In Minnesota

Princeton, MN= 75º and sunshine.

Spent most of last week in State Center, IA at the Kenwood RV (La Feria, Texas) Summer Rally.  At left is picture of our group Wednesday that a local newspaper photographer took.  They always publish our picture in the paper and story about our gathering.


From left to right, all three lines:  Twila and Bill Oberholzer, Bobbi and Bob Raab, Phyllis Miles, Dick Messer, Lynn Miles, Linda Foote, Denny Arment, Don Foote, Deanne Messer, Jan (Dan Herbst's sister), Lola Schoppe, Dan Herbst, Harold Williams, Mardi and Carl Pingleton, Imogene Williams, Linda and Orval Crane, Judy Chroninger, LaRhoda Neher, Maxine Koch, Harold Neher, Jerry and Linda Whitt, Butch Giesking, Lavon  & Anna Mae Schaefer, Ed and Kaye Stanger.

Most came on Monday and left on Friday.  Several of us stayed through Monday and enjoyed some of the Rose Festival that was going on in State Center that weekend.  We enjoyed chili and barbequed ribs Friday evening and parade on Sunday morning.  Just before a rain.  Had rained previous to the parade, also.  We had moved our trailer on to solid ground, but the big forecasted hail and thunderstorm did not materialize Saturday evening -- at least for us, think it went to the north of us.

 At left are the Mesers and the Whitts and us waiting for the parade

One of the parade entries.

Lot of activity with visiting and lots of food.

One evening we played "Left-Right" passing gifts back & forth.

We usually have our rally in August and pick sweet corn on one of Lola's neighbors farm.  Being this one was in June, so we could go to the Rose Festival, there would be no local sweet corn.  So, Twila and Bill Oberholzer went to their local Fairway store in Boone, IA and got 3 crates of sweet corn from Georgia.  Sooooo we had our sweet corn!

Lot of visiting.

 Food lines - we enjoyed the meals.

Lots of games of Pegs & Jokers.

After one lunch Harold Neher was tired.

After one lunch Orval Crane was tired.

After one lunch LaRhoda Neher was tired.

After the same lunch Butch Geisking was tired.

One day Denny Arment brought his son and grandson over.  He was delighted to sit on a tractor.

On Sunday we drove to Titonca, IA and ate lunch with Butch Giesking and he showed us around his house and the farmground he still has.  He was widowed this winter and seems to be doing fine.

At right is Dick & Betty McConnell in their farm home near Russell, MN.

McConnells have a nice home on their farm.  There was a storm, with hail, predicted so they had us park our trailer in the machine shed (you can see the nose of the pickup sticking out of it in the center of the photo.

Don & Betty's farm home.  They also have a house in Russell, MN  They showed us much of the area, including their Russell home, the place in Marshall where they volunteer one day a week at a thrift store.







Then we drove to Pipestone, MN and spent some time at Pipestone National Monument (Click Here) 


I had never thought of the meaning of the word Pipestone -- the Indians made peace pipes from the stone found in that area.  Duh!

One of the Indians demonstrating making pipes, and other items out of the reddish stone.

One of the areas being worked.  They are not allowed to use any mechanical devices (Backhoes, etc.) and the Pipestone layer is quite a few feet below various kinds of stone, including quartz.

With all the rains of late, the "creek" running through the park was quite high and running rapidly.  Took some movies of a waterfalls there, but didn't get any still photos.

 

  Tuesday we headed east and north and stopped at Walnut Grove, MN where there is a Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum.  We were too early, as it opened at 10:00 am and we had lined up to see Shorty and Jerry Ramsbacher by 10, so we went on.

Shorty & Jerry's farm house.

A couple years ago they had some remodeling and added on a section at the back of the house which gave them a terrific back yard area and really nice landscaped yard.

Shorty, Phyllis and Jerry under the deck at the back of the house.

Showing a flower bed from the upper deck.

Shorty served up a terrific lunch and then we drove east to 

Lester & Marion Vanderwerf's in Springfield, MN.  After a short visit we drove to









Bird Island, MN to Virgil and Lavon Green's house. 

 They invited Ken and Jenny Langmo, over for visit and some coffee and deserts.

 Virgil on the back deck.

Ken "Mr. Fantastaic" Langmo visiting on Virgil's back porch.  Ken, who is fantastic, just like he always says when you ask him how he is, is so hard of hearing, so misses out on much of the conversations, but enjoys visiting and by reading lips and having you yell at him.

Jenny and Ken at the table, with Lavonne Green behind (serving tea).

We enjoyed ourselves so long with the Greens, and they did drive us around town and pointed out where he had been Superintendent of schools there, that it was nearly 7 pm when we pulled out.  We decided to drive the 130 miles on to Princeton, MN to Dick & Deanne Messers account the long daylight now.  We did get to their place just at dusk about 9:30 pm. 

Back side of Deanne & Dick Messer's house

Front of Deanne & Dick Messer's house 

Flowers toward front of Messer's yard







Below is another shot of front of Messer's home.

Deanne and Dick Messer in their really nice sun room at the back of their house.

Dick does some fantastic machining work, both with metal and wood.

Heck of a machining mechanism-------

Lathe

 We went to an art place downtown where various artisans work and sell their products.

Dick (with his son Ron in the background) worked for some time this morning making some brackets to put in closet of our trailer.

Dick cutting some aluminum -- at his right is sand-blasting machine he used on the brackets later.

Aluminum brackets in place to hold level a cloth shoe closet that Phyllis uses for many things in one of the closets.



Previous to doing this work, Dick went with us on his bicycle as we rode our trikes some 3.5 miles around the really level streets in this area.



Dick left just before noon with his son Ron for a 4-day weekend at a tractor pull over in Wisconsin.  Phillis washed clothes and visited with Dianne and after lunch we went to Walmart and then Office store so I could get Toner for the printer we have with us.  Was getting monthly statements for charge cards and couldn't print to check against our receipts.  In good shape now.

We will leave early in the morning for Browersville, MN and spend a day and night with Lyle & Doris Winter.  Will try to get to Gross Isle north of Winnepeg by Sunday morning some time to spend some time with Loris and Gail Barsanti.  Loris sings with me in the choir and Gail works with Phyllis on quilts and both play Bean Bag Baseball -- at Kenwood RV Park in La Feria, Texas in the winter.

More later, (When I can get to a good WIFI),  Lynn