Le Claire Iowa

We spent two nights in Davenport Iowa.  We wanted to visit Le Claire and find the Picker's store.   Le Claire is a fun town to walk and explore.  It is located  along the bend of the upper mighty Mississippi River.  It is touristy with a historical flair.  There are shops to browse and an interesting junk shop where we found Homer and Jethro's songbook.  Right behind BP/ A&W is the tiny garage converted to a shop for the American Pickers.  They didn't have much to look at but it was fun. 

I parked my van on the riverfront where there was more room.  After roaming Cody Street we walked to the riverfront and visited the Buffalo Bill's Museum.  Le Claire was his birth place and they had an interesting array of stuff relating to Buffalo Bill and the history of Le Clair.  It also had a paddle wheel inside and we walked through it. 

One more tidbit from the Homer and Jethro song book.

Randolph the Flat Nosed Reindeer

Randolph the flat nosed reindeer
Had a funny lookin snout
So Santy cut his nose off
Jist to try to smooth it out.

And when they sewed his nose on
Santy sewed it upside down
Now every time the rain falls
Pore old Randy nearly drowns.....

LIFE IS GOOD!!!

Click here for pictures of Le Claire Iowa

Mt. Pleasant Iowa Cemeteries

Forest Home is a beautiful well maintained cemetery. 7 “famous” people are interred here. As a rule I do not try to find graves of famous people, I look for unusual stones or just stones that grab my attention. This is home to James Gills a congressman, James Harlan a US Senator, William Kopp a congressman, Arabella Mansfield a lawyer and suffragist, Joshua Newbold a governor, George Stone a Civil War Union Brigadier General, and Charles Swan a Civil War Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient.

St. Alphonsus Cemetery is located right across the street from Forest Home. Like it’s neighbor it is a beautiful, well kept cemetery.

Click here for pictures of Forest Home Cemetery
Click here for pictures of St. Alphonsus Cemetery

Mt. Pleasant Iowa

Mt. Pleasant was founded in 1835 by Presley Saunders. It is home to Iowa Wesleyan College which was founded in 1842 and is the oldest coeducational college west of the Mississippi. Mt. Pleasant is also home to the Midwest Old Thresher Reunion which attracts a crowd of over 100,000 annually during an extended five day weekend which ends on Labor Day. The reunion dates back to 1950 and pays tribute to the agricultural heritage of the American Midwest.

Some of the Mt. Pleasant’s landmarks:
Old Threshers Museum
The Theatre Museum
Harlan – Lincoln home: Home of US Senator James A Harlan. His daughter married Abraham Lincoln’s son Robert Todd.
The Van Allen House Heritage Center

The downtown was fun to walk and it had a beautiful fountain in the center.

Click here for pictures of Mt. Pleasant

New London Iowa

On our way to Mt. Pleasant we stopped at Oskaloosa Iowa. We really wanted to explore this town but the flies, gnats, mosquitoes and no seeums were horrible. Our first stop and our last was the cemetery. We lasted maybe 30 minutes before being run out of town.

Click here for pictures of Oskaloosa Iowa cemetery

On July 2nd mom and I went to Burlington Iowa for a little casino fun and afterwards we drove to New London to visit their cemetery. Mom found her first empty chair stone. I liked this cemetery because the older section is in the front part of the cemetery and mom was able to walk through it. We find some cemeteries difficult to maneuver because of the narrow roads and low branches so we park and walk.


All in all it was a wonderful day.

Click here for pictures of New London Iowa Cemetery

Le Clair Iowa

Today we explored Le Clair Iowa home of "American Pickers."  Yes we did stop at their store and looked around.  Not very much stuff but what was there was interesting.  I will be posting pictures later.  My find of the day.... mom and I are so excited... was "The Homer and Jethro Crazy Mixed Up Songbook."  We found this at another junk store.  We paid less than $5 for it. 

Though my darling waas knocked kneed
She was cute as she could be
And I was bowlegged as anyone could be
And while we were dancin
They were laughin more and more
We looked like a egg beater
As we waltzed around the door.  ~Homer and ~Jethro

We are now wandering and don't know where we will be tomorrow or the next.  I have about three blogs written and scheduled to post for the next three days.  Hopefully we will find an internet connection after that or before or during.  Life is good.

