Move to New Blog

This blog has moved.

[Click Here to Take You There]

Home Sweet Home

Our travels have come to an end; we're home now.  

This is the end of the blog. 

Until next time.

Minnesota

Finally our repairs were done and we made our way to Minnesota. Almost home! We had supper with the relatives in Albert Lea and will be spending the night in a Walmart. Home tomorrow!!!

Winnebago Industries

Winnebago Industries has a campground for its customers who are waiting for service.  We stayed with about 10 other rigs.  The technicians came and pulled all of us into service bays first thing in the morning.  While we were waiting we went up to the Visitor Center and signed up for the factory tour.  The visitor center has lots of information and history, and we saw a 20 minute movie before the tour.  Then we all got on a Plant Tour bus (a modified Winnebago RV, of course) and they drove us around the grounds.  It covers over 500 acres and currently employs about 2,000 workers.  We got to see the workers on the assembly lines in all stages of manufacture, from floors, cabinets, upholstery, walls, paint. and assembly. it was a very interesting tour, but no cameras were allowed so sad to say, no pictures.

Winnebago Industries Visitor Center

At closing time our rig was not yet finished.  It turns out a small water leak we had in the front left corner requires the windshield to be removed, resealed, and replaced, and they didn't have time to finish that today.  Also, they had done some damage to one of the inside walls while they were working and they will have to replace an internal pannel tomorrow too.  So, that means we will be staying another night in their campground.

While we were waiting for our rig we met and had a nice visit with Patty Steger, the owner of Steger Mukluks & Moccasins in Ely, Minnesota.  She had a new RV all painted up with graphics from her company.  She was traveling with her big sweetheart of a dog, Luke.

Patty Steger

Patty and Luke came over to see our home.  Marble came out of hiding to look, but would not come very close.  Very brave of her.

Luke and Marble looking at each other.

Forest City, Iowa

We have a service appointment in the morning at the Winnebago/Itasca manufacturing plant in Forest City, Iowa.  This is where our rig was made.  It's only a few miles off the road home so we thought we would take advantage of that and get some warranty work done there. Nothing serious, just a few small water leaks.  Maybe we'll be able to get a tour of the plant while we are here.

The plant has camping spots with electricity for it's visitors.  We parked the rig and took the car to visit nearby Pilot Knob State Park.  In the park we found a short hiking trail that took us up to a lookout tower on the second highest point in Iowa, at elevation 1,450 feet.

Tower Built in 1934 by Civilian Conservation Corps

 

View from the tower.  It's flat like this in all directions.  It was kinda overcast, but the sun did come back out later.

Iowa

We're getting close. In Osceola, Iowa. Almost no Internet so far in this state so this will be brief.

Silly Texas

The painted up Cadillac cars I posted about yesterday were on the west side of Amarillo, TX.  In nearby Conway, TX, east of Amarillo we found these five Volkswagen Beetles nose down in the ground, an obvious spoof to the Cadillac Ranch.  A nearby old car got the paint work as well.  An old building there also got the paint.

VW Slug Bug Ranch

Old Car Paint Job

 And then we learned that just south of Amarillo, in Canyon, TX, are several retired combines sunk in the ground at an angle. Another spoof.  We did not drive down there to see them, so I just snatched this picture off the Internet for you to see.  I don't know if they've been spray painted up or not.

Combines

We drove as far as Blackwell, Oklahoma, and will spend the night in the Walmart lot there.

Amarillo, TX

We've crossed back into Central Time!  We'll be home soon.  Today, we drove as far as Amarillo, Texas.

Just before you get to town is a line of ten junker Cadillacs buried nose-down in a field along I-40.  These were placed here by a group of art-hippies in 1974.  People would stop along the highway, walk out to view the cars--then deface them or rip off pieces as souvenirs.  Over the years this behavior has evolved to the point that you are now encouraged to spray paint them.  Unfortunately, I did not have any paint with me, or I would have left my mark too, even though it would be painted over in no time.

Cadillac Ranch

 Some people get a little carried away with the paint.  There is a fence and a gate that are all painted up, as well as this garbage dumpster.

You're Not Supposed to Paint the Dumpster!!!

I met a lady there grumbling about her co-workers who always drag her to these "largest ball of twine" places.  I laughed and told her I live in Minnesota and only 10 miles away from the "largest ball of twine".  It was funny.  It was.  We laughed.

Grants, New Mexico

The great "Return to Minnesota" migration has begun.  We're on our way home, and so are a lot of other Minnesotans, as well as a lot of Canadians.  

We'll be spending the night in a Walmart parking lot in Grants, New Mexico, tonight.  We're just tired of driving.  It's only 5pm here, and there are five other RV's parked in the back of the Walmart lot with us.  I'm sure more will arrive shortly.

We did stop at Winslow, Arizona, and took this picture at the "Standin' on the Corner Park"  they had there on Main Street.

Standin' on the Corner in Winslow, Arizona

Camp Verde, Tuesday

We spent last night at Distant Drums RV Park, refreshed all our tanks, and enjoyed having electricity and TV Cable.  It's a nice park, we were here earlier this winter, and will probably return again the next time we are in this area.  But for now we want to save some money so we left this morning and moved to the other side of the freeway where there is a small casino that will allow one overnight RV parking for free.

We drove to nearby Cornville (funny name for a desert town) and had lunch with a friend of mine from Minnesota who is wintering in Sedona.  It was great to see her again.

Then back to the casino.  We found a hiking trail and hiked the desert for a short time and went into the casino to look around, but did not gamble.

More RVs have moved into the parking lot by us, now there are 6 more here.

I tried to upload more pictures for today's blog but got another notice that my photo storage is full.  I could upgrade but I don't want to pay and don't want to give them my credit card number.  For now I will have to delete old pictures before I can add new ones. :(  I don't want to do that.  I'll be looking for a new blog program for next year's blog.