Monday 4-27-26 Dreary Laid Back Day

 

Camping at Saylorville Lake 

We had a very laid back day.

We woke up to rain. It started in the middle of the night and was very steady. At times it poured. The morning temperature was 59 degrees and the high was 72 degrees at 2:00 pm. Then the wind came up and the temperature dropped to 57 degrees by 5:00 pm. It sprinkled on and off all morning.

We spent most of the day inside. Larry finished two books. I played games.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 54 minutes and 10 second to complete, which put me in 22nd place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

After lunch I started an afternoon walk but it only lasted a short time. I ended only doing .66 mile because it started to sprinkle. I met a lady from Des Moines and her Yorkie. We were talking when it started to sprinkle. We said our good-byes. By the time I got back to the Minnie it had stopped. It was this way all day.

After dinner Larry and I went for walk to get out of the Minnie. He walked with me for a mile and I walked another two miles. The walk was around the campground because it looked like rain.

After playing my games I continued reading The Curse of Pietro Houdini. 

By the end of the day I had done 10,000 steps.

Saylorville Lake Campground was a great place to be held up for a couple of days due to the weather. It's a big enough campground to walk around. When you do all the little loops its .8 mile. 

Sunday -26-26 Overcast Day & Relaxing

 

Saylorville Lake

We had an overcast day and it sprinkled on and off.  The morning temperature was 54 degrees and the high temperature was 72 degrees.

We woke up to rain, not hard rain, just a little drizzle. It drizzled on and off all day. We decided to stay another day. Larry went online after lunch and paid for the day. It's suppose to rain all day tomorrow so we'll probably stay another night. But we're going to play it by ear.

I wasn't in any hurry to get out of bed so I didn't crawl out until 7:40. I got dressed and then made pancakes for breakfast. There was rain in the area and it was drizzling so we just hung around the Minnie. Some people left. People who were going to stay another night left. We were kind of happy because all our neighbors left. We don't mind neighbors but some of the sites here are real close to each other. 

About 2:00 we decided to go for a walk. We walked for 3 miles using the Neil Smith Trail. Neil Smith Trail is a paved trail that is about 25 miles long, it is a multi-use path. It runs along the Des Moines River and Saylorville Lake. You can access the trail at the gatehouse We walked the trail to Red Feather Prairie Area. There are a couple of hiking trails there and a parking lot. As we walked the trail we walked by a pond and through the trees. The trail went up and down hills. We saw a few people walking the trail and a few bicyclists. When we got to Red Feather Prairie Area we rested on a bench. After resting we walked back to the campground. We saw a turkey walk across the trail into the trees. We were surprised there was only one. It was a very nice walk.

Read Feather Prairie 

Turkey walking across the trail

Same turkey on a downed tree

Larry finished another book. He has had a stretch of three or four books in a row that have not been great, they have been readable but they could have been better. He has been reading some books that he has had hanging around for years. They are not long books. Maybe there is a reason they have continued to sit on his to be read list for so long. 

I played games. I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Two Game Tango of 20 games (10 Free Cell and 10 Pyramid). It took me 2 hours, 36 minutes and 33 seconds to complete, which put me in 18th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

After dinner I went for an hour walk around the campground loops, three times for 2.5 miles. I didn't want to go too far away because it was going to rain. I said hi to people and visited with a few dogs. It was a very nice walk. 

When I finished my games I continued reading The Curse of Pietro Houdini by Derek B. Miller.

Reading is fun and relaxing

By the end of the day I had done 13,000 steps.

      

Saturday 4-25-26 Fun Time in Des Moines & Cherry Glen Campground

 

Iowa Capitol Building in Des Moines 

We had an awesome day.

We woke up to the morning temperature of 45 degrees in Pella, Iowa and a little breeze. The high temperature was 73 degrees in Johnston, Iowa. 

