Barge coming through!!!!!!

Last night we camped in the Fishermen's Corner COE park in Hampton, Illinois, near East Moline. It is right on the Mississippi River and the areas along the river were very neat for the most part. They were nicely groomed and well kept. We drove up and down the river roads on both sides. There were a lot of tugboats with barges. This morning we went dockside at a small town north of the camp and watched this barge come through.

Later we drove across into LeClaire, Iowa, the birthplace of Buffalo Bill Cody. They have a small museum there which contains memoribilia of his days with the Wild West Show. The home where he was born was actually sold at one time and relocated in Cody, Wyoming. They are trying to raise money to build a replica on the actual property. A homestead where he spent time in his youth is a short drive out in the country and they have buffalo in the field there. There is also an old dredging boat, the Lonestar, they have dry docked at the museum. They are raising funds to refurbish it. It was orginally built as a side wheeler, but was converted to a stern wheeler.

We broke camp and drove over to the Amana Colonies in Iowa and are camped at the RV park there. The park is very large. . . over 400 sites with full hookups. They honor Passport America for 2 nights, so it's $28 for the 2 nights. We drove around the area, going through ALL the colonies, Amana, East Amana, Middle Amana, High Amana, West Amana, South Amana and Homestead. They were formed by a group seeking religious freedom. They were originally from Germany and bought land here to build their communal utopian society. The colonies are still owned by the Amana Society and it appears they have tight control over the maintenance of the communities to keep them as original as possible. In other words, you don't see Wally World or McDonald's on the corner here. It is actually quite refreshing and an historial bit of Americana you don't see anywhere else. I recommend visiting if you haven't done so. It is not crowded right now and you don't have to fight for space in the parking lots or the shops. One of the business started by the colonies was refrigeration and this is the birthplace of the Amana appliances. Whirlpool has now bought Amana and the people here are worried that Whirlpool will leave the area. Tomorrow we are going to visit a few more of the shops. Today it was the wine and cheese and meat shops. Heh heh.

Many of you have been asking about Bailey, my black Scottish Terror. Apparently his lung disorder was pneumonia and nothing more serious. Well, pneumonia is serious, but treatable, and Bailey is responding well to the treatment. He is definitely acting more like his old self and eating well now. He barks occasionally, something he didn't do when he was really sick. I hope he continues to improve.

Till next time. . .

Dale