Mon, May 9 thru Tues, May 17, 2011 - Trip to Iowa

 
On Monday morning, May 9th, we piled our luggage into Dave’s truck and took off for Meridian, Mississippi, before 8 am. At 9:45 am, we were on the road to Iowa. That night we stopped around 7 pm in Wentzville, Missouri, just north of St. Louis, where we found an inexpensive motel and went looking for a Mexican restaurant for dinner. The one we found wasn’t the greatest but, at least, it filled the empty spaces in our stomachs.

 
Back on the road again by 6:30 am Tuesday morning, we plotted a route to take us through Iowa City so we could deliver a car to our youngest son, Kelle. The car had been sitting at our friend Jim Hansen’s home in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, for awhile and Kelle was ready to use it again now that he was graduating from college. Jim greeted us as we pulled into his driveway and since it was lunchtime, we offered to take him out to eat. Because Jim knew that we wanted to have the car serviced before we left it with Kelle, he suggested that we take it to the Ford garage there in town and we could go to lunch from there. Good idea! And what was even a better idea was the place Jim directed us to for lunch – the Lincoln Café. Jim’s long time girlfriend, Diana, met us at the café. If you ever have the chance to eat at this establishment in Mt. Vernon, don’t pass up the opportunity. It was a fabulous dining experience and completely unexpected! Thank you, Jim and Diana!


  After lunch, we picked up Kelle’s car and dropped it off in Iowa City. The next stop for the day was Des Moines. We arrived in time to accompany our daughter as she picked up the two little boys at daycare. We made a quick trip back to their home for a sandwich and then piled into two vehicles for the trip to the ball field for JT’s T-ball game. It was such fun and who would’ve predicted that the temperature that afternoon would reach 100°F! It was hot – a good old fashioned day at the ballpark.

After the ball game, we continued north to Gale’s parents’ cottage in Clear Lake where we arrived at 10 pm and went straight to bed. It was a good day.


 

The next three days were spent working around the cottage, visiting our parents and running errands. The biggest project was to see that our vehicle, a Toyota Solara, was running and ready to go. It wasn’t - - - so, after having it towed to the Toyota dealer and learning all the things that were wrong with it, we wished we would have sold it two years ago before we left on the boat. Evidently, vehicles that sit too long without being used, don’t fare well. The dealer thought they might be able to have all of the work done by Monday.

On a cold and rainy Saturday morning, May 14th, we left for Iowa City at 6:15 am. It was quite early, but we wanted to have enough time to make the drive, stop for coffee, and have a few minutes with Kelle before he had to join the lineup for his 11 am graduation ceremony.  After a couple of stops, we arrived at the Marriott in Coralville, Iowa, at 9:45 am where we hooked up with Kelle, took a few pictures and waited for the event. Afterwards, we spent some time trouble shooting a problem with Kelle’s car and then relaxed and enjoyed a nice late lunch with the new graduate before driving back to Clear Lake.

Our original plan had been to leave for Demopolis straight from Iowa City instead of going back to Clear Lake; however, because we wanted to take our personal vehicle with us, we had to wait for it to get out of the shop. At 3 pm Monday, the Toyota had been repaired. The bill was $3,800 with the largest item being a new “computer” for the car, as well as four new tires, a new battery, new spark plugs, transmission flush, etc. About the only thing that car didn’t get was new brakes and those will have to be replaced when we decide to drive it on a regular basis again. Maureen was anxious to hit the road, so as soon as we picked up the car at Toyota, we started driving south.

 
We were able to get as far as Hannibal, Missouri, before stopping Monday night. The next morning, Tuesday, May 17th, we traveled all the way back to Demopolis with a side trip to Florence, Alabama, to check out the Florence Harbor Marina where we planned to leave our boat for a month as we travel back to Iowa again in June. We were happy with what we saw in Florence and arrive home to Blue Heron about 8 pm Tuesday night.