SPAM MUSEUM in AUSTIN, MINNESOTA

We left Fort Dodge Tuesday morning and picked up Matt in Waterloo. After loading up his gear and bicycle (he went on RAGBRAI then skydiving), we motored toward Minneapolis. A great place to visit was the SPAM Museum.

Converted from an old KMart building, the museum is a bevy of history of canned meats which gave the George A. Hormel family a lot of money. It was deserved though, as many innovations were made throughout the decades in providing tasty meats that would last next to forever on the shelf. Bright blue and yellow was the color theme, as from the can label. It was amazing to find out how much SPAM was provided WWII fighting forces, both American and Allied.

Also interesting was the Hormel All-Girl band and performing group. They wore uniforms, hawking Hormel products across America, while promoting the show they would put on in a given city. This was post war time, and Hormel sales doubled in the 4-5 years the group traveled across the US in a fleet of white sedans with George A Hormel's name printed on the sides. It was also still radio's heyday, but as TV overtook radio as media leader, the group was disbanded in early 1953.

The museum is really done up nicely, colorfully, and humorously, and the best part is it is FREE!

We are now at Lebanon Hills campground near the Minneapolis Zoo. Matt flies out to Colombia tomorrow morning. We are also seeing daughter Jenn, Ben, and Mica

FORT DODGE, FRIENDS AND FAMILY

We have been at Kennedy Park, a county park a few miles north of Fort Dodge, our ex-hometown. This campground is really very nice, with full hookups for $17. That includes 50 amp service, sewer and water. At Palisades Kepler State Park near Cedar Rapids the price was $16 and all you got was 30 amp electrical service.

We have been able to catch up with friends, notably Dawn and Herman Provin and kids Zach and Mackenzie. It is always nice to see them and visit. Big news was that their springer spaniel Sadie had 6 puppies, all of which were very fat with little skinny legs and round pudgy faces. Ellen and I taught with Dawn at Fair Oaks Middle School for several years, and actually Ellen was Dawn's mentor when Dawn first started teaching in FD. Great news for Dawn in that she completed her Master's Degree....Hooray!

We have also visited Alec and Charlton Pendry, playing bridge and Settlers of Catan. They have been such good friends, letting us use their 94 Toyota Corolla to buzz around in. 30 mpg is twice as good as our F 450. Thank you Pendry's!!! Also saw the Dark Knight, and Heath Ledger was really excellent and scary as a Joker. Lots of action, but not very cartooney in the traditional Batman sense...and really, that's ok.

Seeing grandkids is always really special. We drove down to Paton, and Jaiden Mason and Ethan were a lot of fun. New pets at the Ackerson home include 2 firebelly toads, which were about 3 inches long (stretching out to maybe 6 inches. They had red 'grippy' fingertips that helped them climb up your arm. Mason liked to put his on top of his head.

Of course it is raining again. Drizzle on and off, just enough to keep things uncomfortable and muddy. When it isn't raining, it feels like it is--we have had enough humidity to last a year.

Cedar Rapids

Rain, rain, go away...
It rained yesterday from about 6 pm to about daybreak. A very steady rain. It gave us the opportunity to wipe down our coach this morning, and now it looks like new again.

Yesterday we shopped at a mall on the west side of Cedar Rapids, and it was a very unsettling experience. About a third of the mall spaces were being used by FEMA, the Red Cross, and Cedar Rapids city government and agencies, as well as the public library! All this as the result of last month's flooding. It is really sad. I don't know if the mall is solvent really, as there were several spaces totally empty.

We took Matt and Rob Knapp out to eat at Texas Roadhouse, and judging from the crowd (a 30 minute wait), maybe the bad economy hasn't yet affected America's penchant for having someone else cook their evening meal. Lots of tables were full of young families. The food was good, and it was a great chance to catch up with news of Matt's old High School friends.

Today's thought: If the professor on Gilligan's Island could make a radio out of a coconut, why couldn’t he fix a hole in a boat?

Time Flies

Note to Self: Blog more regularly.

Another long hiatus between entries has passed, and for that I apologize. Time flies when you're having fun.

We have been up to the Twin Cities, celebrated grandson Mica's 3rd birthday, picked up son Matt from his flight in from Colombia South America, dashed to Fort Dodge for appointments, and zipped across central Iowa to end up east of Cedar Rapids. We're here to 'stay close' to Matt, as he is staying with friend Rob Knapp in CR...We are at Palisades Kepler State Park, a very wooded park sloping down to the Cedar River. Just kind of chillin', as Matt would say. He has been biking and skydiving.

We did a day trip to daughter Heather Lujano's in Washington, and enjoyed that, hugging the grandkids and playing a game of Settlers of Catan. The weather has been HOT. Lots of sun and wind. We are here til Sunday when we travel to Fort Dodge while Matt does RAGBRAI, biking across Iowa with his team, "Team Whatever".

That's it for now, and hope to write again sooner than later.