I got up at 7:00 am and got dressed. Then we had breakfast. After breakfast we put things away and secured because we're moving on. We had five fabulous days at Red Rock Lake but it's time to move on.

On the way out of Howell Station Recreation Area we stopped at the dump station to dump our tanks and fill the water tank with water. They had two dump stations and each station had to dumps and fresh water. Larry didn't have to use our hose to fill the water tank because they had a hanging hose and he could put our filter on it. This made it so much easier. While Larry dumped the tanks I walked over to the gate house and put our site tag in the box. The gate house was just across the street.

After dumping the tanks and getting water we were on the road at 8:00 am. Larry drove 75 miles on four lane highways and partly on an interstate. He prefers two lane or four lane highways then interstates. He feels they're less stressful. 

We stopped in Des Moines to have some fun. 

First was the capitol building. It opened at 8:00 am and we arrived at 9:00 am. We parked in a giant visitor parking lot by the capitol building. There was no one in the parking lot so we had no problem finding a spot. Then we walked over to the capitol building. When we entered the building we had to go through security. The two guys were very friendly. We went to the information booth and found we got there in good timing because the first tour was at 9:30, which was about 20 minutes away. This gave us some time to walk around. They had a small gift shop. Our tour guide was Jamie and she had been doing the tours for five years. She did an excellent job of talking about the structure of the capitol building. Her background was in architecture so a lot of the tour was about the architecture of the building. During the tour we saw the first ladies and first gentleman of Iowa doll case. In 2017 Kim Reynolds became the first female governor in the state. So her husband became the first first gentleman of the state. She talked about the USS Iowa (BB-61) battleship and showed us the model. We went inside the Supreme Courtroom. They don't hold their regular sessions in the capitol building, they're in the Judicial Building on the Capitol grounds south of the capitol building. We went inside the House of Representatives gallery and walked around the library. The library was gorgeous with spiral staircases. We saw a lot of beautiful art about the history of Iowa. We walked up a 91 step spiral staircase to get into the dome. At places it was very tight. Once in the dome we walked around and saw the dome up close. It was a great tour for 90 minutes.

First ladies doll case  

Jamie our tour guide

Women's rights movement sculpture

Supreme Court

Westward by Blash

Left to right mosaics (glass) paintings (Defense, Charities, Elective Judiciary and Education) by Dieleman

 

The library

Capitol Dome

One of the statues on the capitol grounds

Another monument on the capitol grounds

After the tour we went back to the Minnie and had lunch. Then Larry drove to the Pappajohn Sculpture Park. It's 4.4-acre park with 24 sculptures. Before walking the sculpture park we saw a gorgeous clock on a building. It's a digital clock, that changes every hour on the hour. It didn't take too long to walk around but we saw some nice sculptures from different artists.

Timepiece by OVORAM

Three Dancing Figures by Keith Harring

In the Morning by Anthony Caro

The Thinker On A Rock and Ancient Forest by Louise Bourgeous

Spider and Juno by Louise Bourgeous

Pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama

White Ghost by Yoshitomo Nara

The last stop was Des Moines Art Museum. It was a fantastic museum with a lot of paintings, sculptures, modern art and mixed media. There are art works that are permanent and made by well known artists, such as: Edward Hopper's Automat from 1927, which was made in a postage stamp, Stanton McDonald Wright's Synchromy, which has been reproduced in numerous texts about art/movement and Francis Bacon's Portrait of Pope Innocent from 1953 appeared in Robert Hughes' BBS series The Shocks of the New in 1980s. The art was on display on three floors and in a sculpture garden. We didn't go through the garden. The special art exhibits is by Maria Lassnig. She does animated films and gets some of her ideas from watching television. The museum was established in 1948.

Des Moines Art Museum

Henry Payer Winnebago Lodge and The Wandering Winnebago (horse pulling the Winnebago)

Maria Lassnig from watching television

Sad Sack by Elizabeth Murray

Animal Pyramid by Bruce Newman

Klown by Robert Arneson

Composition In Three Figures by Leon Kroll

After walking around the museum we went to Walmart to do some grocery shopping. After putting all the groceries away we were back on the road.

