. We stopped in Saloon #10 and watched a re- enactment of the murder of Wild Bill Hickok. He was playing poker with his back to the door when Jim McCall entered the saloon and shot him in the back of the head. Wild Bill was holding a hand of two eights, two aces and a queen. Since that day, August 2, 1876, that hand has been know as "dead man's hand." Next, we moved to Main Street where the Oak Ridge Boys performed a free concert on stage. We spent the day in Deadwood being entertained the whole time and it only cost us parking, a snack and drinks. Life on the road is great.

The Presidential carvings on Mt. Rushmore were funded by the state of South Dakota for one purpose, to bring tourist and money to the state. Later the U.S. funded the project and made it a National Park. We took a tour with a Park Ranger and learned much about the history of the carvings and park such as: The workers were dropped from the top of the mountain on cables and made the carvings with jack hammers for 50 cents an hour. There were no fatalities during construction. Abraham Lincoln was first placed on the left but bad rock caused him to be moved to the right. There were supposed to be three Presidents on the mountain, Lincoln, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Theodore Roosevelt was added after the carving started. Near Mt. Rushmore is Crazy Horse Memorial. Korczak Ziolkowski single-handedly started carving the mountain into Crazy Horse riding a horse in a tribute to all Indian tribes. He has since died and his wife and some of his ten children have continued the project. When completed it will stand 563 feet high and 641 feet long. (The four Presidents on Mt. Rushmore would fit inside of the horse's face.) The museums at the visitor's center are the most interesting we have seen on the American Indian and the twenty minute movie on Ziolkowski and the mountain is a must see. The memorial accepts no state or federal money and is funded by admission fees and souvenir sales.

We drove through Custer State Park and saw deer, buffalo and wild burros. Well, the burros were not very wild as they walked to cars looking for handouts. One stuck his head inside the Honda and nuzzled Linda. Leaving the park we decided to take scenic Route 16A. The road rises to over a mile high with four narrow one lane, low tunnels carved through mountains. The speed limit is 35 mph maximum with eleven switch-backs with 15 mph speed limits. As we started up the mountain the weather was warm and sunny. At the peak a sudden storm developed with heavy rain and hail so thick it covered the entire road making it too slick to drive. We stopped on the side of the road and lightening started striking trees all around us. Not wanting to get hit by lightening we slowly proceeded down the mountain still being pelted by hail. When we reached the main road below the mountain the storm disappeared as quickly and it had started. Luckily the Honda was not damaged. (Here are some pictures around the Rapid City, South Dakota area.)


When you live fulltime in a motorhome there is always the fear of a wreck or fire rendering your home unlivable. We have always been careful when driving and parking and we always follow safety precautions. From Hart Ranch near Rapid City, South Dakota we were heading to the Newmar International Rally in Gillette, Wyoming and we wanted to arrive with our motorhome and car looking spiffy. Friday we spent the entire day washing and waxing the motorhome and car and also cleaned the inside of both. Then we got ourselves cleaned up and ate at a Flying-J truck stop where we also did e-mail. We had picked up our mail that day so we opened the mail and paid our bills before going to bed at 2:00 a.m. Now that everything was caught up we could arrive at the rally and have all the time in the world to enjoy the activities.

OH, HAIL
About 3:30 a.m. a loud thump on the roof woke us up. Then we heard more thumps. We jumped out of bed to see what was happening and as we ran through the bathroom a hail ball crashed through the bathroom vent and screen, exploding on the floor. Then another hail ball did the same thing. That was the worse noise we have ever heard as the hail beat on the motorhome. Looking out the front window we saw hail the size of golf balls and tennis balls beating our Honda. The hail lasted about ten frightening minutes then turned into a hard rain. The rain was pouring into the bathroom so we removed the bottom part of the broken vent and water poured from the ceiling. Norm grabbed a large plastic container, climbed to the roof and covered the vent. When the rain slacked we went outside to check for damage. Ice was six inches deep which made walking difficult. Our 1999 Honda CR-V was dented severely on every panel - hood, roof, fenders, doors, tailgate. There were probably 300 large dents on the car, but no broken glass. Our 2000 Dutch Star motorhome took a worse beating. In addition to the bathroom vent, the slideout awning was shredded, both air conditioner covers were full of holes, the air conditioner fins were flattened, the refrigerator vent was broken, the bath plumbing vent was smashed, and there are hundreds of dents where the sidewalls meet the roof. There are also several dings in the left side and some of the decals got chipped.  There were no warnings for the sudden storm and if there was, there was nothing we could have done. All of our neighbors received similar damage. At least we were not injured. Norm climbed on the roof again and covered the damage with duct tape before driving to Gillette for the Newmar Rally.

We have always heard insurance companies are difficult to work with when you have hail damage, but our insurance company (Progressive) seemed to be on our side. Their claims adjuster came to the rally campground two days after we reported the damage and wrote us two checks, one for the motorhome and one for the Honda. The amounts seemed fair and he told us if the repairs exceed the amounts he gave us, Progressive will pay the additional costs. Progressive also recommended we take the motorhome back to the factory for repairs. We also reported the busted bathroom vent to Newmar at the rally and they sent two men to replace it - free. They also adjusted our entrance door and slideout while they were there. We believe we picked a winning combination with a Newmar motorhome and Progressive insurance. The next two months we have plans for traveling so we will drive the bruised vehicles until around September before we get them fixed.

The Newmar International Rally in Gillette, Wyoming was great with 900 rigs and 1900 people in attendance. The citizens of the community made us feel welcome everywhere we went and the seminars were great. (Gillette with a population of 18,900 is the fifth largest city in Wyoming and the state is the ninth largest in the nation, but is last in population with under a half-million inhabitants. And we must say Wyoming has the nicest and friendliest people found anywhere.) We took an all day bus tour to Hole in the Wall where Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid hid out with their Wild Gang and visited TA Ranch where the last shoot-out ocurred in the range wars between the ranchers and the cattle barons. After the shhot-out the ranges were opened to all ranchers. We have a weakness for RV "toys" as our motorhome has two laptop computers, a cell phone with a modem for e-mail, a laser printer, an ink jet printer, a Xerox copier, a Global Positioning System (GPS) and many others toys. The rallies always have many vendors selling more toys and of course we bought over $500 more including a whole motorhome surge protection system. At the rally we met some old friends including Steve and Amy Turner and made many new friends. We also met Jim and Patty Hammond. They have a new Dutch Star motorhome and even though we had met many times through e-mail, we had never met them face to face.

Our bruised, broken and dented motorhome and Honda is heading to Yellowstone National Park, Montana, Idaho and into Canada next month so check back to see what we have been doing. Keep an eye out for us and wave if we are traveling through your area. The dents and the duct tape flapping in the wind will be easy to spot.