Back

We spent the week in Mt. Pleasant Iowa waiting for mail, paying bills and playing catchup.  We are now in Le Claire heading north. 

Mom's phone died and we decided to drive to an AT&T store and talk to someone in person.  I am ashamed to admit this but I ripped into him.  He told her that she would have to buy a new phone and pay full price.  I said "What will be cheaper - canceling our contract or buying a new phone?"  He sold her a "go phone." We refused to sign a new contract for that phone.   What is going on with AT&T?  They obviously don't need new customers.  He did give me his business card and told me to call him if we have a problem with the new phone.  Also he might be able to fix my phone.  If I get weird error messages or no signal I just pull the battery out and put it back in....    That is how you fix it.  August 14 I can go to Verizon. 

Isabel I know you had bad luck with Verizon but I am having worse luck with AT&T. 

Mom and I explored cemeteries, towns, and just laid low.  I will be posting pictures on SmugMug when I get a chance.  Meanwhile enjoy the night sky at the RV Park taken on different nights.

Is That Bird Poo?

I haven’t blog for a few days because I have been busy organizing pictures and moving them off of my hard drive. We are also waiting for our mail. We are scheduled to leave on Thursday.

On our way to Mt. Pleasant we had a semi truck that couldn’t drive between the lines and would wander over to the shoulder. That of course sprayed our van with rocks. The first time it happened I shrugged it off but the second time I let another car pass me. When we arrived at the campground a discussion broke out between mom and me. “Is that bird poop or a chip? No, I think it a smashed bug. If it is a smashed bug then we must have hit at least 4 or 5.” Every time mom and I saw the windshield we would try to figure out what was. I finally wised up this morning and I climbed on the bumper and ran my hand over the glass. As much as I would like to say it was bird poop I have to admit it wasn’t. We are waiting for Safe Auto to fix several chips. Mom and I are the queens of denial. He he he he

I am also experiencing problems with my cell phone. When I try to dial out I get an error message "Emergency Call Only." The phone would work after I remove the battery and sims card and put it all back. I called customer service on my mom’s phone and talk to this lady about my problem. Her response was "you need to call me on your phone when it happens again so I can fix the problem." Her second solution was to buy a new phone and sign a two year contract. My contract is up 8-1 - Hello Verizon. I am also considering buying a wireless card but I am a little hesitant. I am going to do a little more research on it before committing.

We are alive and well and life is good!!!

Two Men On A Mower

While in Waukee we drove to Winterset Iowa. I met a lady at the Ben Franklin Store and she said Iowa stands for Idiots Out Wandering Around. That pretty much describes mom and I. The first place we stopped was the city park to eat lunch and hatch out a plan. Mom talked me into hiking to the Clark Tower, about a two mile hike. It is accessible by car if you drive carefully but it was off limits to vehicles over 20 feet. Clark Tower is a 25 foot landmark built in 1926 of locally quarried limestone. The tower is a memorial to the early Clark Family settlers by their descendants. It overlooks the Middle River valley and the views are spectacular.

I met the first man on a mower on this hike. I made it to the tower and was offered a ride back to the park by a very nice lady and I declined. After exploring the tower I decided to walk back the same way and not make the loop which I knew would be shorter walk. I am trying to walk more. When I started out I saw a gentlemen on a mower and I waved and went on my way. I met him again at the end of the trail and he just grinned when he saw me. Told me I took the long way back. I was raised to bite my tongue and be polite. I just smiled. Did he make it a point to drive down there to give me a hard time? Maybe he needed to get off the mower and do a little walking himself? hmmm

There is a covered bridge in the park and mom and I walked through it. Then we drove to the cemetery. The oldest part of the cemetery was in the back and the narrow road to it was lined with trees. Low branches and there was no way I could take the van back there. So mom explored the new part and I walked to the back part. When you are exploring cemeteries you need to be respectful of the visitors, and the caretakers. When they are mowing I stay away from them until they are through with the section they are working on.

Here I was stopped by a man on a mower. He wanted to know what I was doing and I explained to him my hobby of exploring historical cemeteries. He gave me a brief history of the cemetery and I think if I encouraged him he would have gotten off his mower and given me a tour. It was tempting to learn of the people that are buried there and hear the history. He was nice enough to give me space to explore the oldest part of the cemetery. Winterset Cemetery is beautiful, well maintained and the stones are legible. It was just awesome.