Our final destination for the day was U.S. Army Corps of Engineer Saylorville Lake Cherry Glen Campground. On the way there we stopped at Chasey's to fill up the Minnie with gas. Once this was done we continued another four miles to Saylorville Lake. 

We stopped at the gate house to check-in and the gentleman said just go to the site. Our site was #79 and we had no problem finding it. The campground only had a few sites available when Larry made reservations yesterday. They have three more Corps of Engineers campground on the lake but they don't open until May 1st. The sites are very close to each other but that's ok because it's only for one night.

Camping at Cherry Glen Campground on Saylorville Lake

After setting up the Minnie for the night it was 3:00. 

I played my games. I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 6 games (3 Klondike and 3 Free Cell). It took me 19 minutes and 13 seconds, which put me in 33rd in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

Larry did some research on where to go from here. For dinner we shared a salad from Walmart.

After dinner I walked around for 35 minutes for 1.33 miles. By the end of the day I only did 11,000 steps. We had a super day.  

        

 

            

Friday 4-24-26 Change of Plans

Camping at Howell Station Recreation Area

About 9:30 pm last night a front came through. It rained hard and steady for a couple of hours but didn't go away until early morning. It left us with a cool temperature of 47 degrees and a north wind. The high was 62 degrees. The wind stayed around all day and kept it very nice and cool. Perfect type of weather for our way of camping. A gorgeous day with blue skies.

When Larry woke up he went online and extended our stay at Howell Station for another night because of the rain. Our plan had been to go to Des Moines and stay at the Fairgrounds, the camping there is in a grassy field. He asked Google if people got stuck in the field after a rain. Google said yes.

I got out of bed at 7:15 and got dressed. Then we had breakfast. After breakfast we went on a 3.75 mile walk. The route we did was almost the same as yesterday's walk except, where the Volksweg Trail Yd off to the day area or hiking trail we turned left and went to the day area. We wore our jackets because it was a little nippy. The trail took us to the main highway where we hiked it to the road to North Overlook Recreation Area. Then we walked to the day area and walked around it. The final leg was back to the campground. As we walk we enjoyed the chirping of the birds, the birds playing in their birdhouses and saying hi to people we walked by. It was a super walk around the campground.

Woodpeckers enjoying a park attendant birdfeeder

 

Howell Station Recreation Area

Larry finished the second book he started yesterday and started another one. He also finished this one. I continued reading The Curse of Pietro Houdini.

Relaxing with a good book

After lunch we went on another walk. We walked to the entrance gate to let the attendant know we had extended out stay another night. She was the same attendant as the other day. She and her husband were standing outside of the booth. We talked to them a little bit. Then we continued our walk on Volksweg Trail going the opposite direction as we have been walking it. When we got back to the bridge Larry went back to the Minnie and I continued walking across the river to the day area and Ivans Recreation Area. When I walked around the day area by the dam I saw a lot more people fishing on the banks and more people bicycling and walking. Ivans had more people in it also. I guess it's because it's Friday. I ended up walking for an hour and 20 minutes for 3.66 miles. It was another beautiful walk.

The bridge that takes you across the river

Birds enjoying their birdhouse at the dam

White pelicans enjoying each other company

I played my games. I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Two Game Tango of 20 games (10 Spider and 10 Tri Peaks). It took me 2 hours, 45 minutes and 16 seconds to complete, which put me in 19th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

After dinner I did a third walk for 45 minutes for 1.75 miles. I just walked the campground without going to the day area. I spent the rest of the night reading and finishing my games.

Fishing off the banks of the Des Moises River

By the end of the night I had done 20,500 steps. Wow, I haven't done this amount of steps in a long time.  We had a super day. LIFE IS GOOD!!!!!

