Destination - Soldier!!

We decided to do one quick side trip besides all of the Freedom Rocks so we stopped in Kalona - what a cute town!!  Of course we HAD to stop at the Kalona Chocolate place so we could buy some chocolate for the road - and yes, samples were given!!  I bought some dark chocolate caramels - they were delicious!!  And we had some fun with the frames!

We were fortunate to see a horse and buggy parked on a side street!  It's definitely an Amish community!

We had a long list of freedom rocks to check out on the way home.  First we headed to What Cheer (I  have never heard of this town before!) which is in Keokuk County.

Our next stop was Oskaloosa which is in Mahaska County. 

Next on the list was Knoxville which is in Marion County!

The sky in Knoxville got really dark and we knew there was a storm coming!  We parked the car for a few minutes by a park and then decided to go for it!  WOW - what a storm that had went through!  For the next 30 miles there were trees and branches down everywhere you looked!!  Debris and leaves and plants on the highway and just a lot of damage!!  We did hit some rain but luckily the wind was ahead of us!!  One town was dark as the electric poles were down and everywhere you looked there were uprooted trees and broken branches!

We were glad to get to Winterset where we had went last year but the freedom rock wasn't painted at that time.  This year it was done and we were excited to see John Wayne on it, even though he wasn't a veteran!  The rock sits on a corner where the John Wayne museum is.

We decided to eat lunch in Winterset and we ate at the same place we did last year!  The food was just as good too!

 Our next freedom rock said it was in Menlo but we searched the tiny town and it wasn't there - so we plugged it in our phone and sure enough it was one that is out in the country!  Unfortunately there was a closed road so we had to take the LONG way around on gravel roads!  This rock is the ORIGINAL freedom rock painted in Adair County.  It is repainted with a different scene every Memorial Day!!  All the previous pictures of the rocks were displayed in an area where you could read about the artist and sign your name!  We were surprised that since June 1st, there were 6 pages of names!!  WOW!!!

Our final rock was in Manilla, Crawford County!  So we knew we were getting close to home!

It felt good to be back in Soldier and connect with the guys!!  Glenn had a good time fishing and camping with his boys but they sure didn't catch many fish so that was disappointing!  He was itching like crazy as the chiggers got to him once again.....................

Friday morning Patty and I headed up to Charter Oak to see Don and Nadine - always fun to do when we're back!!  We had a great visit and also got to see Becky and Craig as they arrived from Des Moines!

We relaxed in the afternoon and Patty fixed a great dinner for us that evening!  Glenn and I headed out early the next morning for home!  I think the highlight of the way home was finding Caribou Coffee in Kearney!!

Friday we had got notification that a fire had broken out near us!  It was between Florissant and Cripple Creek but until we got home, we didn't really know how close the fire was...................I had Brad on stand-by to get into our house and get things in case we got word of an evacuation!  But the fire was about 9 miles away so we were fine...............and the fire is another blog!