We got to Altoona in a little over three hours. First order of business was to put the motorhome in its camping slot, and go to a Chevrolet dealer for a necessary and immediate repair to the ignition lock which wouldn't let us turn the key to turn off the engine and take the key out. So wherever we would've gone, we would've had to leave the engine running! We managed to find a Chevy dealer that replaced the ignition lock quickly and efficiently, keeping us from setting up camp for only a couple of hours. A minor inconvenience considering the alternative!
After going to the worship service in the chapel at Adventureland and meeting a bunch of really nice people who work in the park, we headed back home and worked on the moho in preparation for the coming heat of the summer. The windshield and side winders were cleaned and covered with sunshades to help keep the inside of the moho cooler. The pictures should show that this park is really a nice one with a bunch of grass. And although we've only spent one night here, we noted many people sitting outside after the sun goes down. This leads us to believe that there were AREN'T that many flying blood suckers around here. Gotta thank the HR guy today when we see him!
June 8th was our first day to work so the day before that we did a little sight seeing. Our first stop was in Indianola, Ia.,at the National Balloon Museum, about 25 miles south of Altoona. This is the site of the annual National Balloon Classic, held July 29 - August 6 this year. Supposed to be LOTS of balloons there during that time. While we're not gonna do the balloon rides, we're gonna make it down there when they're gonna light off all the burners at dusk on our day off. Hoping to get some cool pictures, and will post what we get.
Then we headed west to John Wayne's birthplace in Winterset, Ia. Marion Robert Morrison was born in the four room house pictured here, on May 26, 1907, but moved from there when he was six years old due to his fathers health condition. So he wasn't there very long, but the folks in Winterset are proud to say where he was from. The little house is filled with historic photos of his family, the movies he was in, and period furniture and artifacts. There was a lot of information about his life and we felt it was well worth the time to visit it.
The town of Winterset was founded in 1859, has a population of approximately 5000 and was an interesting place to see. The main street looks about the same as any other small town of that size and era. Of interest was the county courthouse which was being refurbished outside and had a bunch of scaffolding around it, so this picture is from Wikipedia.com rather than from my camera. There was another house of interest that was on the road as we went into town. From the picture, you can see that it's a two story house, you can also see the interesting design that was painted into the front of the house. Actually, in looking closely at the picture, it looks like it might be different trim pieces rather than just paint. Regardless, the builder and the painter went to a lot of effort.
From there, we visited several of the bridges of Madison County that Robert James Waller wrote about in his book "The Bridges of Madison County". We saw three of them of which only one is used currently, that one being the one that looks like it is in a park setting because it is, indeed, in the middle of a park. The bridge that is white is the Cutler-Donahoe covered bridge and is located in Winterset City Park. I thought this park was rather huge for a city of about 5,000 as it covers 76 acres. Not only that, but it has a campground complete with RV connections, and several other amenities including a stone tower erected to honor the early Madison County settlers Caleb & Ruth Clark built in 1927. That's me in the picture at the top of the tower, and Katie in the picture with a great view over looking the Middle River Valley. Getting to this tower can be done by foot if ya wanna have a good hike, or it'll take about 10 minutes by car. We chose the car method.
I'm gonna tell about the rides that we worked on after we started work on June 8th. You may know more about these rides than me, please forgive me for the necessary redundancy if that's the case.
My ride assignment for may first week was as the operator for the Lady Luck. This ride goes around in concentric circles, then has one side lift off the ground still going in concentric circles. So the riders end up not only going round and round, but up and down aas well. As the operator, it was my responsibility to ensure that the riders were properly secured in their seats with two people to each seat with "no single riders" in any of the seats for safety reasons. This ride was very popular and no one who got off it ever complained that it was a lame ride. A few people were kinda antsy about getting on, but seemed to enjoy it as the ride progressed. As I'm currently unable to download pictures to my McBook, I'm grateful to "Hhappy" for this picture.
Katie had different ride assignments her first week starting with the Chuck Wagon. As you can see, it's a mini-ferris wheel for younger ride enthusiasts. This was used kinda as an entertainment for the kids that were attached to older ride enthusiasts who went grown up rides nearby.
Next day she went to the Inverter which turns ya upside down at the top of the ride. The operator has a monologue that they're supposed to say, but Katie said there was so much noise from everything else in the area that the upside down people at the top couldn't hear what she was saying anyway.
The next day Katie was at The Scrambler. This is a ride that will spin ya in concentric circles, much like the Lady Luck but it won't go up in the air.
Katie was then sent to help at the Saw Mill Splash, which is a water ride although no one really gets wet. She stayed there through this week as well helping people on and off the ride.
This week I've been on the Balloon Race. This ride will take you in a circle and raise up about 10' off the ground. I didn't like it nearly as much as I did Lady Luck as I felt disconnected from the riders.
It's been an interesting one and a half weeks that we've spent here so far. The weather hasn't really been hot, so the AC hasn't been needed much. But it has been humid so drinking lots of water has been necessary. Getting a good nights rest is also mandatory after the long seven hour days of being on our feet on Friday and Saturday.
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