Bridges of Madison County

I am so glad we stopped here in Winterset. This city park is just beautiful.

From Geeks on Tour 200906 (June)

And, check this out! There is a maze here made with a live hedge. We walked right by it the first day we were here and didn't even know. It took looking at the park with Google Earth to notice the maze, then we made it a point to find it. If you use Google Earth, fly to 41.330694, -94.003817 and zoom in close to see the maze. Do you know the difference between a maze and a labyrinth? hmmmmmmm??? A maze has many choices as you go thru it - and some of them even lead to dead ends. It can be a confusing and frustrating experience. A labyrinth has no choices, you follow the path from the beginning, and it leads you, inescapably, to the end. It can be a very meditative experience.

We were determined to do a little sightseeing here, so we hopped on our bikes in the morning because it was forecast to rain in the afternoon. We visited Marion Morrison's birthplace (you probably know him as John Wayne.) He only lived here until he was 3, but he left a mark! Then we walked around the town square. Most every town we've seen in Iowa so far has a beautiful town square. The first one I saw, I thought for sure it must have been the movie set for Back to the Future. But then we saw so many more. Here's the town square in Winterset: And, I kept looking up every few steps to appreciate the detail in the architecture. But the sight I really wanted to see is a covered bridge. And, there's one right in our little city park: And, while we were in the John Wayne gift shop, we picked up the DVD for 'Bridges of Madison County' which was filmed here. I saw the movie years ago and remembered the basic plot and the fact that I really liked it. Oh - that's an understatement. I LOVED it. It's got to be on the top of anybody's list of romantic films ... and a tear jerker ... and beautiful scenery ... and soundtrack. I love watching films that were filmed in a place where we are visiting - like when we watched 'Somewhere in Time' after visiting Mackinac Island last year. Now I want to do more sightseeing! Thanks Gypsy Journal for recommending this place! But, I got website work to do. Maybe later.

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Happy Birthday Odie

We got back on the road today and stopped at a great little city park in Winterset, Iowa. It's a self-pay type of place and we stopped at the entrance to read the instructions. While we were stopped, we saw two smiling faces coming towards us from a nearby motorhome. Hey! It's Russ and Betsy who we met at the Gypsy Journal rally last September. They attended our Computer Boot Camp. So we pulled into a site right next to them and we planned a happy hour.

From Geeks on Tour 200906 (June)

We even had a campfire! Not that we ever need an excuse ... but it did occur to us that it was Odie's birthday yesterday, so we gave him a piece of cheese and we partied! Ok, I have to own up to the fact that we realized it was Odie's birthday only after he got several emailed birthday cards from DoggySpace :-)

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Peonies - the Memorial Day flower

Do you know about Peonies? I didn't. Apparently they are quite dependable, if planted and cared for correctly, to bloom right before Memorial Day weekend! And they are big and beautiful. This makes them a perfect flower for cemeteries. In Gravity, Iowa in fact, they are the only planted flower allowed.

From Geeks on Tour 200906 (June)

Memorial day was a couple weeks ago and these Peonies are past their prime but still quite impressive. It was a beautiful day yesterday. Jim and Dick took turns at the mower, and I took advantage of the 'Solar Dryer' :-) Not your normal RVing lifestyle! But, I gotta say it was quite pleasant - the sunshine, the birdsongs, the smell of freshly mowed lawn. Once I stopped sneezing anyway. We'll be back on the road next week. We hear from the Gypsy Journal that John Wayne's birthplace is just a short ways north of here, and it's in Madison county where the movie, Bridges of Madison County, was filmed. Sounds like fun. And then, I've been wanting to visit the Field of Dreams movie site since we were here last year.

Is this heaven? No, this is Iowa.

Our next stop is the FMCA Midwest area rally in Albert Lea, Minnesota.

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Down Time

Spent the weekend putting together the latest Geeks on Tour Newsletter. We decided to offer a special price on our Online Classroom Membership. For the month of June, instead of $39 for one year membership, we're offering both new memberships and renewals for $29. I had to do some re-programming to make that happen. I messed up and the first bunch of people that tried to sign up were greeted with error messages instead of successfull transactions. Bummer! I hate when I shoot myself in the foot like that.

Today, we're back at Lynne and John's church in Iowa and I'm taking a down day. I believe in taking a sick day without getting sick. Cuz if I don't ... I'm bound to get sick. Actually, my allergies were so bad in Missouri it felt like I was sick. Maybe that's why I'm kinda low today. Anyway - it's mainly an excuse to read a good book. And I happen to have one that our friend Joline from New Mexico gave me. Three Cups of Tea - a true story about an American man who came to know the people in a remote village of Pakistan after attempting a climb of K2 (the world's second highest mountain.) He determined to raise money and go back to Pakistan to build a school for the children in that village. He has since established 78 schools there!

Three Cups of Tea is one of the most remarkable adventure stories of our time. Greg Mortenson’s dangerous and difficult quest to build schools in the wildest parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan is not only a thrilling read, it’s proof that one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, really can change the world .’ -Tom Brokaw

Such an inspiring story - even if it does make me feel pretty puny.

Ok - back to reading ...

History and Bicycling in Sedalia

We had a play day yesterday. Jim got the bicycles off the car and put air in the tires, and we pedaled off to the Katy trail. It was a sunny, gorgeous day and we had a great time getting a little bit of exercise and learning some history. So, why is it called the Katy? This is the old MKT railroad. The Missouri, Kansas, Texas railroad. 'Miss Katy' became the spokesperson, promoting rail travel in the late 1800s. The dining cars and sleeping cars made it quite a luxurious way to travel. The intersection of the MKT and the Missouri-Pacific railroad is what put Sedalia on the map ... literally. An enterprising man named George Smith bought the land in 1860 when he learned that the railroads would go right thru it. He set about to found the town and named it after his daughter 'Sarah', nicknamed Sed. What started out as Sedville, became known as Sedalia and was a booming railroad town from about 1870 - 1930. The train depot in downtown Sedalia is now a museum. Sedalia was also home to Scott Joplin and the Ragtime music he created. Scott Joplin was a black man who moved from Texas to Sedalia, Missouri to attend college here. A pretty amazing story for the 1860s. The Scott Joplin festival is visited by people the world over. It starts next week, just a little too late for us to stick around. Here is a video of the Maple Leaf Rag - probably most famous of Joplin's creations. But, enough of history from the 1800s - Sedalia is also famous for a rock concert that rivaled Woodstock! Called the Ozark Music Festival, attendance estimates go as high as 350,000! With performances by Jefferson Starship, Eagles, and Marshall Tucker Band among many others, the main attraction was the hippie culture that took over the Missouri State Fairgrounds for four days in July of 1974. Picture from the aftermath of the Music Festival (from the website linked above): Yes! That's the same Missouri State Fairgrounds where we have been parked this week along with 700 other RVs! These RVers were a much more subdued crowd I'm sure - but many of us are still rock 'n rollers at heart! Picture of the aftermath of the Escapade Rally at the same fairgrounds.

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