Month: September 2017

Monday, September 18, 2017

It was a cool, clear, morning, 50 degrees. Everyone had on jackets when we went to Bible Study. But before that our hospitality committee had breakfast snacks and coffee and juice for everyone. This year our Bible Study is on angels and led by a fellow NOMAD who is a retired pastor. Today he talked in general about angels, as an introduction. Tomorrow we will look at what the Old Testament teaches about angels, Wednesday, New Testament, and Thursday the Angelic Rebellion. We should learn something and I suspect our leader will challenge us and make us think. Not a bad thing. The Bible Study was at 7:00. At 8:00 we moved to the larger pavilion and had about 15 minutes of singing. Then 8:15-8:55 was our devotion led by Rev. Kiboko Kiboko, one of the Iowa District Superintendents. He is from the Congo and delivered a compelling devotion based on Matthew 4:18 where Jesus is calling the disciples. Jesus calls us to “follow me and do the same as I do.” Rev. Kiboko told us the story of his brother who was imprisoned in the Congo for calling for justice for a woman who was shot because she protested against the government. Excellent devotion.

It was then time for everyone to go on the various sightseeing tours available while the auction committee worked to get everything ready for tomorrows auction. People brought their items to the main pavilion throughout the day. We didn’t plan on any of the morning tours so after getting our items to the auction committee, did laundry, took a nap and visited with friends. We had scheduled an afternoon tour but did not do that either, rather we rode bikes into Amana and picked up a few items, and did a little geocaching.

Tonight was movie night with popcorn and watching Field of Dreams. Everyone seemed to have a good time and now it’s time for bed. 7:00am will come early.

Sunday, September 17, 2017

It rained most of the night with wind blowing. The rain was much needed as they are way short on rain here.  The wind was still blowing this morning making it seem much cooler than the 62 degrees on the outside thermometer. It remained cloudy and windy until about 11:00. Then it was sunny and back to short sleeves. Tonight as soon as the sun started down it was long sleeves again. Right now at 9:00 pm it’s down to 56. Guess it’s going to be fireplace weather in the morning.

Today we had worship with all the NOMADS in one of the pavilions here at the campground. Our friends Larry and Joan brought a message came from Ezekiel, the dry bones story. It was a wonderful message and service. It is so great to worship with all our NOMADS friends. We then went to lunch with friends and potential NOMADS. We had a meeting with the experienced team leaders this afternoon to received some updated policies from the Board and to discuss any problems any of the leaders have had recently. Otherwise it was a restful afternoon. Tonight was our Celebration of Life Service remembering the 15 NOMADS members/alumni that have died this year. It was a very sweet service of remembrance. It was another wonderful day here in Iowa.

Saturday, September 16, 2017

It didn’t cool down very much last night. This morning was pretty overcast but by noon it had cleared off the sun was out in full force. We decided to do an early bike ride. We chose one recommended by the lady at the Visitor’s Center. The Amana Colonies Gravel Bike Trail begins from the paved trail over to Middle Amana but then turned out through a residential area on the streets. It continued on streets out of town until the road became a gravel road. We had been told this was a gravel trail. In actuality, it was a gravel road and remained so all the way to West Amana. Fortunately there was very little traffic – just a few cars and tractors. Shortly after becoming gravel there was a split. To the left was the road to High Amana and the right, to West Amana. The trail to West Amana was listed as 17 miles round trip. We thought we would enjoy doing that trail, so to the right we went. It was listed as a difficult trail. It was correct. There were two nasty hills to climb. However, the most difficult aspect of the ride to us was the gravel. We have biked gravel trails before that were great. These roads were very rough. In some areas the loose stone was pretty treacherous.

 

We continued on to West Amana. There we stopped at the Broom and Basket Shop and saw the largest walnut rocking chair in Iowa. It was pretty impressive. We also watched a gentleman making brooms. Today was the apple festival so businesses were giving free samples of things apple related. The Broom and Basket Shop had mini fried apple pies. There were very good. We then had to start the ride back. It took us longer to get home than to West Amana. We also discovered the seventeen miles round trip was the gravel portion only. It did not include the paved trail and roads you took to get to the gravel roads.

 

So, we biked a total of 23 miles today. We were tired and hungry. After a quick lunch we drove into town for the Amana Colonies Apfelfest (apple festival). There were all things apple to try. Apple cider, caramel apple fudge, apple cake, apple tea, apple coffee, on and on. Surpisingly, there were no apples to purchase. We were expecting to be able to buy some good local apples. Nope, none to be had. We were disappointed.

 

Returning to the camp ground we found that several dear friends had arrived. So we visited until time to get ready to go to the Old Creamery Theater. The production tonight was the musical Footloose. We especially wanted to see the play after our Disaster Rebuild project in Elmore City, OK where the event happened on which the story was based. (Click here to read our blog entry from Elmore City.) The play was excellent!! We had such a good time. Now we are home and all the exercise today has caught up with us. We are really tired and now going to bed. Good night.

Friday, September 15, 2017

This morning was not as cool as the previous 2 days and it was hot, windy and dry this afternoon. We did have another really nice sunset.

We started the day with the NOMADS Board meeting. We got to meet some of the board that we did not know so that was nice. It was a pretty typical meeting that ran from 9-4 with an hour break for lunch. Lots of business to discuss and decisions to be made. Max only attended the morning session because he worked parking during the afternoon session. We had about 50 more rigs come in today and the parking crew is tasked with meeting each rig and leading them to their site, welcoming them to Amana and giving them their welcome bag. Max probably had more fun than Anne this afternoon.

After the meeting was over and Max finished work we decided to go into town and have a wood fired pizza. It was very good and loaded with toppings. When we got back to FRED we rode the bike trails again. It is so nice to have bike trails right here at the campground so we don’t have to ride on the roads. We then spent the rest of the evening walking around and visiting with friends who arrived today. It was another good day.