August 21 and August 22--Albert Lea, MN to Lincoln Trail State Park, IL

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Sunday, August 21, 2011 Wal-Mart parking lot Albert Lea, MN Clear blue skies at 9:30 with temperature at 68 degrees. Mileage starting at 16415.

We did a bit of shopping at Wal-mart before we left. We then called a friend of Valerie's who lives in Decorah, a college town in Iowa, in the very corner of the state. Both Norma and Valerie were in Moldova together on Fulbright's and have kept in touch with each other. She said she would be home about 12:00 and we figured that was about right for us to drive there and find her home.

We stopped in the town of Austin to visit the Hormel Spam museum and found it closed on Sundays until noon. Too bad! It looked like a real interesting place to tour. This town is the home of the Hormel Corporation. George A. Hormel worked in a Chicago slaughterhouse before becoming a traveling wool and hide buyer. He traveled to this area and decided to settle here and open a meat business.

We left Interstate 90 at the intersection of county road 56, and left it, when it dead ended into US highway 63. Continued on 63 until it intersected with county road 9 and drove into Decorah. We were a bit early so, drove around the very neat and tidy campus of Luther College, a small liberal arts school founded in 1861 and affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, where Norma is a professor emeritus.

After meeting and greeting Norma, we toured her home and she took us on tour of the very interesting town. The town of approximately 8,172 people is situated on the Upper Iowa River and is the county seat of Winneshiek County. It was settled by a large number of Norwegians in the 1850's and has a museum devoted to this heritage including some typical pioneer buildings that they moved to an outside area.

We ended up all having a very late lunch at an Italian restaurant located way off the beaten path near the river and a park. Valerie and I wondered how they could stay in business, not only because of their out in nowhere location, but also, the poor quality of their food. Both my salmon and Valerie's gyro meat were burned--and not just a little burned. Left Norma's about 4:30 that afternoon and headed along US 52 toward Dubuque, Iowa.

Now cruising through acres and acres of Iowa farm land that is planted in, you guessed it, corn and soybeans. Where is other stuff grown??? like carrots, spinach, cabbage, and other veggies. Is Florida and California the only states that grow food for people and not animals??? I take that back, MN did grow some sweet corn, but our untrained eyes can't tell sweet from field corn growing in a field.

After going through small farm communities we came to the Mighty Mississippi River herself, at the town of Guttenberg. It looked like it had been damned up at this point forming a lake for recreational purposes. Checked the RV parks and decided they were set up for long term residents and not overnighters. Guttenberg looked to be an interesting town that has kept up many old waterfront buildings and now appeals to tourists.

Continued on and was surprised to drive a forested and hilly, narrow ridge top and then along a creek road when we were so close to Dubuque. Was NOT impressed by the area of Dubuque we came into--poor, poor, poor. Drove toward the center of town that looked revitalized but seemed somewhat disorganized by the way the bridge and highway 20 freeway cut through it. Turned west and climbed up out of the center of town which sits on the river to the 'burbs on the cliff tops. We found the Wal-mart parking lot which was not ideal as noisy with cars playing loud music and hot with the added reflection off the asphalt.

Monday August 22, 2011 Wal-mart parking lot in Dubuque, IA. 82 degrees at 9:00 this morning and we felt every bit of that heat. Starting mileage was 16,629.

Crossed the Mississippi River and drove east on highway 20. It is really strange to us that there is no freeway or Interstate out or through this town. A few miles into Illinois after crossing the bridge, the road became a two lane, congested road with 18 wheelers in the mix. Passed through the edge of the town of Galena which we discovered was the home of President US Grant and has become a tourist town with many B&Bs, spas, and resorts. It was the center of iron ore mining at one time and that is what the name Galena means. I think it would be an interesting town to visit if we were ever in the area again.

We had planned to drive on highway 20 for about 25 miles and then turn south on state road 78. When we got to our turning point it was posted with a detour sign, which we then followed. Had no idea where we were for a long time, as the road we were on wasn't on any map we had, but since we were heading south we weren't concerned. Finally, after meandering a bit more on county roads, we came to the town of Dixon, which is where President Ronald Reagan lived from age 9 until he graduated from college. Stopped at the local Mickey D's for a break and to check e-mail.

We had had enough country roads for awhile so after driving out of Dixon on county road 26 for about 20 miles, we drove Interstate 80 to the east and then took Interstate 39 south. Looking for a place to have lunch we left the interstate and went into the town of Minonk to find a city park or other place that might have some shade. We found some shade trees along the main drag and ate lunch watching a group of older men/farmers gather at a picnic table and eat and talk. Their version, we think, of older men gathering at the local barbershop/store to gossip. As we left town we noted a sign that pays tribute to 7 Petri brothers from this town who all served in WWII. Unlike the Sullivan Brothers in the movie, "Saving Private Ryan," all 7 men returned safely home.

Going around the City of Bloomington we changed onto Interstate 74 and then at Champaign to Interstate 57 as we made our way toward Fox Ridge State Park to stay for the night. It is definitely too hot to stay at Wal-mart. Exited the freeway and entered the town of Charleston. Got gas here at $3.599 a gal and she took 25.875 galleons for a total of $93.12. Mileage was 19,973. Found the State Park and drove to a camp spot only to find that there seemed to be some electric problem with the park's outlet that kept us from getting the power we needed to run the air conditioner. The park hosts stated that all camp spots had that same problem possibly caused by "grounding". Whatever it was, we decided to move on and drive along the Illinois/Indiana state line to another State Park.

Pulled into Lincoln Trail State Park off Interstate 70 at the community of Marshall. The hosts that greeted us when we pulled into the State Park were very nice and told us if there were any electrical problem that they would fix it. Valerie played around with the electrical in the camping spot we chose, and finally got it working. Had dinner and called it a night with the air conditioner blasting away.

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