MAY 20, 2011 - FRIDAY

We are home! Another safe (Thank God) journey unfortunately is over. We had a great time & good weather, and we made new friends. It took us about about 4 1/2 hours to get home. Our "ole girl" handled the road smoothly even though it was rather windy most of the way. Near the Iowa/Illinois state line we saw gas, believe it or not, for $3.69! Wish it was nearer to home. Well until our next adventure, So Long.

MAY 20, 2011 - THURS

Today was kinda like yesterday. Richard attended several seminars given by the Rally. I went to the Amana Colonies & did more browsing the shops. There are several antique shops which were fun. There was a lot of interesting things which brought back memories of years gone by. Later we attended the pot-luck supper at the rally, it was very, very good, all home cooked dishes. Because we are "newbies" we were told we are their guests & not to bring anything. In the evening the rally hosted a ice-cream social. Tomorrow we will be leaving. The rally actually ends Sat., but our grandson Jacob is graduating Sat. evening & we want to be sure to be home for that special event. I hope this good weather follows us home.

MAY 16 & 17, 2011 - TUES & WED

Had trouble with my laptop yesterday so I couldn't post an entry. Hopefully it will go through today. Well yesterday we spent the afternoon at the Amana Colonies which is a historic little village with quaint shops in old houses. It was a nice weather day, high 70's, but we sure did a lot of walking. Got some good wine & teas, & cheese. In the evening we attended the opening ceremonies of the rally. There was a military color guard, the mayor of Amana, Iowa gave a welcoming speech & the president of the Bounders of America club, which is hosting the rally spoke, & introduced the group of "newbies" of which we are. Then we were entertained by the jazz band & choir of the local high school. They were very good. Door prizes were given & much to our surprise our name was called for one! We won a wall plaque & gift certificate for the local dairy queen.

WED.

Today in the morning we attended a "first timers meeting" then throughout the afternoon there were seminars on various topics pertaining the Bounder motor homes, such as brakes, motor etc. Richard attended several & said he got a lot of useful information. We had lunch at the dairy queen to use our gift certificate we won. They really have great sandwiches. There was a dinner at the campground in one of the buildings which we attended. The entertainment for the evening was a musical husband & wife team, called "Barefoot Becky" she played the accordion & he played the electric guitar & they sang. They were exceptionally good. They play at festivals in and around Iowa. We bought one of their CD's. Why are they called "Barefoot Becky" you ask? Well her name obviously is Becky & she was raised on a farm and ran around barefoot and that is how she started learning to play the accordion & was tagged that name and it stuck.

BOUNDER RALLY - IOWA - MAY 16, 2011 - MON

Well today we took a road trip to a Motorcycle Museum which several people told us about.It was about an hour ride from our campsite. It was really interesting. There were all kinds of cycles, even dating back to the 1930's & a huge display of ancient motorcycle toys. Then we planned on touring a winery, but when we finally found it, it was closed on Monday's. On the way we saw a farm with two Texas Longhorns in the yard, so of course Richard had to get a picture of them, so we pull to the side of the road & he goes up the hill to snap the picture, but got a little too close to the fence & one of them came running right up to the fence & "snorted" at him. I never saw Richard move so fast, he almost fell back down the hill. I was in the car laughing. So we came back to our campsite & went for a bicycle ride. I'm going to try & post some pictures, but we forgot the cord we need to download the pictures from the camera to the computer, so we stopped at a Walmart & bought a generic one, which didn't work, so we drove back to the Walmart which was about 35 miles away, returned it then stopped at a Best Buy which we happened to see. They didn't have the cord we needed, but said we could download the pictures from the memory card to the computer, with this other device. So we bought it , but when we got back, we both forgot how the girl at Best Buy said to do it (senior moment) so we had to call Jacob (our grandson) & he walked us through it, thank goodness. So now the pictures are on the computer, but we forgot how to post them on this blog & it is after midnight now, so I can't call Jacob, so I'm going to try it one more time.

May 15,2011 - Sunday

Well Paupers Pride is on the road again! This time we are going to Amana, Iowa to a "Bounder Rally" (The make of our motor home is a Fleetwood Bounder) It is about 208 miles & took us about 5 hrs. to get here. It was very windy & rainy almost the whole way, but about an hour to our destination, the sun came out. There are 103 Bounder's here at the campsites already & the actual rally doesn't start until Tues. The campsites are appointed on a first come basis & today was the first day to register. We wanted a good campsite, I guess so did everyone else! It is a really nice campground & it should be interesting, there are seminars & activities. With us being "new-be's" to RVing, we hope to get some good tips. By the way, we paid $3.89 for gas,so we will be sure to top off our tank before we leave Iowa.