Lazy Day at Prairie Flower Recreation Area

 Didn't do much today but the 3 Rs: Rest, Relax and Read.

I did venture out with Yagi, the TW200, to explore the nearby town of Polk City, IA but it wasn't much to write home about.

I did spy a whole fleet of houseboats at the marina though:

Max optical zoom

Here's a 2016 pic of the VRRV's interior, it should give you an idea of how big the stock dinette table is.  Now it's easier to adjust the blinds, access the overhead compartments and just sit comfortably.

So far so good on the smaller table.  We'll be testing it some more over the next five days or so remaining of this camping trip.  Tomorrow: Kansas!

Back on the road, Matchstick Marvels and camping in the Prairie Flower Recreation Area, Iowa

We left Martha's Dad's place at 8:30 AM and were soon driving through Minnesota on our way to Iowa and tonight and tomorrow's campsite in the Prairie Flower Recreation Area.

It's another Army Corps of Engineers campground, with electrical hookups and water nearby.  

We drove most of the day, pausing only to check out the Matchsticks Marvels Museum and to briefly visit with friends of Martha's family in Marshalltown, IA.

I was quite impressed with the attention to detail and work that went into each of the displays at the museum!  Definitely a labor of love as I can't imagine the return on time investment was realized by the artist on each model.  

It's a small museum so only a few of the over 70 matchstick replicas are on display at a time.  Here's a few that caught my eye, the info sheet following each tells you a bit about the object and what it took to create it.

This beautiful sailing ship was my favorite:

The above are just a few of the models created by Mr Acton.  Check out the website for more models and accompanying pictures:  LINK

Of course, if you find yourself near Gladbrook, IA, stop and visit, it's only $5 to get in!

Here's a pic of our campsite for the next day or so:

All pics taken with Pixel 4a camera phone.

Boondocking at Badger Creek State Park, IA, day 2

Such a nice location and having the time, I decided to stay an extra day.

The dawn's colors were not bad:

This allowed me, thanks to Martha for the reminder, that I was a short distance from the small town of Winterset.  It's where John Wayne, one of my favorite actors of all time, was born and the town has a museum there dedicated to the site and some memorabilia.  Back in 2013, on a road trip to Wisconsin (deja vu) and the first time towing my rig (deja vu again), we had stopped by this museum but it had been closed.

Martha told me to read the last part of that old posting and deja vu for the third time:

"Long day on the road and yet it was done in guilty comfort within the confines of the BMW X5, I could get used to hauling my rig over the long boring interstate slab portions of trips."

The museum is pretty small but has some nice exhibits:

 Memorabilia from John Wayne's boat: The Wild Goose

 One of John Wayne's cars...caring more for comfort

than style.  1972 Pontiac Grand Safari Station Wagon.

 The cart from one of my favorite movies starring John Wayne:

The Quiet Man.  

 My favorite John Wayne movies were of the U.S.

Cavalry theme.

After watching the 11 minute film of "movie moments" showing John Wayne, I wandered outside to go to the small house he was born in.  On the way, there's the Madison County Freedom Rock:

The house itself is quite small by today's standards, all the furnishings are donations from the area so nothing really belonging to John Wayne that I could establish in the very short time I spend inside.

The house where John Wayne was born.

He was a 13 lb baby....big boy.

This being Madison County and me having ridden partly on the Madison County Covered Bridge Scenic Byway, I stopped at Hogback Bridge which is three miles from State Highway 169:

I also stopped at Cedar Bridge since it was along the way but found it burned down and torn apart.  Bummer.

Spent the rest of the day back at the URRV,  working on minor things for work.  Sunny weather replaced earlier overcast skies and the predicted rain happened while I was inside the museum.

Not as hot as yesterday either, a pretty nice day overall.

Here's a nice Iowa sunset to round out a pretty good day of boondocking.

Boondocking at the Badger Creek State Park, Iowa

Finally got across the long and rather boring state of Nebraska, at least, from the confines one has when transiting the state using the I-80 Superslab!

Made it just short of Des Moines before calling it a day in terms of driving.

Found a really nice spot among several which were less level, in the paved sites that comprise part of the Badger Creek State Park.  Not sure it's officially maintained anymore as the pavement's cracks are overflowing with very tall weeds but it's free!

There's also a boat launch area where there's a pit toilet for the boaters but the spot I picked remains empty except for yours truly as I type this at 9:25 PM.  Good stuff.  Loving the solitude.  Occasionally, a car passes by checking the site out, but they move on.

 View of the water reservoir from the campsite

 Nearby flowers

 Absolutely no shade.....and it was a hot day too...

even cranked up the AC for a bit while eating.

Sunset proved rather mild, when compared to yesterday in Nebraska.  Still, it had some color and some interesting clouds to light up.

 Sunset at the campsite

 Sunset near the boat launch

Back at the campsite, a view of the last cloud to be illuminated

As I finished typing this post, I can see someone is shooting off fireworks near the boat launch.  Sigh.  Then again, it's probably those three pickup trucks with youths I saw earlier, guess you gotta find the fun where you can in the middle of Iowa on a weekday.

I think I will stay here one additional day, I've got 300 miles to go to get to Holmen, WI and I'm not due there till sometime on Friday.