The Bridges of Madison County

We left Dubuque and rode north, following the Mississippi. Readers will be getting sick of the descriptions of the various scenery, so suffice to say that we both loved the ride along the river. Turning west, our faithful steed broke down. It just died, right there in the middle of nowhere (on Highway 51, Yellow River Valley, two rocks in, according to Nagging Nellie but it still looked like the boonies). No problem as we had purchased an emergency rescue package. But there was no cell phone coverage there in boony, Iowa. OK, so there was a problem, and just as Ric was deciding on whether or not to throw Jenny into the path of one of the few vehicles travelling this road, an Iowa State Trooper pulled up. He was most helpful, and with a series of relayed radio messages, arranged for a Honda dealer located not too far away (and also in the middle of nowhere) to come get us. This they duly did. It turns out the alternator was no longer supplying zaptrons at the required rate to feed the battery. The dealer did not have any alternators in stock, but gleefully scavenged one from one of the several second hand Goldwings he had in the showroom. So an hour or two later and more than $500 poorer, we resumed our journey - grateful to the Iowa State trooper (who by the way had also informed the other troopers of our plight and asked them to look out for us) and to the guys at Waukon Honda. By this time, we needed to find somewhere to stay so stayed at Charles City. The following day, we seemed to zigzag all over Iowa state. We visited the Winnebago plant, taking in the tour and checking out the latest models. Hint: if you are pressed for time, just check out the RVs. The tour is interesting but overly long! We then rode to the small town of Gladbrook to a museum called Matchstick Marvels. This was built by the town officials for a local man who makes amazing sculptures from matchsticks. Check out the photos - they are unbelievable. After riding around the Amanas Colonies (German settlements), we stayed the night in Pella (a Dutch settlement). Pella is another of the beautiful small towns we have found in the US. It is proud of its Dutch heritage to the point they have built a new 1850's design working grain windmill. In fact, they had a company in Holland build it and ship it to Pella. Pella also has a working Klokkenspel - a musical clock that has automatons playing some key Pella identities. One of these was Wyatt Earp. We cannot get away from this guy. We learned he was in Deadwood, SD for a while but it turns out he was brought up in Pella - we even visited his house! Another mechanical/electrical mishap. Ric managed to bend one of the small pins in the lead that connects his helmet audio system. In the process of trying to straighten it, the pin broke, so while he can now hear Jenny prattle on, he can no longer tell her to clam up as the broken pin was for his microphone! From Pella we visited the National Balloon Museum in Indianola and from there to Madison County. There really are covered bridges in Madison County and we visited three and rode through one. These are the same bridges that featured in the movie and Ric commented that the bridges were way more interesting than the movie ever was. We ended our fifth day in Iowa in Shenandoah, not far from the Missouri state line. We are watching the weather channel and hearing of thunderstorms, high winds and tornado warnings further southwest. Tomorrow could be interesting!