June 20, 2013: Forest City, Iowa

Here we are in northern, Iowa with a map that shows our journey so far.  Each balloon can be clicked for more information about that location.



View SC to Iowa in a larger map


We moved the RV from their overnite sites to the service are at 6:45 am.  We were quickly joined for 4 or 5 more RVs, all of us waiting for the doors to open.  At precisely 7am, the lights were turned on, the doors opened, the coffee was already made and they had three people ready to sign us up for appointments. We filled out the paperwork and waited to see if they could squeeze us in today or whether we would have to wait til tomorrow.  Luckily, they took the RV right away, but didn't get to start work on it til later in the morning.  We spent the day in their comfortable waiting room, walking across the street to a lodge for lunch.  At 3pm, they brought out the RV with everything fixed but the steps, which needed a replacement part that be in the next morning.  Back to the their parking lot campsite for the evening, but it does have electric as it is 88 degrees with high humidity.

In case you are wondering, we could have made an advance appointment if we had called about month or more previously, but we didn't want to impose that requirement on our travel schedule.

June 19, 2013: La Grange, MO to Forest City, IA

The plan was to drive north in Missouri to Keokuk, cross back east over to Illinois and go up the exceptionally scenic stretch of The Great River Road to Nauvoo, but as soon as we crossed the River, there were detour signs.  Probably more flooding.  So we took an inland route north to Nauvoo, passing an interesting front yard with old gas tanks.

 

Nauvoo is where Joseph Smith and his Mormon followers fled Missouri after the governor signed an extermination order. The Mormons built the town here from 6,500 to 20,00 over a few years and ran it as a theocracy with their own courts, militia, schools, etc.  Non-Mormon neighbors became incensed when disagreements had to be heard in Mormon courts where they questioned the fairness of judgments and eventually violence erupted.   

There was also a schism in the LDS church beginning with Joseph Smith's adoption of polygamy and other issues.  The problems escalated and Joseph Smith and his brother were jailed in a nearby Illinois town where a mob assaulted the jail and lynched them.  Most of the inhabitants of Nauvoo followed Brigham Young west to Salt Lake City.  The LDS church as done massive restoration and reconstruction of the historic district as it was n the 1840's.  The original $1,000,000 temple was reconstructed exactly as the original in the same spot.  We took a horse drawn carriage ride to get an understanding of the story and the town.  We were impressed with the determination, courage and faith of the Nauvoo people.

We drove the rest of the day to northern Iowa to the Winnebago plant in Forest City to have a few things repaired.  They have electrical hookups, so we stayed right there and were in line at 7am when they opened to sign up for the earliest available service.  We were lucky to have them look at it the same morning and we spent the day in their comfortable waiting area, returning to the campground for the evening to await a part scheduled to arrive the next morning.