 

   

    

Thursday 4-23-26 Overcast Day, Walking & Camping

 

American Bald Eagles 

We had a fantastic day. It was overcast and humid all day. The morning temperature was 60 degrees and the high temperature was 76 degrees.

I got up a little late, it was 7:30 am. Then we had a cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese and shared a vanilla shake. 

The Volksweg Trail is a paved trail, that goes all the way to Pella and all around the campgrounds and day areas. It a beautiful trail and is used all the time by bicyclist, joggers and walkers. No motor vehicles are allowed. It's used by the locals and campers alike. It goes over the Des Moise River via a wooden bridge. We use parts of it for our morning walks and I use part of it for my evening walks.     

After breakfast we got ready to go on a walk using the Volksweg Trail, we walked 4 miles for 1 hour 45 minutes. We started from our site and picked it up by the bridge. We didn't have to walk to the Horn's Ferry Bridge to see the bald eagles, they were flying along the river by the bridge by us. We walked on the bridge and watched them fly for a little while. We got back on the trail and continued to Howell Station entrance. When we got there we continued our walk across the street until it crossed the main road. We walked the road to the sign that pointed to the North Overlook Recreation Area. Then we walked the road to where the trail intersected by the dam. We took the trail to the right and walked it to the trailhead sign of a trail. This trail goes for 13 miles and is called Elk Rock Equestrian Trail. We kept on going to a pedestrian tunnel, that took you under the road and up to a bathroom and parking lot. We walked through the tunnel and then turned around and headed back. As we walked we saw a couple of ladies walking like us and said hi to them. When we got back to where the trail Ys we kept walking towards the campground. We didn't go straight to the campground we walked to the day area. We walked around the day area and rested on a bench for a little bit. After our rest we headed back to our site. We saw a couple of ladies unloading their strollers from their vehicle and getting ready for a walk. The trail was about a mile to get back to the Minnie. We had a humid beautiful walk. 

Pedestrian Tunnel

My band didn't correctly track the mileage for the hike, not sure what happened. Larry was tracking the hike on his watch. It said we had walked 4.25 miles and mine said we ha walked 3.3 miles. He teased me and said I had to walk some more to catch up with him. Fortunately it did count my steps correctly.

After lunch we went over and took a shower. 

Larry spent the rest of the day relaxing. He finished a book yesterday so he started a new book and finished it. Then he started a second book.

Reading is fun

I played my games. I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Easy Street Mini of 15 games. It took me 39 minutes and 11 seconds, which put me in 24th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

About 2:00 I did my evening walk because it was suppose to rain. I walked for 3.5 miles. I walked over the bridge to get to the other side. While I was walking on the bridge a couple of bald eagles flew over my head. What a beautiful site. Then I saw a couple more. The eagles were very active on the river today. Then I walked the trail towards the day area. But I stopped at Eagle Lair Nature Trail, which is .6 miles. I walked it twice going both directions. It was a very easy grassy trail, that goes through the trees and along the river back to the bridge. It was very easy and had no roots or rocks to trip over. As I walked the trail I heard and saw the eagles and white pelicans. It was very nice. I walked it twice by accident because I thought I missed something when I went the first time. After doing the trail I got back on the Volksweg Trail and went to the day area. There weren't too many people fishing today, I think I saw two people. I walked around the day area. Then I walked to Ivans Campground and walked around it. As I was walking around Ivans I stopped and visited with a gentleman, who comes here all the time. Then I continued my walk back to Larry. I called him to let him know I was ok because I didn't make it back in an hour, it was going to be an hour and a half. It was another beautiful walk. 

   

Dandelions

Giant fish at the day area to play on

White Pelicans in the river

Bald eagles in the trees

I spent the rest of the day and evening playing games. I started a new book called The Curse of Pietro Houdini by Derek B. Miller.

By the end of the day I had done 18,500 steps. 

