Friday. August 17, 2012
Got up and walked around Bayley Ford campground and
discovered a section we did not know was there.
Many motor homes without any vehicles.
Not sure what that was about.
Also some pretty places by the trout stream. Took off toward Cedar Rapids. Jodi was looking at one of the travel
brochures we picked up and found there was a Czech Village in Cedar Rapids as
well as a Czech and Slovak museum so we punched the address into the GPS to see
what we would find. What a
treasure! Apparently there were a large
number of Czech immigrants who moved here after the second World War, some who
had been in the concentration camps. We
decided to eat breakfast at the Meat Market as they were advertising a Czech
breakfast. We went in and were very
pleasantly surprised by some delicious food.
We talked to the young girl who works there who had never been anywhere
other than Iowa and Missouri and then she told the owner we were from
Washington and she came over and talked to us about New Orleans and Mississippi
where she is from and gave us some pointers.
Jack tried to get a haircut but there was too long a wait. Jodi discovered this antique shop and we went
in and bought some globe bookends for $8.00.
As if we have room! We talked to
the owners who told us all about the floods of 2008 which destroyed much of the
Czech village and homes. They showed us
pictures. Amazing. Water was to nearly the ceiling of all the
stores and ruined many buildings. They
were a very nice couple, married 53 years.
Drove to the Amana colonies.
The Amana colonies is one of America’s longest living communal
societies. In the 1800’s a group of
people who were Pietist’s left Germany because of religious persecution and
first came to Buffalo, New York. Their
numbers grew and they needed more land for the people to live so moved to Iowa which
had fertile soil, enough wood, water and stones for their new village. They
started a communal colony there. In the 7 villages, residents received a home,
medical care, meals, all household necessities, and schooling for their
children. Property and resources were
shared. Men and women were assigned jobs
by their village council of brethren. No
one received a wage. No one needed
one. Well- crafted products became a
hallmark of the Amana’s. The communal
society lasted until the Great Depression and then the communal lifestyle was
abandoned to help keep children from leaving and to allow for more free enterprise. 
Drove to Iowa City and parked and walked around the football
stadium where they are getting ready for their first football game in 2
weeks. We then drove to the main part of
the campus and walked around. All sorts
of students in gold and black T-shirts, class of 2016. They start classes on Monday! Beautiful campus, found a Starbucks and Jack
found a barber for a haircut who he told all about our travels. We went into the Natural History Museum. Jodi went into the bookstore while he was
getting a haircut.
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