Winterset is the birthplace of John Wayne. Even though he left when he was 3, the town celebrates their celebrity. We drove by the little house where he was born and walked over to the statue of him.

Then we drove over to the town square and we walked that. The courthouse is on the historical register as is many of the buildings. Then we stopped at a local used bookstore and mom found Jim Harrison’s first novel “Wolf” and I found ’You Shall Know Our Velocity!” by Dave Eggars.   We both were excited.


Even though we only went to one bridge in Madison County it was a great day! I will be posting pictures of Winterset at a later date. Right now I am going to give you the links to the rest of my pictures.  The carousel and the city park has video, just short clips.


Click here for Carousel Pictures in Story City Iowa
Click here for City Park Pictures in Story City Iowa
Click here for RV Park Pictures in Story City Iowa

The Surprise

It started with a phone call from my son James aka Rusty. He wanted to know if we could drive to Ames Iowa to pick up a package. The RV Park we were staying in Clear Lake wouldn’t accept packages so I told him we would drive to Ames, where there is an UPS store and spend a couple of days. The park we went to was flooded so a phone call was made to James aka Rusty and we ended up in Waukee Iowa. Mom and I wanted to visit Winterset and the RV Park in Waukee would accept packages, so it worked out well.

Anna (James aka Rusty’s girlfriend) worked her magic in the kitchen and the package was sent. It arrived this morning. Anna you are truly a creative person and to quote mom “she is very clever.” We are so happy that the two of you met, you are truly a magical person. This really made mom’s day. Thank you so much for making her cry, and smile, and laugh.

Happy 80th Birthday Mom - Here is to 80 more!!!!!

No Robert, No Isabel and a Whole Lot of Lonedog

AT&T service stinks in Iowa and I haven't had very good service.  One of things that I do that probably drives my family nuts is I like to take phone picture and send them to everyone on my list.  Today I found myself surrounded by graffiti. Since I couldn't take pictures using my phone and annoy the bejesus out of my family, I will do it here.  When I started searching through the graffiti one name kept popping up - Lonedog.  After you see his name and dates you start to wonder who is this fellow.......

Here is Londdog

Lonedog Again

When mom found this one she said "He found someone."  Of course she wondered if they were still together.  She is a romantic at heart.

Click Here For Pictures of Elmwood Cemetery Mason City Iowa

"Family Stuff"

Dear Anonymous

I would love to exchange information about the Richardson family but you didn’t leave your email address. I have heard of the “Richardson Book” but never could locate it. I am descended from Ebenezer Richardson, a devout Mormon with 4 wives and 34 children. His first wife, Angeline King was my g.g.g. grandmother. His son William Alma was my g.g. grandfather, his son William Alma was my g. grandfather, and finally my grandfather Ray Alma.

I have never met anyone on the Richardson side of the family, with my exception of my grandfather, and I was so young I don’t remember him. My grandfather had 6 children, not counting my father, by different wives and I never had the opportunity to meet them. I have been contacted by folks descended from Ebenezer but no one from William, William, or Ray. How do you fit into this family tree?

Ebenezer was someone I would have loved to have a cup of coffee with. He was baptized into the L.D.S. Church by the Prophet Joseph Smith. He was with the church from the beginning and never once did his faith waver. At the time of Haun's Mill Massacre, he was sent with another man to Haun's Mill to get Joseph Smith’s young family. Ebenezer was shot through the chest. The bullet went through his body and lodged in his back just under the skin. His companion cut it out with a knife. He was a sheriff in Utah. He played the violin. He was a missionary and traveled to South Africa. He was a well liked and respected man who led a very well rounded life. He was in the gold fields when the accident occurred that eventually took his life. I would have loved to hear his stories.

Please send me your email address and I will be happy to share information with you.

Hannah, the last two videos were the two songs I wanted you to listen to. The show is Bones.

For those that want to know - We are in Waukee waiting for a surprise. It is a secret and when the time is right I will let everyone know.

Instead of ending this with “click her for pictures” I have another link for you…. Click here for my ex-husband’s artwork on Etsy. I have no hard feelings for him; he is a very talented person both musically and with his drawings. I just wish I could be half the person my children think he is.

Life is good!