The R Campground has a very late check out … on Saturday and
Sunday check out is 2 pm. So, we figured we had ample time to get out laundry
done. There was a laundry at the campground, but only 2 washers and dryers … I
had 4 loads. So, back into downtown Charles City … a whopping 2 miles away! I
wanted to hit the farmers market and that was in Central Park, a couple blocks
away from the laundromat!
With the laundry done, it was a quick stop at the Farmer’s
Market. Unfortunately, it was sparsely attended by farmers. But there was some ducks and Mennonites
there with fresh baked goods! Since I could not photograph the Mennonites, I choose the ducks!
There is a Frank Lloyd Wright home in Charles City. It was added
onto the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The Alvin Miller House
is a compact and lovely Usonian home of 1250 square feet on the banks of the
Cedar River. The original design called for the residence of dentist Dr Alvin
and Inez Miller to be built, with an adjoining dental office on the south side
of the home, and a second residence for the Miller’s dentist son, Dr William
Miller. Of the three Frank Lloyd Wright designed structures, only the original
residence was built in the period.
The original plans were not completed
because the Miller’s daughter-in-law asked Wright for changes to the plans for
the second home. She planned on more children and requested another bedroom.
Wright refused changes, saying the plan was perfect as designed, so the younger
Miller family decided not to go forward. This story has been confirmed by the
daughters of Dr. William Miller, and the explanation is in keeping with
Wright’s attitude that his designs did not need alteration. Construction began
on the original home 1946 and was completed in 1951. In 1996, owners Bruce and
Deborah Dietrich added the dental office as living space, keeping the outer
footprint but altering some of the interior walls. The “dental clinic” addition
almost tripled the overall square footage of the home.
We departed our campground at 11am and headed out for our
long drive … less than 70 miles to Forest City. We took US 18 W / 27 N, which
is also known as the Avenue of the Saints. Why was it dubbed the “Avenue of the Saints?” … the highway
travels from St Louis, Missouri to St Paul, Minnesota … Avenue of the Saints!
We ventured onto a Floyd County Road named B30. We have
notices that many roads in the mid-west have letters or numbers for names. We
have been on 350th Street, while you are on it, there are corn
fields on both sides of the road and as far as you can see … it makes you
wonder, if you can count the roads to reach 350th Street, or did
they just pull that number our of a hat when it came to naming that road.
Rudd had a cute town sign, but not much else to it.
Nora Springs was a bit bigger town, but all it had to offer
was a chance to take a picture of a roadside chicken in Iowa …
Thanks to
Charlie, we have another roadside chicken picture from a new state. Our record
is still intact for this trip! Five states and five pictures of chickens along
the roadside!
There are beautiful fields of wild flowers out here!
We passed through Mason City on 122 W and US BR 18. We will
talk about Mason City in the next blog, as we are coming back to tour a few
things!
We turned off 122 W onto Route 69. More corn and soybean
fields. They must have had some heavy steady rain, because it really took out a
portion of this corn field.
The Winnebago Grand National Rally is in Forest City now too
… we are probably the only Winnebago rig in Forest City, that is not going to
the Rally.
Also in Forest City is the Puckerbrush Festival. We ran into
it in downtown, no really we literally ran into it. We did not hurt anyone, but
we came over a hill and boom … the road is blocked off … bam, the road we
turned on was blocked off further down. Thankfully, there was an alley Charlie
could squeeze down … yes, we are towing our new car! What the heck is a Puckerbrush anyway? The history behind
the unique name of the celebration is an unusual one. Early on, the town was
surrounded by a dense bush called Puckerbrush. The bush had a berry on it and
when eaten, it would make you pucker. Although the bush has long been gone from
Forest City, the name stands as a symbol of city’s history.
After we escaped the Puckerbrush Festival, we arrived at
Three Fingers Campground, our home for 3 nights.
We did find a few things to blog about on our 70 mile Two Lane Adventure!
No comments:
Post a Comment