After following directions and talking with Dave Long on the cell phone, we did manage to find the Long homestead in Iowa City IA. Dave and Karen Long are Escapee friends that we first met in Rayne LA at a Chapter 26 Spring Rally. Since then we have stayed at Escapee Parks in Bushnell Florida and Summerdale Alabama each winter. Dave and Karen have stayed at the same parks and we have gotten to know them pretty well. We always mange to have a good time, eating out, playing cards, touring local attractions, eating out, and eating out. Oh, did I mention that we like to eat out? I have told David that he makes a good social director, because he always finds some fun things for us to do. He did not disappoint us on this visit.
Karen had dinner all ready for us Monday evening. It is always a treat not to have to cook dinner on a travel day. Of course, after dinner we needed to play a few games of Five Crowns. I cannot remember who won. That is never important, just having a good time is important. Tuesday Karen was busy babysitting in the morning so I got caught up on some things in the RV. Phil and Dave puttered around. They went to see some farm equipment that was up for auction and Dave found a canvas cover that he had made years ago that was still intact. In the afternoon we met their grandchildren, Max and Francis.
Tuesday evening Dave and Karen introduced us to the Morel mushroom that grows wild in Iowa. Good eats! We had pizza one night, and chili another evening. Thursday Karen and her cousin took me out to the local Amish stores. We went to an Amish bakery, an Iowa cheese factory and two general stores. What fun! Friday the four of us went to the Button Museum in Muscatine, IA. That gave me a new appreciation of buttons, to be sure. What a process that entailed before plastic buttons were created. They harvested the mussels from the local river, cooked and cleaned the shells. The cooked mussels were either used as fertilizer on the fields or food for the animals. The shells were then used to cut out circles for buttons. The holes were put into the buttons and then they were hand sewn onto cards for retail sale. Each button was handled 32 times before being sold.
From the museum Dave took us to an amazing store that sold some of everything. We had a good time browsing and everyone managed to go home with a find or two. Phil has been looking for some rain shoes, which he found. They came in very handy down the road……
We went to the Button Factory building that has been converted to a restaurant for dinner. Dave, Karen and Phil all had catfish for dinner. I opted for fried shrimp. None of us went away hungry. Phil got this picture of the center paddle wheel boat that we had hoped take out into the river for a cruise. We were a bit early because they don’t start running the cruises until June 1st.
Saturday morning we headed out. We were going to Winterset IA, about 180 miles west of Iowa City. It was not a bad day’s drive. We did encounter more rain. I know it is spring, but we seem to have a cloud following us around. We arrived safely at the Madison County Fairgrounds and got settled in to a FHU site for the week. We were here to attend the Iowa Wild Rose’s Computer Rally and act as VCRs for the first time. That’s a story for next week.
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