Monday 4-20-26 Visiting Eldon and Knoxville & Lake Red Rock

 

Having fun site seeing

We had a long day having fun visiting Eldon and Knoxville. 

We woke up to a cool 30 degrees in Keosauqua, Iowa and ended up with the high of 68 degrees in Pella, Iowa.

For breakfast we shared a bagel with cream cheese spread on it and a shake. Then we put things away and secured. Toady we said good-bye to Lacey-Keosauqua State Park after staying four great days.

We were on the road by 8:00 am. We traveled for 120 miles on two lane highways and a four lane highway. The drive was by a lot of farmland and small ranches. It was a very nice drive.

While driving we stopped a few times to do some touristy stuff. When we were driving through Eldon, Iowa we drove by Wapello County Regional Fairgrounds and saw a couple of horses pulling a driver in a sulky. We turned around and went to the fairgrounds to watch them. We weren't there too long, we watched them go around the track a couple of times. Then we continued going through Eldon but we saw KD Center, where there was a train museum. We stopped and parked the Minnie at KD Center park. We walked over to the museum. It was closed but we walked around the area looking and reading about the history of Keokuk & Des Moines Railroad. The K & D Railroad continued operation between Eldon and Des Moines from the 1800's until the 1970s. After walking around we went back to the Minnie and continued our adventure.

Harness Racing practice

Eldon Iowa

Railroad Museum in Eldon

Founder of the museum

Engine on display

Remains of the railroad tracks

Knoxville, Iowa was next. We stopped at Walmart to replenish some items we were getting low on. After putting everything away we had lunch. A few blocks away was the National Sprint Car Museum. The museum is right at the track, it is a half mile oval track. They race every Saturday night. The museum had a lot of information about sprint car racing and the drivers. It had a lot of exhibits. After walking around and looking at the exhibits a gentleman, who manages the place showed us around one of the suites that looks out over the track. The museum doesn't own the track but they do own the suites above the museum. They lease them out for $25,000 per year. He was very nice and we were glad he took the time to show us around.

National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum

#83 Tim Shaffer driver 

Circle 3 Ketter Special Al Ketter driver

Other sprint cars on display

Knoxville National Champions by Frank Clodfelter

Cheryl Glass (1961-1997) first African American female professional race car driver and first women to compete in sprint car racing in the United States

Another sprint car on display

The race track

After touring the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum we continued on to Elk Rock State Park. We had planned to stay but the bathrooms were still locked up for the winter. We decided we would go down the road and stay at Lake Red Rock U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Recreation Area Hollow Station. Before going there we stopped at Cordova Park to see the Observation Tower, it was on the way. We didn't just see it we walked the 169 steps to the top, which I counted. Once on top we had a beautiful view of Lake Red Rock and the bridge we drove over to get there. We met a gentleman, who was getting ready for a hunting trip in Nevada and he had to get in shape so he was climbing the tower multiple times. 

Lake Red Rock

Cordova Park Observation Tower from the web

After climbing the tower we moved to our campground. We arrived there at 3:30 pm. We stopped at the gate because someone was manning it. Larry asked if we could drive around and find a site. She said yes but we had to come back and check-in. We drove around and found a few sites. Then Larry went on the internet to see if they're available for our stay. The first couple of sites weren't available because they were right on the lake looking at the dam. We found a site, that was close to the bathroom and it looked over the lake. He reserved it for a couple of nights but we'll probably will be here longer. Then we drove back to the gate and checked-in.

Howell Station Recreation Area on Lake Red Rock is a gorgeous campground. It's huge. There is a paved walking trail, that goes to town and the two day areas. There's a bridge, that takes you across the lake to the second day area and Ivans Recreation Area. 

Once we set the Minnie up for a couple of nights we had dinner. After dinner we walked the paved trail to the day area on our side of the lake. It was for 2.25 miles round trip. During our walk we saw people fishing on the banks, a lot of pelicans, people walking, jogging and walking their dogs. The day area had kids playing in the playground. Later I did a 2.5 mile walk. I walked the bridge to the other side of the lake. Then I took the trail to where it Ys. It you go to the right you go to the day area and if you go to the left it takes you to Ivans Recreation Area. I went right and walked to the day area, where I saw a lot of people enjoying the area. There was a cute sandbox with a fish to climb on and other things to climb through. I walked around the area and back to the Y, where I walked it to Ivans. While walking around, that campground I saw a racoon, it was walking the road. After walking around I walked back to the bridge. I took the bridge back over the lake. When I got back to the Minnie I called it a night.

Check-in booth with tulips in front of it

 

Lots of pelicans

Red Rock Dam

Closer look of the pelicans

Playground on the other side of the lake

The Minnie in the campground from the dam

       

Racoon walking towards me

After my walk I played the Daily Challenges of  Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 10 games (5 Klondike and 5 Tri Peaks). It took me 46 minutes and 18 seconds, which put me in 16th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

By the end of the day I had done 15,000 steps.