Cherry Glen Corps of Engineers Campground, Sayorville Lake, IA

We left Mendota and headed west on 80.  I really enjoy the windmills and just think they are fabulous.

Anyway, once we crossed the Mississippi River we found ourselves in a little town called LeClaire, IA.

 Well we just had to stop because that's where "The Pickers" are from.  That's right you know the show with the 2 guys that pick old things and own Antique Archaeology.  The store is located in town behind a gas station and they were just opening, Yeah!  They had just got back from being on the road, Mike was in town but we didn't get to see him.

It was so cool to be there and see things from the shows. 

Ok, time to get back on the road. 

Our stopping point was Cherry Glen Corps of Engineers Campground at Sayorville Lake, IA.  As you may have figured by now we like the Corps campgrounds because they are cheap, usually have good biking trails and are nice.  This one didn't disappoint and we paid $13 a night.  We would definitely come back here again and it gets a rating of an 8.

Once we were set up we discovered that the satellite on the roof was blocked by trees so it was time to try the one that is on a stand and you set it up yourself.  Well we didn't have too much luck with it and we are spoiled by the auto one on the roof.  I see a new auto portable one in our future.  So while we are attempting to set up the satellite Mark notices this camper trying to back into the spot behind us.  The driver is backing into the bushes so Mark goes over there to help and discovers it Grandma.  He assists her in getting the trailer into the site and she tells him she just came from the local Casino, this could be the reason the backing up wasn't going so well!  Anyway, grandma doesn't unhook or put down the jacks once she plugs into the electric.  She slowly gets the dog fence out of the trailer (And I do mean slowly), retrieves rover and announces that all is good.   I have to give her credit as she was all by herself and still getting it, you go Grandma!

Our picture window and Grandma's site

Note the bent ladder-wonder what she ran into?

Anyway, after dinner we went on a bike ride to check out the lake.  As usual the trails were very nice and the sunset delightful.

The next day we kept ourselves busy and then went to meet our nephew Jason Williamson in Norwalk.  We met up for dinner with him and the girls and made plans to go to the park to play Disc Golf.  At dinner we mentioned that we missed our chiropractor Dr. Foland and before you know it Jason had us an appointment with one that he knew!  So afterwords we headed to the park and played around of Disc Golf.  Jason is all knowing about the sport which was great as I had never played before so I received instruction from a pro! 

No I didn't miss...that was somebody elses disc

                                               Thanks so much Jason, we had a great time!

Heading to Sioux Falls, SD tomorrow to establish our residency. 

 

Mendota, IL

Heading out of Howe, IN we had to compete with a different kind of horse power on the road.  It is somewhat strange knowing that the Amish/Mennonite represent maybe half of the work force at the DRV factory but will never get to own or use one.

If I haven't told you all we are making our way to Frenly NV to work for Amazon.com during their Christmas rush, we start work on the 16th of October.  We can work for 9 weeks and pay off my truck, plus I think it will be interesting to see how the whole operation works.  So we aren't trying to hit all the states in 6 months. 

Before we left NC I was doing some bartending at the local Moose Lodge and was told that some of the lodges had camping spots available to members.  While looking for our next campground we discovered that Mendota had a lodge with camping so we thought we would give it a try.

While entering the town we noticed the windmill farms which have always fascinated us.  We checked in at the Moose lodge but needed to wait for the administrator to get there so we went in search of the windmills.  Now remember we are in corn country so either the road goes east/west or north/south so it wasn't hard to find them.  These windmills are just awesome in size and we have never been able to get this close to them.  Mark wanted to know if they made a sound and yes we can report that they do.  It is like-swoosh-very cool.

We have seen a blade being transported on the highway and it is huge.  I am all for harnessing our natural resources, use what God gave us...the wind.









We were welcomed with open arms at the lodge.  They don't really have any hookups other the 110 so we will run the generator for AC when needed but we do have a huge backyard all to ourselves.

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Do note the siren in the upper left hand corner for tornadoes...glad that season is over!





After enjoying some cold beers and a monster burger we walked out the back door to the caravan and watched the sunset.  Tomorrow night is chicken Parmesan and steak on Saturday so we won't be doing any cooking.

On Friday after breakfast we were looking for something in the basement that we couldn't find.  So one thing lead to the next and before we knew it we had everything spread out on the lawn.  Well it was a nice day so make lemonade out of lemons and it needed to be reorganized anyway.

All put away...this probably will need to be done every 2 months.

FYI

The knobs in the shower were holding water and looking bad so I decided to drill a small hole in them to drain off the collected water. 

Before

With drilled hole

I am happy to report that so far this has worked just great!  I'm a genius...just saying.

After all of this work we got cleaned up and headed to the bar for drinks and dinner.  

All for $8 and enough left over for lunch.  The bartender was telling us about the Fair that was going on this weekend and mentioned that the Demo Derby was tonight. It sounded like fun so we headed to the Fair.

                                                                Small Town USA

I have never been to a Demo Derby and it was a scream!!! I loved it.  Well Mark had been before and made a point of us setting right up front.  I'm told the water truck comes out to keep the dust down.

Down comes the flag and the next thing I know mud is flying every where!  The crowd went crazy!  This little fella was sitting in front of us.  I had mud in my hair, in my purse and all over my new white shirt.  There was a lady sitting up front that said she wore a white shirt to her first Derby and then she kindly let us use her extra bed sheet.  Hint-bring a sheet to the Derby. 

It is crazy that these cars can keep on going after being hit so many times.

The night was just an absolute Hoot!!!!

On Saturday we rode our bikes into town to check things out.  There are trains coming and going at all times, lots of places to eat and drink.  We found Wild Bill Hickok keeping an eye on the park.

Mendota is the home town to DelMonte Foods which was across from the Moose. 

          On Sunday Mark did some metal detecting and we prepared for traveling tomorrow to Iowa. 

Our ever changing Picture Window

Our stay in Mendota has been nice and we have enjoyed having all this space but it is time to move on.