June 14: Good morning. All showered and ready to go. I believe McDonald's is our first stop as Delma said it sounded better than breakfast here. Debbie and I argue over paying for breakfast. Debbie won!!
Going to stop today to see where some of the movie "Bridges of Madison" county was filmed. Delma got a little excited thinking about Clint Eastwood and the gas pedal just kept going down. Jean hollered a little. Going through Ronald Reagan's birthplace - Tampico, IL. Turned around and went back to Dixon, IL, to Reagan's boyhood home. After several turns, back roads, and much, much discussion, I think we are on the right road according to Garmin (unless we change our minds again).
Can you believe we stopped at a fancy rest stop that had a sign that said "no smoking anywhere except in your enclosed car"? We just stayed there long enough to potty (Delma did smoke); then away we go. Delma took a little nap; but no snoring this time. Some of these folks up here are a little wild with their driving. They just dart in and out. Debbie is trying to stay with them. Think I'll take a little nap. Stopping for rest stop for picnic, but too cold and windy outside, so just stayed in car. We enjoyed it anyway. As Debbie says, Jean and I could write about everyone. We just make stories up all of the time.
Changed drivers; had been teasing Debbie about gunning it and using extra gas. Guess what! Delma did it too! Be-bopping on through Des Moines. Lots of traffic and bumpy road. Arriving at 4:48pm at Winterset, IA, John Wayne's birthplace and Bridges of Madison County. Plan to stay here tonight and do some sight seeing tomorrow. Then on towards Colorado Springs. Went to Cedar Creek bridge Tuesday evening before going to motel. Delma and Debbie taking pictures. Also found quilt shop in Winterset. Debbie gets their quilt books; she is really excited. And we are for her. Went to Cutler-Donahoe covered bridge. It is in the park in Winterset. What better could you do, then covered bridges, John Wayne's birthplace and a nice quilt shop.
On to Holliwell bridge for pictures; then on to Imes bridge for pictures; then back to the motel for evening and night. Which might be a good thing, as Jean hollers "red light, red light", when it is really a stop sign. Delma gets so excited she doesn't know what to do about stopping. It was funny as Delma did get stopped and no cars where coming.
Made it to the motel; all resting.
Debbie's comments:
First of all, I have to tell you why I didn't get my blog done last night. We stayed at the only motel in Winterset, IA.....a Super8 motel. It was nice enough; but their wireless network wasn't strong enough for Delma's computer to connect to. I would have had to blog in the motel lobby; and that just wasn't going to happen. I was disappointed because we had so much to share......well here goes.
You know, the beautiful thing about this trip has been not knowing what to expect for the day. When we stopped at Hardee's on Monday, some ladies told us about the covered bridges in Madison County, IA. Of course Delma and I had already read about them, but we didn't know where they were.....well, we found out we needed to go to Winterset, IA. When we left Chicago, that was our destination.
I got out the handy AAA book (we have one for each of the regions we went through) and started reading about Winterset. That's when we found out Winterset is the birthplace of John Wayne. Who knew! Aunt Carole was really excited about that. OK, add another "thing to do" in Winterset. Well, on the way, we saw signs about Ronald Reagans birthplace. What the heck. We had to go. We drove through this little town, Tampico, IL and found the following mural.
Doesn't Delma look like she belongs?
Ronald Reagon was born in a little apartment above the bank (in Tampico). We decided we would rather see his boyhood home in Dixon, IL, so we back tracked to Dixon.
We walked around the home; took some pictures (Aunt Carole was cutting up for the camera); then decided to move on to Winterset.
The trip was uneventful, but poor Mom was really cold. She got my white hoodie jacket and her jean jacket and covered up. Aunt Carole was a bit ornery and took her picture.
Winterset is a beautiful little town that is obviously a tourist attraction (what with John Wayne AND the Bridges of Madison County). Extremely well maintained. We were driving down a street and I just about jumped out of the car. I saw a "Fons & Porter" store sign. I had never heard of a Fons & Porter store; just the magazine I receive bi-monthly. WE HAD TO STOP!! Marianne Fons & Liz Porter are extremely well known in the quilting world. What a treat to actually go into their store (their only one)!
Well, we checked in the wonderful Super8 motel. The manager told us we could probably get 2 of the covered bridges out of the way today. Ha!! We did 4 before finishing the evening. Delma and I got out to take pictures. Mom and Aunt Carole didn't budge from the car!
They were definitely ready to get to the motel.
We checked in and I fought with the wireless network. Decided to give up and call it a night.
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