A trip to the POW Camp Museum in Algona, IA

While we were having the coach serviced at Forest City, IA, we did some exploring and ended up in the nearby town of Algona, IA where we saw a sign for the Algona POW Camp Museum. Naturally, this was something we had to check out.

We found the museum was about a WWII German POW museum that was built in the Algona area and provided a great overview of the WWII era.

The camp held up to 3,000 POWs that were shipped from the European war zone to central Iowa in 1944. This guard tower was a 1/3 size replica of the real ones that housed guards around the camp.

We were surprised to learn that there were quite a few camps of POWs in the middle United States. Algona was a large "base" camp while there were many more smaller, "branch" camps as well. POWs worked on the local farms as laborers and from all accounts, performed good service in that regard.

This picture is one of the few available of the camp which was built in 1944. The POWs were guarded by a small (20 or so) American Army soldiers, but there were very few escapee attempts and none that were successful. I suppose that even if you escaped the camp, you had 1,500+ miles to get to the east coast and then the ocean lay in front of you.

The camp was only in existence for less than 2 years and was razed in 1946. Today, the camp is the site of the Algona Airport.

The museum houses all kinds of items including this 1940 Ford Staff car. There were also exhibits featuring the craftsman ship of the POWs who created remarkable artwork depicting their time in captivity. These provided an amazing view into the day to day life of the POW.

Finally, on the way back to Forest City, we turned a corner in Crystal Lake, IA and lo and behold -- we saw this bullhead statue! And not just any bullhead -- this is the "Largest Bullhead in the World". Apparently this iconic figure is the local advertisement of the Bullhead Days festival in Crystal Lake. Pretty cool and it just proves you never know what you will run across!

Visiting Forest City, IA at the Winnebago Factory

We are now at the Winnebago Customer Service Center at Forest City, IA, which is the home to the factory operations for building the motorhomes. They have about 36 service bays for customer service and can do literally anything that you might need to repair your coach.

The service center is a very well run operation and features a number of rv sites, complete with electric, that folks can stay a, free of charge, while having their coach serviced. Here we are (at the right of the picture) during a rainy early morning just before the technicians came to pull our coach into service.

While our coach was being worked on, we checked out the Winnebago museum where there are all kinds of neat things to see -- including this 1959 Winnebago Trailer -- one of the first products that Winnebago built. Rick and Orinda were interested to learn that from this small trailer, the large Winnie organization was created.

This is more like it, says Orinda. A 1966 Winnebago 22' motorhome. She thought this might be a great trade for our 42' Tour, but decided she really liked her comforts with our current coach! It is amazing how much the coaches have improved since this rather humble beginning.

Of course, we made sure to take the excellent Winnebago factory tour (free, and offered twice a day). Winnie is unique in the industry in that they make most of the parts and components in the motorhome (not including the engine and chassis). By making things like furniture, aluminum trim, walls, showers, tanks, etc. they can control the quality and has the ability to make replacement parts for any coach in the future that might need it.

While we could not take pictures during the tour, these shots from the Winnebago Webpage, show some of the things we saw. It was amazing to see an assembly line 9 football fields long filled with motorhomes being built. At the completion of the line is the rain test, seen above, where the coach is subjected to heavy rainlike spray to check for leaks.

Ready to go! We had another great experience at the factory where all our repairs and adjustments were completed. Here, we are hooked up and ready to head north.

The Falls at Sioux Falls -- the Heart of the Old City

We enjoy visiting the Sioux Falls "falls" park which is located near the downtown area. It comes as a surprise to many folks that there really are waterfalls at Sioux Falls, SD, but there are and it is well worth the trip as you can see here.

Sioux Falls has not been around that long, since this was part of the west that was settled in the later 1800's. The Falls was a very attractive feature of the new city as they provided a ready source of power from the falling water. As a result, a large flour mill was constructed to take power from the falls and grind grain into flour. The Queen Bee mill, pictured above, was built with the idea of great profits being generated for its owners, but there was neither enough water (or too much during floods) or enough grain for the mill to be successful. The 7 story mill was sold several times to optimistic owners, but never was successful.

Orinda is standing near the water intake supports for the old turbine feed pipe to the mill, which was several feet in diameter. While the pipe is long gone, the supports are still in place.

This is the old turbine house that served the mill and can bee seen in the original picture above. It is easy to see the large hole where the water feed pipe entered. Pretty cool to see the house that is over 130 years old.

This is all that is left of the Queen Bee mill after a fire in the 1950's destroyed it. This foundation was built of the rose colored stone that makes up the falls area. Imagine cutting these stones and building the mill in the 1880's, before the advent of any power tools, this was a true "labor" project!

The site of the original mill was to the upper left of Orinda. You can see how much the water drops which gives the site its water power potential. While the water no longer is used to generate power, it still provides a great site to enjoy the falls and reflect on how Sioux Falls developed in the early days.

Back in South Dakota -- LOTS of water here!

We are finally back in South Dakota, where we lived for a number of years prior to going fulltime in the motorhome. We really enjoy South Dakota -- the great landscapes, honest and open people, and the laid back attitude make for a place to live. South Dakota has been experiencing dry conditions for the last few years, but this year, it seems that has changed with a vengeance.

