We have started on our trip to the Arkansas Ozarks. The northwest group meet in Maple Grove at around 8:00 AM. This group was Lloyd, Greg and Jim. These three met up with Wayne in Bloomington at 9:00. Then the four or us headed down the interstate to Al's house in Owatonna. Al was waiting for us and we said our hello's. From his house it was time for breakfast. We ate in a restaurant in the local HyVee... Nice pancakes for a grocery store.
After breakfast we bid adeu to Greg. This was all the time he had available for a ride this year. Now we were back to three fossils. We headed south on side roads staying off of the interstate as much as possible. It was a beautiful day, nice sunshine, temps in the 70's, a bit of a strong wind out of the west.
We finally found a Dairy Queen in Iowa Falls, IA. Al, being a somewhat of a new Fossil didn't know the rules and drove right on by. He knew something was wrong when he saw none of us in his mirrors. It didn't take too long and he backtracked and found us.
From Iowa Falls traffic got a bit heavier as we had to get around Des Moines. Our goal was Winterset IA, which is John Wayne's birthplace and a museum. Winterset also is in Madison County which boasts of the famous Madison County covered bridges. We made it around Des Moines and pulled up in front of John Wayne's house about 5:00 PM. Unfortunately, the museum closed at 4:30. It was still nice to walk around the grounds, though. We got some pictures taken and were ready for our last jaunt to our motel reservation in Osceola IA.
We found some nice twisty county roads after Winterset. Best roads of the day.
Found our motel @7:00 PM. Ate supper at a family restaurant next door.
We are now waiting for the next 3 fossils. Keith, Larry and Gordy were unable to leave as early as we did. They are trailering their bikes and should get in around 10 PM.
