Iowa
Amano Colonies RV Park
Amano General Storew
Dutch bakery in Pella
Geneseo sunset
Madison County covered bridge
Dutch mural at bakery
After the break in and robbery in our motorhome in Chicago, we decided to head for Geneseo, Iowa. I arranged to meet Rob Emmanuel
from Progressive Insurance in order to discuss my insurance claim. Exactly at the pre-arranged time he arrived at the campground and
after only a 15 minute discussion he presented me with a cheque for the full amount less the deductible. What excellent service! We
then drove to Kewanee, about 20 miles away to a Wal-Mart super store where I bought a new TV (13” for $135 ) and a Casio watch ( $28),
- at least it has dual time so I could see the time in South Africa. We tried to find the turnoff to Bishops Hill, but we couldn’t
- it is a little town with Swedish roots.
Our next stop was at the Amana Colonies campground, where we saw hundreds of RV’s and a really big flea market. There were no trees and no shade but the camp was cheap at $12 + tax a night, with all hook-ups.
Later on we rode into Amana town, about 1 ½ miles from the camp and went to the general store which was like I remember general stores when I was young. We rode around town visiting all the little stores, tasting the smoked sausages and Rhubarb wine, which was very sweet, like a Noble Rot dessert wine. We bought some root beer, date & nut cake and 4 cheese bratwurst sausages. On our way back to the camp we visited the Amana Colonies museum ( $4 each), saw a slide show on their history and then walked around the original Kinderschule, which now house many exhibits. It was very interesting. They were the Religious Inspirationalists, who fled from Germany to USA - originally to Buffalo in the early 1800’s. They lived communally, earning no salaries but rather earning points for food and clothing. The Amana electrical plant was founded here.
That night we attended a play in the community theatre - Old Creamery Theatre, where we saw an excellent performance of Arsenic and Old Lace. After the play the cast stood at the exit door and said goodbye and shook hands with most people. This was quite a unique occurrence.
We left Amana Colonies headed for Pella, a Dutch village. All the way there I primed Yvonne not to expect an authentic Dutch village, but rather an American view of what they think Holland looks like. Yep - that’s exactly what it was. The buildings were pretty and reasonably authentic in design and shape, but the snoepjes (candy) and cakes were not. We tried many stores and bought all sorts of Dutch goodies, but none were really original, unlike the Dutch store in Lynden, WA or in Vancouver, BC.
We did watch the Klockenspiel at 11:00, it was OK. It was taped music but real bells.
After that we headed for a little town called Winterset in Madison County, where Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep starred in the movie called Madison County. That night we stayed in a nice truck stop in Stuart - a very strong wind came up and Yvonne was petrified about a tornado coming through. On the news they predicted bad storms the next evening with the possibility of tornadoes. Thankfully, there were none.
Our next stop was at the Amana Colonies campground, where we saw hundreds of RV’s and a really big flea market. There were no trees and no shade but the camp was cheap at $12 + tax a night, with all hook-ups.
Later on we rode into Amana town, about 1 ½ miles from the camp and went to the general store which was like I remember general stores when I was young. We rode around town visiting all the little stores, tasting the smoked sausages and Rhubarb wine, which was very sweet, like a Noble Rot dessert wine. We bought some root beer, date & nut cake and 4 cheese bratwurst sausages. On our way back to the camp we visited the Amana Colonies museum ( $4 each), saw a slide show on their history and then walked around the original Kinderschule, which now house many exhibits. It was very interesting. They were the Religious Inspirationalists, who fled from Germany to USA - originally to Buffalo in the early 1800’s. They lived communally, earning no salaries but rather earning points for food and clothing. The Amana electrical plant was founded here.
That night we attended a play in the community theatre - Old Creamery Theatre, where we saw an excellent performance of Arsenic and Old Lace. After the play the cast stood at the exit door and said goodbye and shook hands with most people. This was quite a unique occurrence.
We left Amana Colonies headed for Pella, a Dutch village. All the way there I primed Yvonne not to expect an authentic Dutch village, but rather an American view of what they think Holland looks like. Yep - that’s exactly what it was. The buildings were pretty and reasonably authentic in design and shape, but the snoepjes (candy) and cakes were not. We tried many stores and bought all sorts of Dutch goodies, but none were really original, unlike the Dutch store in Lynden, WA or in Vancouver, BC.
We did watch the Klockenspiel at 11:00, it was OK. It was taped music but real bells.
After that we headed for a little town called Winterset in Madison County, where Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep starred in the movie called Madison County. That night we stayed in a nice truck stop in Stuart - a very strong wind came up and Yvonne was petrified about a tornado coming through. On the news they predicted bad storms the next evening with the possibility of tornadoes. Thankfully, there were none.