Rick wanted to check out some of the areas that he used to explore while hunting pheasants with Cody, our old Golden retriever. WOW! Was he surprised to see how much water was around. This area is typical. A couple of years ago, Rick walked this field that is now a lake. You can see where the road enters the lake -- the road used to be several feet above a small little pond on the right.

This situation is not just confined to small, gravel roads. Highway 81, near Madison, is a major north-south highway and passed by several ponds and small lakes. However, we could not believe that the water in one area, known as the 81 Ponds, had increased several feet and was now over the road as this sign suggested.

Sure enough, this is a picture of 81 as it submerges. This is the main route north in this area other than I-29, some 25 miles east. As a result, many folks need to use the road and while it was closed to cars, is still open to truck traffic.

A couple minutes later, we saw the "convoy" of trucks "steaming" out of the lake. The water is up to a foot deep and the water covers the road for well over a mile.

Perhaps the road needs a "No Wake" sign on it. We read news accounts suggesting that the state is considering if they should try to raise the road or hope the water will recede. It will be interesting to follow this and see what develops.

Of course, these issues tend to pale in significance when compared to the unbelievable flooding along the Missouri River near Pierre and Sioux City.

Visiting the Oklahoma City Zoo

We decided to visit the Oklahoma City Zoo with the Grandkids, so first, they came over to our motorcoach to see "the bus" as they call it. Looks like all those buttons on the dash are quite a temptation for folks at ages 1 and 3! Rick had to double check them all before we moved on for sure!

Caleb, the grandson, said he was innocent of anything -- it must have been his little sister who pushed that button! Looks pretty mischievous here!

The zoo was great and featured many great animal habitats. This grizzly bear seemed pretty pleased with himself and was something of a ham to the crowd. Still, I was glad he was there and I was on the other side of the fence.

The Zoo has just completed a fabulous new elephant area for their new arrival - the baby elephant was born in mid April and is still a real baby. It was great to be able to see such a newborn and its mother interact.

Of course, the large apes were very interesting to Caleb -- he was a bit worried about standing this close to a statue of this big gorilla until he realized it was really a metal ape!

Now we are talking real fun. Seeing the animals was great, but riding a blue elephant might be better. We had a great day at the zoo and loved spending time with the grandkids.

Visiting Oklahoma City and the Grandkids at the Cowboy Museum

We visited our son's family while in the Oklahoma City area and really enjoyed the chance to see our grandkids. We took the opportunity to attend the Chuck Wagon Festival at the Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in the area and had a great time. Our grandson was in his glory -- horses and REAL cowboys were everywhere!

There were all kinds of exhibits that appealed to everyone. This was a special kid's area in the museum that allowed all ages to try different saddles. Looks like this little guy found one to his liking!

Of course, there is nothing like the real thing. How many three year olds can say they have actually ridden (OK, sat on) a real, Texas longhorn steer? This was a great opportunity, although the steer looked a bit tired of it all.

Pony rides were another very popular feature of the Chuck Wagon Festival. This pony was named Cisco and, as you can see, is one high spirited steed! Each child was accompanied by a parent and everyone seemed to have a great time. Even the pony seemed happy as he got some oats after every couple of rides.

Not to be outdone, our grand-daughter was excited to get in the act. It looked like she was ready to ride the bull, but at one year, Mom decided she was just a bit young. Still, she figured she was old enough to do anything her older brother could do!

The festival featured many different rides, but the real attraction for most folks was the chance to try different cowboy foods that were prepared over an open fire or a bead of coals in traditional cowboy form.

We also took a quick tour through the museum -- which is spectacular. Not surprisingly, the grandkids were not too excited about this aspect, but put up with it well. This sculpture is the original plaster model for the well know End of the Trail sculpture and was beautiful. We could have easily spent many hours in this great museum.

In addition to the inside exhibits, the museum grounds offered many great exhibits as Orinda found here. We had a great time at the Cowboy Chuckwagon Festival!

Gulf Coast Katrina After effects & Vicksburg, MS--LOTS of Flooding!

We enjoyed our time on the Mississippi coast, but were amazed at the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina (now some 6 years ago) that is still visible today. The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf coast campus is located in the town of Gulfport, MS and has a beautiful ocean front location. Unfortunately, this area was heavily hit by the hurricane and much damage remains. This building is typical and is now only a shell.

Here, you can clearly see the broken windows that were shattered by the huge storm surge. While you cannot enter any of these buildings for safety reasons, you can see the severe damage inside in this video. This damage is typical of most of the original buildings on campus and much rebuilding remains to be done.

Driving around the area revealed many foundations-- with no house, such as this one. We were told that rebuilding is very slow due to property insurance problem. We wondered how long this will take and when this beautiful area will fully recover.

We left Gulfport and headed up to Vicksburg, MS. We had heard that the Mississippi River was in heavy flood stage, but after calling the Ameristar RV Park were assured they were open for business. While the RV Park was in great shape, closer to the river found heavy flooding.

This building is the original Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad station -- now underwater. We have visited this area before and would estimate that the river is a good 40' above where we saw it before.

The depot was not the only building under water! This large hotel/casino is usually well away from the river. Now, it is closed as the river literally runs through it.

This closeup of the casino shows how much of the building is in the water. We were told that over 2 million cubic feet of water per second is running through the river now!

We can't imagine how much damage this flood will cause or how long it will take before the water finally recedes. We certainly wish the folks who live in this area the very best for the future.