     

Wednesday 4-22-26 Camping by the Des Moines River & Walking

 

Display on the wing span of birds in the area

We had another gorgeous day of sunshine. 

We woke up with the temperature of 59 degrees and the high was 77 degrees. There was a breeze all day, which kept it cooler.

I got up at 7:30 and got dressed. Then we shared the last apple strudel and the rest of the Dutch apple bread we bought yesterday. 

Today we decided to walk the beautiful paved trail around the campground and across the river for a total of 4 miles. There are a lot of trails here but we decided to take the paved trails. We started our walk from our campsite to the wooden bridge that goes to the other side of the river. We took the trail to the day area. Larry hadn't been to this day area and was very impressed. He saw the cute sand box with a fish in it, he thought it was great. Then we walked to Ivans Campground. We walked around the campground and relaxed on a bench. While doing this we saw a couple of beautiful American Bald Eagles. We watched them for awhile. It was hard to get a picture because they were too far away and flew fast. Next we walked back to the bridge and crossed back to our side of the river. We hung a right walked to the Horn's Ferry Bridge. We climbed the steps to get on the bridge. Once again we watched the eagles flying down the river. They hanging in the trees in the American Eagle Refuge, that Gladys Black founded. There are binoculars mounted to the bridge to help see the eagles, unfortunately they are not very good but you can see the eagles. We could stay there all day watching the eagles but we didn't. We climbed back down the steps and got back on the paved trail. We continued walking the trail to the entrance of the campground. Then we walked the road back to the Minnie. It was a humid walk but we had fun.

American Bald Eagle

In the afternoon we went on a motorcycle ride. Before leaving the campground we stopped by the check-in booth and told the lady we had extended our stay for another two nights. She was very friendly. Larry told her they were doing a great job with the flowers and decor around the booth. She thanked him and said that the Corps gives them some money to spend on flowers. It was their job to keep the park looking good. She said we would see a lot more flowers because of the extra money given to them. The attendants in this park are all volunteers and they only get a free camp site and no salary. It looks like they have no problem getting volunteers. In Texas the Corp hosts get a salary (at least they used to) because it's vended out.

After talking to her we continued our motorcycle rid to Pella. Larry wanted to surprise me by going to one of  the local ice cream parlors. One was suppose to open at 1:00 but when we arrived at 2:00 it was still closed. The other ice cream parlor didn't open until 4:00. Larry decided to go to Culver's. We haven't been to one in a long time. We shared a turtle sundae. It was delicious and had a lot of walnuts in it. The service was excellent and employees very friendly. 

On the way back we drove around to locate the hiking trailheads. We found them and decided if we wanted to do any of them we would have to ride the motorcycle to the trailhead. It was over a mile from the campground. We drove to the dam and turned around. We went back to the Minnie. 

For dinner we barbecued pork chops. After dinner I did my evening walk. I walked for an hour and got 2.5 miles. I walked to Horn's Ferry Bridge to watch the eagles. While there I talked to a lady, who lives in Pella. We talked for awhile. She said in the Winter time there are a lot more eagles in the trees and other birds, they migrate to Lake Red Rock. She said it's great to see. After saying our good-byes I continued my walk. I walked to the entrance of the campground instead of getting off the trail I walked it until it ended at the parking lot for the trailhead. Then I walked the main highway to the road, that takes you to the dam area. I walked the road until it got back to the paved trail. I didn't go all the way to the day area I turned where the trail Yd. I walked back to the campground. I had a very pleasant walk.

More fun facts about birds wing span. 

White Pelican (96-111 inches)

Wood Duck (26-29 inches) 

Wood Duck (26-29 inches)

American Bald Eagle (70-86 inches)

Osprey (59-79 inches)

By the end of the day I had done 16,000 steps.

I played my games. I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Solitaire World Tour of 30 games. It took me 5 hours, 13 minutes and 29 seconds to complete, which put me in 11th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2. 

While I walked and played games Larry read.