Jackson, MN

Left Adel Friday morning at a fairly decent hour.  I believe we pulled out shortly after 9 am.  Of course, we needed to stop at the next exit - 4 miles away - to fill the camper tires with air.  Truck was fine but we had one tire on the camper that only had 40 psi.  Ugly!!!  So after filling the tires with more air, we were on the road and all before 10 am.  We are soooooo proud of ourselves.

It's Saturday afternoon and as you can imagine - football is on TV.  You have it right - the Iowa/Iowa State game.  From the noise coming from the corner chair - Iowa is currently behind. 

It was a great morning.  We slept in until around 9 am.  And just think we were almost on the road yesterday.  It was a little chilly this morning.  Kind of a nice change of pace.  That means we had a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast.  After breakfast and close to noon, we headed out to the grocery store.  Decided we needed nachos for the game and of course, I didn't have the ingredients.  On the way to the store, we saw a field with a lot of kites.  Apparently there is a kite club and the public was invited today.  Here are a few of the pics that we took.

On Wednesday before we left we took a trip up to Ames to the Reiman Gardens.  Sharon saw an ad about the Lego giant sculptures.  There were 27 sculptures.  We found all 27.  Also went into the butterfly room.  We couldn't believe all of the species of butterflies that they had. 

This one is called the owl butterfly.  We couldn't get a pic with the wings open.  There were so many unique ones but we have never seen a green/black one and the other reminded us of stars in the sky.

 In another post I'll include some pictures of the lego statues and gardens.  They were really amazing.

Labor Day Weekend

On Friday & Saturday, we decided to take a tour of the area and see what was changed.  Went into Clive & Urbandale.  Oh my!  We couldn't believe all of the new housing developments as well as the businesses - both new & changes. 

We took a little trip towards Stewart along the back roads.  Found a few flowers for picture taking.

The above pictures were from Friday.  On Saturday, we took a road trip down towards Winterset, then Indianola, stopped by the grocery store on the way back home.  We had a very nice day.

Staying inside today.  Lots of campers with fires.  Hopefully, we'll be able to enjoy sitting outside tomorrow night.

Sunday Afternoon August 26th

On Sunday afternoon my family got together for a picnic here in the campground.  We had a wonderful time.  It was nice seeing both my sisters and my brother.  Visiting with them and catching up on all of the news.

The great nieces and nephews went swimming after dinner and of course some of the adults needed to go along and chaperone.  There were a couple of small frogs in the pool so the kids had fun catching them.  My niece, Sydney put them over the fence so they could come back later.

 

The guys decided to try a little tournament of ladder golf.  Others just stayed behind at the camper relaxing and talking.

 

 

After all of this, of course, it was time to eat again.  There were a few desserts:  carrot bars, spice cupcakes, brownies and dreamsicle cake.  Plus there was still fried chicken, lasagna, brats and hotdogs left.  And a few of us enjoyed the salads, too.  Then it was time for bubbles.

 

 

Some ball was played also.  Mostly catch.  Overall, it was a great afternoon.  Couldn't have asked for better weather, either. 

State Fair is Now Over

We completed the State Fair.  Sharon worked 8 days and I worked 11 days.  We finished scheduling approx. 300 volunteers yesterday so now we're free to enjoy the area and visit with family and friends.

Kevin and Taylor came to the fair on Tuesday & Wednesday.  We were able to spend a couple of hours with them.  I'm not going to try and explain their practical joke on us.  But, let's say, it was good and we did fall for it.  Especially me.

Thought you might like to see a few of the pics that we took.  I promise not to bore you with the 100's but a few shots from around the fair.

 

 

Chocolate Moose

Travis LeDoyt, Elvis impersonator

 

Proof, we were at the fair.  This was a beautiful morning as you can see from the rainbow in the water fountains.

 

The fair wouldn't be complete without the butter carvings.  This year was Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs and, of course, the butter cow.

 

Watched an acrobatic show with Kevin & Taylor

 

 

 

 

On the last Saturday was able to watch my niece at a gymnastics competition.  She did pretty well for being in gymnastics for a couple of months and first big competition,

 

 

Last morning of the fair we walked around and took some final pictures.  Watched the chainsaw carver for a few minutes before climbing to Grandfather's Barn.

 

 

 

The last afternoon of the fair we spend tearing down/apart the volunteer information data to start getting ready for next year.

 

 

July Catch Up

It's been awhile since I last posted, I know, over a month ago.   Sometimes we have a slow internet connection which makes it hard to post.  And, sometimes, it's the poster.   So, I thought I'd catch up for the month of July before moving on to August and Iowa and the State Fair.

Like most of the central states it was hot and no rain.  We were busy in the campground.  It was just too hot do do much of anything so I guess you can say we just enjoyed the days staying in the camper most of the time.  I didn't get caught up on the pictures but we did play a few games and watched other campers from our window.

The dinner we had with the owners, Scott & Diane, went very well.  She fixed pasta with 2 types of sauce and some great garlic breadsticks.  We took a tour of their house and it was very nice.  We enjoy their company.  They have some great stories to tell.  They both grew up in California near LA and moved to Springfield when they bought the campground 9 years ago.  They have one son who is now a lawyer in the Chicago area.  He just passed the bar in Illinois and he has already passed the bar in Missouri.

