Oelwein, Iowa. A stopping point for one night only. Sometimes though on the road things have to be taken care of like paperwork. Reconcile the checkbook. Post on this blog. Fix things. Clean things. The little campground proved to be the friendliest since North Carolina. I stayed 2 nights and worked around the "home" and then went to the little railroad museum in town. The museum was interesting but the most interesting thing to me was that it is in some old railroad buildings and on tracks given to the museum by the railroad. As far as I can tell it is a volunteer operation. No professional curator. They have a nice collection of RR cars and engines. Pictured: a caboose just resided. The interior of the caboose and a photo out the window of an engine. A volunteer showed me around these cars and thanks to him I noticed things I would not otherwise have noticed or understood. Inside the museum is a collection of photos and documents hung in no particular order and not captioned but interesting nontheless. I applaud these volunteers. The museum is free but takes donations which I happily provided.

I did stay a third night. I don't like to travel on Sunday because I like to go to church. That has been my routine and I plan to keep my routine on the road. I have been to a number of United Methodist Churches as I have traveled. Also I stayed the third night so that I could see the World Cup Final in soccer since my Dutch friend's team was playing. Alas they lost. With true sportsmanship my friend said, "Oh well, second is good".

I am in South Dakota after 2 hard days of driving. Other housekeeping. Found a place to change my oil this morning and then took the trailer back for a tire pressure check. I am headed for the Badlands and Mt Rushmore with not enough time before my Yellowstone reservation. I am looking forward to Yellowstone because I'll be with friends.

It is somewhat lonely on the road and my friends don't seem to communicate well. I guess they watch the blog and know where I am and what I'm doing but don't contact me.