Fields of Corn and A Field of Dreams

10/08/2023 – 10/15/2023

This week we will be making our home in the small town of Eldridge, just outside of Davenport Iowa. Davenport is on the eastern edge of Iowa, along the Mississippi River, which means we will finish our drive across South Dakota and then drive across the state of Iowa. We have two days to accomplish this. Granted, it is only 540 miles but being in a big rig, we do not like to drive more than 300 miles in a day.

Plum Creek Winery

It was another overnight at a Harvest Host. Our host tonight is Plum Creek Winery in Algona Iowa. Tom, the winemaker, greeted us at the drive and escorted us to our spot in “The Grove”. It was a tricky drive through a mowed path to a nice tree-filled area of pretty green grass that Kona could not wait to get out and roll around in.

We enjoyed our wine tasting and ended up buying 7 bottles! (Some for us and some to share with our friends in Eldridge.) We had a great time visiting with Tom during the tasting and ended up being invited to their family bonfire that night. Tom even shared the last of his scotcharoos with us.

What is a scotcharoo? It’s a little piece of yumminess. Imagine a peanut butter rice crispy treat topped with a layer of melted chocolate and butterscotch chips. Super easy to make and super yummy in the tummy! I’ll share the recipe with you here.

It’s always nice meeting new people along our journey, swapping stories and in this case, recipes too.

Fields and Fields of Corn

Once again, we are driving through the Midwest during harvest season. Iowa is the number one producer of corn in the US and about half of the corn crops here are used to make ethanol. As we are making our way to Eldridge, I am in awe of the miles and miles and miles of corn fields. Corn fields as far as the eye can see. All the farmers are out with their combines, tractors and trucks harvesting sunup to sundown.

I made a comment to Bill about how I think there should be a show about farming in the Midwest. Similar to Gold Rush and Deadliest Catch. Wouldn’t you find that interesting? Gather a couple of multi-generational farming families and let’s see how they manage their farms from the time the seed is planted until it is harvested? I think it would be a hit!

The Day the Music Died

Driving along on Saturday, Bill randomly asks me where we were in relation to the Buddy Holly crash site? Will we be anywhere near The Field of Dreams? I knew we were not near the Field of Dreams, but Buddy Holly? I’ll have to consult the Google Maps. Turns out, we are going right through Clear Lake, where he last performed. The crash site is about 5 miles out of town.

We were up and on the road early Sunday morning (by early, I mean 9AM) heading to Eldridge and Scott County Park, with a quick stop in Clear Lake. The sites at Scott County Park are first come first served, so we wanted to be there as close to check-in time as possible.

The Surf Ballroom

The first stop was at the Surf Ballroom. Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens performed here on February 3^rd, 1959. It was freezing and the tour buses had no heat. His drummer suffered from frostbite to his toes and almost everyone else was sick. Buddy Holly decided to charter a plane to take his band to the next venue in Minnesota. But his two bandmembers gave up their seats on that flight; Waylon Jennings, hold the phone… Waylon Jennings played with Buddy Holly? Waylon Jennings gave his seat to the Big Bopper who was suffering from the flu and Tommy Allsup offered to flip a coin with Ritchie Valens for the other seat. Valens won that toss, but in hindsight, I’d say Tommy Allsup won the toss.

Since it was Sunday, the ballroom was closed but it was our understanding they have a fantastic museum. The ballroom still hosts concerts as well as banquets and other local events. The venue has been visited by many musicians, celebrities and even Presidents. There is even an autograph wall. If we travel through this area again, we will need to stop and tour the ballroom.

The Crash Site

Five miles from the Surf Ballroom is the crash site. We navigated our rig down the dirt and gravel roads hoping we wouldn’t encounter any big farm equipment and found the parking area for the crash site. From the parking area it was a quick 2/10 mile walk out into the cornfields to the memorial.

Catching Up With Friends

Scott County Park is home for the week. We are meeting up with some friends and fellow full-time RVers who happen to be from the Davenport area. Scott County Park is HUGE! They have 6 campgrounds, 2 with full hookups, tons of hiking and biking trails, a pool, a lake and so much more. And… I did not get one picture!! Guess we were too busy visiting with our friends. I’ll link you to their website here if you want to check it out. It is a great park and the campground was fantastic!

We met Trina and Tony in Savannah GA last December. They wintered in Florida, not too far from us and we became fast friends. When I was planning our journey east this year, I discovered they were going to be in the area and they were happy to show us around their “hometown”.

During the day the guys worked, while Trina took care of family obligations. That left me with some time to sew, which I haven’t been able to do since we left the PNW. Yay me! We got together in the evenings for happy hour and dinners. One night I even got out the Dutch oven and made a Chili Cornbread Casserole that we ate around the campfire. Good times!

Great River Road National Scenic Byway

The Great River Road National Scenic Byway follows the length of the Mississippi River from Lake Itasca in Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. We were lucky enough to see where the Mississippi began in Minnesota last summer. You can read about that adventure here if you like.

Bill realized Monday was a holiday…Columbus Day and we have an extra day to explore this week! We decided to drive a part of the Great River Road and see what this scenic drive was all about. We took US-61 up to Dubuque then followed the scenic byway back down to Clinton.

Once we got to Dubuque, we took a walk down by the river and along the marina. Then we hopped back in the truck and started making our way south along the Great River Road. The portion of the byway we were on did not really offer as many views of the Mississippi as I had hoped it would, but it was scenic nonetheless. We did travel through several small towns and finally arrived in Clinton where we saw the river again.

