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.
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.
Scenery along the trail
An interesting farm house that we passed
The road was very dusty and this tractor pulling a manure spreader passed us three times.
More scenery
The type surface we rode on most of the way
The trail ends at West Amana
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.
In West Amana we stopped at the Broom and Basket Shop…
… home of Iowa’s largest walnut rocking chair.
It was interesting to watch how brooms are made.
Historic buildings in West Amana
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.
The brochure told us what samples were at each shop.
The town was very welcoming to us.
One of the looms in the Woolen Mill. On weekdays you can watch the looms work.
The old Windmill House in Amana
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.
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.
Wood fired pizza oven
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.
The tree we saw earlier in the week has become even more colorful.Another beautiful sunset over the RV park
It was another beautiful day in Iowa. It has warmed up and is actually hotter here than in Alabama. No what we were expecting or wanting, but it cools off enough at night that the mornings are really nice. By afternoon it’s getting into the upper 80’s, but today was the hottest in the extended forecast. We had a beautiful sunset tonight. Slept in again so don’t know what the sunrise was like. That’s too days in a row. Unusual for us. We have a board meeting at 9:00 tomorrow so won’t be quite as lazy tomorrow.
This morning while it was still cool we biked back into Amana to the post office. We took the trail around the lily pond again but didn’t make so many stops at the shops today. We did stop at the visitors center in Amana and a really nice lady there helped us with additional trail maps. Looks like there are some more nice trails we hope to ride.
Amana visitors center
The sign on the visitor center gives a brief history of the colony
For many years this was the home of the communal farm manager
Another display of metal yard art
This is an example of the beautiful flowers and landscaping all over Amana.
The rest of the day was basically spent meeting new people, and renewing friendships and catching up with old friends. More people have arrived early than we expected. Every time we went back outside more rigs were arriving. Probably because its’ a really nice RV park and lots of things to do in the area. Tomorrow we will check in at registration, go to the meeting and then Max will be helping with parking rigs tomorrow afternoon. Don’t know if we will get much riding in tomorrow. We should have time later in the week. Thank you God for a wonderful, relaxing day.
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. 
RVing With a Purpose 