2025 Spring Road Trip – A Day In Fargo

Thursday, May 22, 2025

Debra and Anne are good planners.  They had fully planned Tuesday, May 13th.   We would begin the day with an Agricultural Equipment and Manufacturing tour. We like manufacturing tours.  After God got through laughing, we realized that it was going to be too hot Tuesday afternoon for our planned visit to the Red River Zoo and for some reason the Agricultural tour couldn’t be done Tuesday so, Gumby visited, and we went to the zoo first thing Tuesday morning.  In the cool of the morning the animals were active and so fun to watch.  The two river otters were the most active of any we have ever seen.  So darn cute.  The Fargo Zoo is relatively new – opened in 1999.   The collection plan of the Red River Zoo primarily focuses on species from around the world with climates similar to North Dakota’s. We think they were so smart to do this because it allows them to have animals that thrive in the bitter winters of Fargo.  The zoo can have their animals on display year-round because they are cool/cold loving animals.

After lunch when it was hot outside, we visited a close by air conditioned air museum.  It was well done and displayed many restored planes from previous wars as well as some that are a work in progress.  Most of the planes are being restored by veterans.

Since it was such a warm day (one of just a few since leaving SC) after the air museum, we found some ice cream.  Who needs a healthy supper?  We had a good lunch.  So… ice cream it was.  It was a good day.

2025 Spring Road Trip – Iowa to North Dakota

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

This is a road trip so we must keep moving.  Monday morning (May 12th) after a nice walk around the campground (got to get our steps) we left Pulpit Rock en route to Fargo, ND. Since this route had us traveling through Minnesota we made a not so short stop at the Mall of America in Minneapolis.   We will let the pictures tell that story.

After a good lunch and good time at Mall of America we drove on to Lindenwood Park Campground in Fargo.  Lindenwood is nice Fargo city park with great places to walk/run/ride bikes and children’s play areas.

Spring 2025 Road Trip – National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

We left Park Terrace Campground Sunday morning May 11th.  Our plan for the day was to drive to Dubuque, IA, arriving about 10am when the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium opened.   We arrived a few minutes early and while waiting discovered just how large a museum we were visiting.  The museum opened in 2003 and continues to grow.  The city of Dubuque is built on the shores of the Mississippi and has experienced horrible flooding over the years.  It seems appropriate that Dubuque is the location of the national museum. It is very well done with all sorts of exhibits.  Very educational for all ages and there are several areas dedicated to children.  In addition to information on the river itself there is also information about life on the river.  There is an old Corp of Engineers dredge that can be toured.  There is a calliope from an old paddle steamer that has been restored and now played for visitors.  There was also a belt driven machine shop from one of the old boat builder companies on display.  Much of the equipment still worked. They have freshwater fish aquariums spotlighting the Mississippi River fish and saltwater aquariums.  They even have a yellow stingray pool where they allow visitors to gently touch the stingray.  It was a fascinating place to visit, and we are so glad Debra scheduled this for us.

The calliope was VERY loud!

After leaving the museum we drove to Pulpit Rock Campground in Decorah, IA.  After getting set up on our sites, the four of us decided to hike to the top of Pulpit Rock.  It was a fun hike and reminded us of how thankful we are that Randy can now hike with us again.  God is so good!

Spring 2025 Road Trip – Kentucky to Iowa

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

Sorry it has been so long since we posted but we have been so busy having fun traveling.  May 9th was a long travel day.  We said goodbye to Big Bone Lick State Historic Park (nice park) about 8:00 am Friday morning and made our way across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and landed at Park Terrace Campground in Davenport, Iowa at about 6:00pm. It was a long day.  We chose to make it a long day because we had already visited these states.  Saturday morning after a good night of sleep, the four of us went to a local restaurant that Randy or Debra had found, The Machine Shed.  What a wonderful place to have a Saturday morning breakfast.  We all shared one huge cinnamon roll  – probably the largest we have ever had, and oh so good!  Our breakfasts were also very good but we had to work to clean our plates after having the cinnamon roll as an “appetizer”.  If you are ever in Davenport this is a “must do” for breakfast.

Next on the list for Iowa was the famous Iowa 80 Truck Stop.  It is claimed to be the world’s largest truck stop.  We don’t know about that, but we do know that is huge. It is located on the eastern edge of Iowa, not far from the Mississippi river close to the town of Walcott.  Some call it a Trucker’s Disneyland.  In addition to nine restaurants and 24 showers, they also have a dentist, chiropractor, barber shop, a dogamat pet wash, laundry center, movie theater, workout room and of course anything you might need or want for your 18 wheeler.

All of that was great but our favorite part was the Iowa 80 Trucking Museum.   We lost count on the number of trucks but they were amazing.  Entry is free but they ask for a donation.  We almost skipped the museum because we had already spent so much time in the truck stop.  So glad we did not miss it and we would definitely recommend the museum.

Our last stop for the day was at Antique Archaeology in Leclaire, IA.  We knew it from the American Pickers TV show.  Randy and Debra have watched a few of the shows and we went there so we could get some pics to send to their grandchildren.  It was a fun way to end our day.