Just outside of Clinton is Lock and Dam #13, which sits at the base of the widest pool in the Upper Mississippi River. There are 27 locks and dams along the Upper Mississippi and their purpose is to create a series of steps for river traffic to climb or descend the 420-foot fall on this 670 mile section of the river. If we had waited another 45 minutes, we would have been able to see a barge come through the locks. It is getting late, though and I had an appointment to pick up our groceries for the week. LOL

The Quad Cities + One

The Quad Cities refers to the region in SE Iowa and NW Illinois. It is made up of Davenport and Bettendorf IA and Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline IL. The guys finished work early on Friday and our friends took us around town for a little sightseeing.

John Deere Pavilion

A couple of years ago, I was cruising around Instagram and I saw a fellow RVer standing next to a brand-new combine. My curiosity peaked. Where is this? I want to go there! As you already know, I am extremely fascinated with farming and given the opportunity to actually see and climb into the farm equipment?? It’s like a dream come true! 😊 When I found out our friends were in the Davenport area and the John Deere Pavilion was right across the river in Moline IL, it was a Win/Win!

A Brief History of John Deere

John Deere grew up in Vermont and in 1826 became a blacksmith. He left Vermont 10 years later for Grand Detour IL. During his time in Grand Detour, he developed and manufactured the first commercially successful cast-steel plow. After a falling out with his business partner, Deere moved his business to Moline IL because of its proximity to the Mississippi River.

By 1855 Deere’s factory sold more than 10,000 plows. In 1912 the company expanded into the tractor business and in 1927 they produced its first combine harvester. The combine is what brings me here today. I want to see one of these monsters up close. I’ve been watching them out in the fields for the last 3 years as we travel back and forth across the Midwest. The day has arrived!

The Combine

The pavilion is quite impressive. It is a very large and modern building showcasing antique tractors, heavy machinery, lawn mowers and a COMBINE! This thing is massive! If you think it looks big out in the fields wait until you are standing next to it!

This machine cuts down the corn, strips the kernels off the cob, stores it in a hopper and shoots everything else out the back. I climbed up in it and boy oh boy, that cab is pretty cush. It had an air-ride, heated leather swivel seat and a little buddy seat, AC/Heat, more USB ports and cup holders than an SUV and a refrigerator! You can get one for the low price of $1.5M. Since I can’t have a combine of my own, I settled for a sticker on my water bottle. 😉

I have added one more item to my Bucket List, driving one of these things! I won’t drive the motorhome but put me in a combine, give me a cornfield and turn me loose!

Ice Cream and Antiques

Our tour guides had to drag me away from the combine and they used homemade hot fudge as a hook. They took us into the Village of East Davenport where we ate lunch at a little deli that made awesome sandwiches. Then we topped that with ice cream sundaes at Lagomarcino’s.

Lagomarcino’s is a fourth-generation chocolate and ice cream shop that began in 1908. Choosing a treat from the menu was nearly impossible but I decided to keep it simple and go for a hot fudge sundae. They make their own hot fudge and it is off the charts! Bill got a banana split, of course.

We rolled ourselves out the door and headed to our next stop in LeClaire, Antique Archeology. Antique Archeology is home of the American Pickers? Have you seen their show on the History Channel? I’m not a huge fan, but if we are here, may as well check it out. It was a little disappointing. The majority of the store was dedicated to selling their T-shirts, mugs, glasses, etc. rather than the trinkets they find on their picking expeditions.

We ended the day with beer and wine at a local brewery. Another good day for the books.

A Field of Dreams

Remember earlier when I said we were not near the Field of Dreams? When we were talking about things we could do, this came up. It was 1 ½ hours away but we all agreed it would be worth the drive.

A Sick Pup

We almost didn’t make it, though. Our Kona got sick on Friday night and was up all night long. Which meant I was up all night long and Bill was up most of the night. Ugggg… Bill managed to find a local vet that could see her Saturday morning and it turns out an upper respiratory infection was going around. She was basically diagnosed with bronchitis and given some antibiotics.

Batter Up!

Kona is feeling better, it’s still early in the day and we decided to head up to Dyersville and visit The Field of Dreams. We arrived at the farm, handed over $20 and headed over towards the diamond. I literally had a feeling of glee? Childhood innocence? We stepped on to the field and ran the bases. I had Bill pitch me a few balls and I actually connected with one. It’s been a long time since my softball days and at 54, I still have it. 😉 I stole third on an infield base hit! LOL It was A LOT of FUN!

After we were done playing on the field we walked out to the corn and recreated the ghosts coming out and onto the ballfield. Again, “corny” (pun intended) but SO MUCH FUN!

You want to hear something funny? We were watching the movie a few nights later, there was a part of the movie where the character, Terrance Mann, said, “They’ll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they’re doing it. They’ll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course we won’t mind if you look around, you’ll say. It’s only $20 per person. They’ll pass over the money without even thinking about it. For it is money they have and peace they lack.”

I had that childhood innocence feeling. We handed over $20 and didn’t think a thing about it. When I heard these words spoken in the movie… wow!

Well worth the visit!

That’s a Wrap

We loved our week in Iowa! The people are some of the friendliest we have met and I am very happy we were able to spend the week with our friends. Thank you, Tony and Trina, for showing us around!

What’s Next?

It’s back to the Indianapolis area for a week where I get to visit with my bestie. We also get to catch up with some friends and Bill’s cousin and her family. Then we head to Kentucky where we’ll visit the National Quilt Museum.