In my last post, I talked a little about the couple, Howard & Jinnie, well Scott finally had enough and asked them to leave on Monday, July 30th.  Here's a picture of them.  Scott's in the background.



They were only working about 15 hours a week and Scott & Diane had to be there during their shift.  Let's just say they couldn't work by themselves.  Howard would do a lot of standing around staring at people or driving the golf cart around the campground looking at what needed to be done.  They were really nice people.  I think they would have been asked to leave a lot earlier if their car hadn't broke down and they were without transportation.

We made one more trip to Lambert's before heading out of town.  We had to wait about 1/2 hour on Wednesday afternoon around 2pm but it was definitely worth it.  Sharon had their special, New York Strip Steak and I had the rib-eye.  Yum Yum.

Yes, we are back in Iowa now and looking forward to the fair.  On Sunday night, Scott called us.  Kathy & Keith packed up and left the campground.  As they were closing on Sunday night at 8:30, Kathy came up and gave them the keys and shirts.  No clue this was coming.  Diane asked her why and Kathy's words:  "You know why".  Actually Diane didn't so she asked Kathy to explain.  Kathy said she needed more hours.  She wanted to work more.  Keith has cancer and hasn't been able to work as much but he has been working between 24 & 30 hours a week.  Kathy was working at least 35 hours a week.  Scott must have talked to us for at least 1/2 hour about this.  We're still in shock that these 2 people left.  They worked hard. 

Sharon & I are still planning on going back there on Sept 14.  Reconfirmed with Scott that we weren't needed before hand.  Another couple was there to take our place while we were gone and they hired another college kid and another maintenance man.  Thought they would be fine until we returned.  At least it wasn't on July 4th.

Next post will be about the trip north and arriving in Iowa.  More later.

June

The last few days have been really HOT!  We haven't reached 100 degrees yet but the thermometer but it looks like we'll get close this week.  Thank goodness for air conditioning.

Last Monday a 100 year old tree fell down on some power lines at the end of our road.  We were without power for a few hours.  Had a nice strong breeze and almost everyone survived with no problems. 

Have a few more new workers started this past couple of weeks.  Larry - his wife Donna doesn't work - is another one of our maintenance people.  They'll be here for about 6 weeks.  They're from Indiana and he drives school bus.  So will be returning in August.  They also hired a neighbor girl, Samantha, 16 years old to make pizzas at night.  She works a couple of nights a week.  She's earning money to go to Disney World next summer.

We're not sure how long one of the work camper couples will last.  They said they would be here until November but. . . .  Let's just say they're not Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee but he likes to stand around and look at people while they work.  He hates being alone even though they have 2 dogs and live in a 20 foot travel trailer.  That's right - they full-time in this camper.  When Jinnie is up working (making pizzas), Howard will find some excuse to come up and stand around.  Some days it quite comical.  Not sure Scott & Diane find it comical, though.

We've been invited to dinner at the bosses on Wednesday.  That's Scott & Diane's house.  Not sure why or if there's an ulterior motive but guess we'll find out on Wednesday.  They've been really nice to us lately.  I mean really nice.  And we've already agreed to come back for the fall and winter months.

Looking forward to some time off come August.  Hoping to catch up with family and friends when we head north.  We'll probably be staying at the KOA in Adel but trying to get in to a different campground near Altoona.  Not sure if we'll be able to stay since she doesn't like State Fair people.  Have some friends staying there for a few months and they're trying to get us a spot. 

There have been some very interesting people staying here this past week.  Sometimes you just wonder how they manage to get along in this world.  Have had a couple of first time camper users.  We can definitely relate.  It's been fun helping them.  Actually makes me feel like I know something.
We like the people working here - just find a few more interesting then others.

Just realized we haven't taken any pictures since Memorial Weekend so maybe we'll take some this week.  Thought about a little outing on Thursday - but weather channel says 100 degrees.  Might be a good day to stay inside and watch others work.  We have Wednesdays and Thursdays off.

Until next time or I have something exciting to share.

Springfield Cardinals Baseball Game

On Wednesday, May 30th, Scott & Diane took all employees to the Springfield Cardinals game.  We closed the office early at 6pm.  All but one employee attended (with families).  Sharon did NOT wear anything Cubs.  Nope.  No hat.  No Shirt.  However, she didn't wear red either.  The team won the game and a few HRs were hit.  We sat in a section known as the Red Roost.  With your ticket comes a buffet of ball type foods plus soft drinks.  You could eat/drink as much as you wanted with your ticket.  The hot buffet had hot dogs, brats, nachos, chips, deep fried mushrooms.  At another location was a salad bar.  You could also have all the popcorn you wanted.
Here's a few pictures.

A picture of Scott & Diane.  And yes, they bought peanuts for everyone.

Howard & Jinnie (look closely you can see Scott in the background)

Kathy & Keith.  Now, Kathy is our "crazy" person.  She kept jumping up and down.  When you stand up the seat folds up.  I'm surprised she could walk out of there.  She must have fell a 1/2 dozen times.  She was sure to have a bruise on her butt.

So far it's been a fairly nice summer.  Definitely getting hotter.  The truck needs fuel filter so will be going to Republic on Thursday.