rabbed a breakfast at the motel and then got packed up and were ready to leave around 10 AM. Gene had to get all of his Obama and McCain bobble-heads packed securely....there isn't a great deal of extra space on the motorcycle. He has adorned the bike with little pigs at various places....makes it more customized. Davenport was actually a pretty nice place for a weekend. We had a good time without any permanent scars or property damage. We tried to find 
any newspaper article with our interview at the ballpark but the Argus newspaper wasn't available at the motel and they don't seem to have an Internet version. Maybe our 15 minutes of fame marched on without us.Gene hit the road back to Wisconsin and I headed west on I-80. Traffic was surprisingly heavy but part of that was probably due to students heading toward Iowa City and University of Iowa. There were a lot of moving vans on the highway...more than I've noticed other times.
HERBERT HOOVER
My first stop was at the Iowa welcome center to pick up a better map
. Then it was off to West Branch and the Herbert Hoover birthplace and Presidential library. The entire town of West Branch seems like it is frozen in time. Painted frame houses and picket fences everywhere. A few businesses were modern but there were still some older commercial buildings in the middle of town. Hoover was 
born here in 1874 and the family home was small, only 20 feet by 14 feet....that's 280 square feet for a family of five. They had two rooms, a summer kitchen on the back porch and an outhouse in the back yard. Across the street was the father's blacksmith shop....which was considerably larger than the house. About 250 feet in the other direction was the Quaker meeting house where the family worshipped. The one-
room school house was about the same distance in the opposite direction...so Herbert Hoover's entire childhood existence was pretty much confined to an area not much larger than two football fields.
. Then it was off to West Branch and the Herbert Hoover birthplace and Presidential library. The entire town of West Branch seems like it is frozen in time. Painted frame houses and picket fences everywhere. A few businesses were modern but there were still some older commercial buildings in the middle of town. Hoover was 
born here in 1874 and the family home was small, only 20 feet by 14 feet....that's 280 square feet for a family of five. They had two rooms, a summer kitchen on the back porch and an outhouse in the back yard. Across the street was the father's blacksmith shop....which was considerably larger than the house. About 250 feet in the other direction was the Quaker meeting house where the family worshipped. The one-
room school house was about the same distance in the opposite direction...so Herbert Hoover's entire childhood existence was pretty much confined to an area not much larger than two football fields. Hoover was orphaned at age ten and was supported by an 
uncle. He was educated as a mining engineer and was trapped in China during the Boxer Rebellion while working there.
uncle. He was educated as a mining engineer and was trapped in China during the Boxer Rebellion while working there. The Hoover library looks pretty small and dates back to the 1960s when Presidential libraries were starting to be built. This one was totally built by private funding and 
then eventually donated to the National Park Service. There was a park ranger in the house who was very knowledgeable and another fellow that was apparently a local historian who was just hanging out there.
then eventually donated to the National Park Service. There was a park ranger in the house who was very knowledgeable and another fellow that was apparently a local historian who was just hanging out there. Hoover is buried on the grounds of the library with his wife, Lou.
So I learned a lot about Herbert Hoover He's not one of our universally appreciated presidents since he presided over the start of the depression...but I have to admit that he came a long way from a two-room house in rural Iowa.
AMANA COLONIES
When I stopped at the welcome center I also discovered the Amana Colonies were only 14 miles out of my way--- just a little west of Iowa City. I always heard about the Amana Colonies but didn't know much about them.
Apparently there was a bunch of disgruntled Lutherans in Germany in the 1700s who developed their own church tradition and separated from the other (presumably gruntled) Lutherans. The German government was freaking out....they tried to co-exist but that didn't work so they moved to the US and eventually landed in Iowa in the 1850s and set up a communal society with several small towns all called Amana. There is South Amana, West Amana, Middle Amana, High Amana, and plain old Amana...all together there are seven little communities that look like miniature Hermanns. Sometime in the early 1930s they gave up on the communal idea and then eventually started cranking out refrigerators. There is a huge factory near Middle Amana. Several hundred old buildings are still located in the seven villages but now there is a sprinkling of modern homes around the area. The church is still active and owns much of the land.
I mana
ged to traipse through most of the smaller Amanas before I got to the main tourist center at Amana. The place is well preserved and there are a bunch of restaurants and shops as well as wineries and cheese shops and a general store. It is bigger than Arrow Rock but smaller and less urban than Hermann but has some of that same flavor. I ate lunch at a German restaurant and took some Cherry pie to go. A few 
doors down the street is the Ackerman Winery so, of course, I had to go in there. I walked out with three bottles of wine so now I had wine and pie. Next I wandered into the general store and wandered out with even more food....I'm glad I ate lunch before I went into these places, otherwise I'd be hauling a trailer.
ged to traipse through most of the smaller Amanas before I got to the main tourist center at Amana. The place is well preserved and there are a bunch of restaurants and shops as well as wineries and cheese shops and a general store. It is bigger than Arrow Rock but smaller and less urban than Hermann but has some of that same flavor. I ate lunch at a German restaurant and took some Cherry pie to go. A few 
doors down the street is the Ackerman Winery so, of course, I had to go in there. I walked out with three bottles of wine so now I had wine and pie. Next I wandered into the general store and wandered out with even more food....I'm glad I ate lunch before I went into these places, otherwise I'd be hauling a trailer. I eventually got back on the road but it was already 3 PM as I was going through Iowa City. Highway 27 runs south from Iowa City into Missouri 
and it is a really good, divided highway with not a great deal of traffic. It is designated the "Avenue of the Saints" because it is a connecting highway from St. Louis to St. Paul (maybe why there isn't much tradfic). When it gets close to the Mississippi it is also part of the Great River Road. In Missouri I followed Highway 61 south to Palmyra and then went west through Mexico and down US 54 to Jefferson City...got home about 7:30.
and it is a really good, divided highway with not a great deal of traffic. It is designated the "Avenue of the Saints" because it is a connecting highway from St. Louis to St. Paul (maybe why there isn't much tradfic). When it gets close to the Mississippi it is also part of the Great River Road. In Missouri I followed Highway 61 south to Palmyra and then went west through Mexico and down US 54 to Jefferson City...got home about 7:30. This is not a particular scenic route unless you like corn. Corn is probably the state tree of Iowa. When they introduce the baseball players at the Davenport ballpark they come on to the field by stepping out of a small cornfield. Cute... "Is this Heaven?"......"No, just Davenport."
Because of all the rain and some flooding it is all overwhelmingly green for mid-August. There are some impressive farms and some huge old barns along the way. Swedeburg Iowa is a Swedish community with a Swedish heritage center. Lots of antique stores in the little towns.
