We decided to stop at a hotel tonight. We had intended to reach Davenport, Iowa, today but got a late start and didn't make it. Since we had no internet connection yesterday or today--until now--we didn't have a clue about campgrounds. So here we are at the Fairfield Inn. They're pretty nice and we redeemed points, so we got it for free.
David has a friend, Kenny Klein, who was a fraternity brother at Loyola. When David and I were dating, we used to double-date with Kenny and his wife Kitty. We've stayed in touch with them all these years--they still live in N.O. Kenny is from a little town in Iowa called Rock Valley(about 3000 people). It's in the very northwest part of Iowa, just below the So. Dakota border. Kenny talks non-stop about Rock Valley. When we decided to start going east, David realized we weren't very far from Rock Valley and thought we should stop there, take a few pictures and surprise Kenny. We got there at about 5:30 yesterday afternoon. As luck would have it, they had a very nice new campground there, so we checked in. We've gotten pretty good at setting up camp after all this time and can now, after a month of camping, do it quickly. We then looked for a place to have dinner and drove about a mile to downtown Rock Valley. The Steak House looked OK, so we went in and had dinner. We saw a few people who looked about the right age and David asked them if any of them knew the Kleins. They were all familiar with the family and knew that one of Kenny's brothers had recently moved back to town. They said Leo would "probably have finished playing golf for the day by then and that he might be having a beer at The Cue which was across the street. But, you know, it might be a little late for that--maybe he's at home by now. Let me call a friend and get his number. He lives in some apartments over by the Dollar General. If you see a guy in a wheelchair, it'll be Leo. He has Parkinson's now. "
We didn't see him at The Cue, so we drove out to the Dollar General. Since we weren't sure where his apartment was, David called him. He started off by saying, "My name is Dave Siegwald and you don't know me, but", and Leo interrupted by saying, "Of course, I know you!" He gave directions to drive the block and a half to his apartment. He couldn't believe we were there. (I can't believe we were there! It was actually pretty crazy to go there, but I can't say I regretted it. We had a blast.) We visited and talked for quite a while before returning to our campsite. Leo and David naturally had to play a joke on Kenny. Leo called him and started talking and then pretended that somebody was knocking on the door. David then got on the phone and started talking to Kenny and pretended that the wires must've somehow gotten crossed. You have to know David and Kenny and how they operate. They're always trying to play jokes on each other--get one leg up on the other, etc. They have a good time with it. We met Leo at his golf club for breakfast the next morning and didn't leave town until after 10. We loved Rock Valley. It's the prettiest little town. We didn't see even one house for sale. Every yard had the greenest grass. It made me want to move there, but I know I really wouldn't be happy there. It was fun for a day, though.
All we really did today was drive, drive, drive. There really is a lot of corn in Iowa. Tomorrow we're just going to drive, too--just drive as far through Illinois as we can. On Monday, we hope to be in Columbus, Ohio, to visit with Linda, David's sister, for a while.
The weather here looks ominous. We just saw some clouds that look unlike any we've ever seen before--like giant cotton balls. There are some tornado and hail warnings, so I'm glad we're not camping tonight!
David has a friend, Kenny Klein, who was a fraternity brother at Loyola. When David and I were dating, we used to double-date with Kenny and his wife Kitty. We've stayed in touch with them all these years--they still live in N.O. Kenny is from a little town in Iowa called Rock Valley(about 3000 people). It's in the very northwest part of Iowa, just below the So. Dakota border. Kenny talks non-stop about Rock Valley. When we decided to start going east, David realized we weren't very far from Rock Valley and thought we should stop there, take a few pictures and surprise Kenny. We got there at about 5:30 yesterday afternoon. As luck would have it, they had a very nice new campground there, so we checked in. We've gotten pretty good at setting up camp after all this time and can now, after a month of camping, do it quickly. We then looked for a place to have dinner and drove about a mile to downtown Rock Valley. The Steak House looked OK, so we went in and had dinner. We saw a few people who looked about the right age and David asked them if any of them knew the Kleins. They were all familiar with the family and knew that one of Kenny's brothers had recently moved back to town. They said Leo would "probably have finished playing golf for the day by then and that he might be having a beer at The Cue which was across the street. But, you know, it might be a little late for that--maybe he's at home by now. Let me call a friend and get his number. He lives in some apartments over by the Dollar General. If you see a guy in a wheelchair, it'll be Leo. He has Parkinson's now. "
We didn't see him at The Cue, so we drove out to the Dollar General. Since we weren't sure where his apartment was, David called him. He started off by saying, "My name is Dave Siegwald and you don't know me, but", and Leo interrupted by saying, "Of course, I know you!" He gave directions to drive the block and a half to his apartment. He couldn't believe we were there. (I can't believe we were there! It was actually pretty crazy to go there, but I can't say I regretted it. We had a blast.) We visited and talked for quite a while before returning to our campsite. Leo and David naturally had to play a joke on Kenny. Leo called him and started talking and then pretended that somebody was knocking on the door. David then got on the phone and started talking to Kenny and pretended that the wires must've somehow gotten crossed. You have to know David and Kenny and how they operate. They're always trying to play jokes on each other--get one leg up on the other, etc. They have a good time with it. We met Leo at his golf club for breakfast the next morning and didn't leave town until after 10. We loved Rock Valley. It's the prettiest little town. We didn't see even one house for sale. Every yard had the greenest grass. It made me want to move there, but I know I really wouldn't be happy there. It was fun for a day, though.
All we really did today was drive, drive, drive. There really is a lot of corn in Iowa. Tomorrow we're just going to drive, too--just drive as far through Illinois as we can. On Monday, we hope to be in Columbus, Ohio, to visit with Linda, David's sister, for a while.
The weather here looks ominous. We just saw some clouds that look unlike any we've ever seen before--like giant cotton balls. There are some tornado and hail warnings, so I'm glad we're not camping tonight!
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