On The Road Again in 2013: Hello from Sanger, TX

As we head west, the temperatures have started rising and it is currently 90 degrees here in Sanger, outside Dallas. We arrived here a couple of hours ago and will spend a week here. I know it's still cooler than Phoenix, but when we had 49 degrees one morning this week in IA, we were enjoying that feel of fall in the air. Well, not so here in TX!

We enjoyed our Winnebago tour last Monday in Forest City, IA. Winnebago is HUGE with about 600+ acres so they have to be a big economic boost to that area. Being so large, our tour was on a bus and then we got off in 4 locations to see things up close. We're glad we went but they're probably not one that would make our 'short list' one day.

On our way back to Mason City where we were parked, we drove through the town of Garner, IA. Many years ago I had an aunt and uncle who lived in Garner so I wanted to see if I could find their house. I did remember the street but not the house number (thought it was in the 900 block) so we asked a policeman and he told us where to find Front Street. I also remembered a park across the street so we found the park (now a baseball field) and sure enough in the 900 block there it was. I didn't remember a single car garage so I called my brother & he confirmed that he remembered a garage and so I had the right house. Not a bad memory for 50+ years ago.

Mason City is 'next door' to Clear Lake, IA and one of the attractions in Clear Lake is the Surf Ballroom & Museum so we had to go and check it out. Since 1933, the Surf has offered music & dancing entertainment from the big band era to the present day. The original Surf burned in 1947, however, it was rebuilt and reopened in 1948 and is almost identical in style as the original one. They were able to save a few things from the fire, including the wooden booths that surround the dance floor. Guests still enter the foyer through a 1940s style foyer and lobby including an original coat check. The 'Surf' is the last place Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens played on 2/2/59 before taking off in a chartered flight that crashed several miles outside of Clear Lake. Also on that plane was J.P. Richardson, "The Big Bopper", who had flipped a coin with Waylon Jennings to see who would go on the flight & he won the toss.....but not the end result! When you enter the Surfside 6 Lounge, off the foyer, we viewed their Wall of Fame which includes instruments and autographed pictures of anyone and everyone who was and is in the music business and has played there. Very interesting and there are still many concerts of all venues held there each year. They also offer you directions to the crash site if you're so inclined so we went. It is outside of Clear Lake a few miles, on a private farm, so the farmer has been kind enough to not plant crops right around that site. I won't go into the specific directions but it included things like....walk along the south side of the fence row to the west about 1/4 mile. There is a small memorial located at the place where the plane came to rest including many pairs of black glasses like Buddy wore, many artificial flower bouquets (popular in the 50's), a huge very dried up wreath and much more. As we were leaving, two more groups of people were walking up the field so it is apparently still a popular attraction when visiting Clear Lake.

On Wednesday we had lunch in Clear Lake with the couple who were parked next to us last winter in Sun City. Their home for the summer is in MN, not too far from Clear Lake, so we called and were able to meet up for lunch. They'll be back in Sun City this winter too but it was still fun to see them again.

Thursday we left the City Park in Mason City and headed towards Boonville, MO. We really enjoyed that city park and the managers were two of the nicest, most helpful people we have ever met. Larry has lived in Mason City all of his life so he knew directions to everywhere and his wife was equally helpful. This was such a lovely park, big trees, good size sites, and a great walking/biking path next door. The only negative we had was the trains!! Ugh! I think they build RV parks near train tracks on purpose!!! I suppose you get used to the horns the longer you're there but we really didn't appreciate them starting about 5 a.m. Oh well.......we still loved the park.

Friday we arrived in Boonville, just outside Columbia, MO and got settled in a small RV park. We had reservations on Saturday morning for a tour at Warm Springs Ranch, home of the world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales. This is their state-of-the-art breeding operation and we were looking forward to this as we've both always loved the Clydesdales and their commercials, especially at Christmas time. We were not disappointed!!!! This ranch sits on 300+ acres of rolling hills and is home to about 100 Clydesdales. They moved to this location in 2008 from California and it couldn't be more perfect. The other locations are breweries and that is where the 'hitches' are located. Hitches being the team of 8, and the Dalmation, that we are all familiar with in parades and commercials. Those are located in St. Louis, MO; Merrimack, NH; and Fort Collins, CO. Depending on the location of the 'event', which team is transported to participate. Our tour was a little over an hour beginning with a little history of how Mr. Busch acquired these beautiful animals. We met John, the farm manager, who has been with them 33 years and is the only employee that lives on the farm. He does it all but our tour started with John letting us get up close and personal with Evan, a 'retired' horse from a hitch. When they 'retire', they are brought to this farm to just roam and enjoy the good life. Evan stood perfectly still for probably 20 minutes while we all petted him, took pictures, etc. During the tour we walked through the barns, and the breeding stalls, and John showed us where they bathe and groom them at least once a week, one of the things they do to get them acclimated to being on a hitch team. It was awesome. We saw 'Hope' who was the little foal that was in the Christmas 2012 commercial where the trainer eventually saw her in a parade and they recognized each other. About 80% of the foals born at the ranch can be on a 'hitch'. They do have certain requirements though......4 white hooves, a white diamond like face, dark mane and tail, and a red/brown body color but I can't remember the word he used for that color. Of course, as they grow, temperament is taken into consideration as well as size and weight. If they don't meet the criteria, they might be kept for other uses (studs or sires) or they are sold to other breeders throughout the country. We have seen a 'hitch' team in our Nascar racing days but now we want to go to one of the breweries and see them up close and personal. They do live in style I will say that. A few other interesting tidbits we learned.....1) they had a little goat in one of the stalls with an orphan foal for companionship and that little goat was a noisy one; 2) there is always two gentlemen on the wagon (with the dog) and the reason for that is that the reins are 75 lbs so they alternate holding onto them. As an example, he said the Mardi Gras parade is 9 miles long & that would be a long time to hold 75 lbs; 3) there are 14 miles of white fencing throughout the farm and 4) they always take 10 horses to an event, just in case one can't participate for whatever reason.

We were back from the tour in the early afternoon yesterday so we decided to go ahead and leave Boonville and get some miles behind us so that today wouldn't be a 500+ mile day. Glad we did as the weekend traffic is much less through Kansas City, Tulsa, Oklahoma City and into Texas. We are settled here in Sanger, where Dick has some former Goulds friends and we'll just hang out this week.

Thanks for following along. We're 'slowly' headed west and will be back in AZ in about a month.