The Barn Quilt Tour --- Part One

I was looking for a three day weekend getaway vacation that wouldn't cost alot and it needed to be in a rural area away from traffic and the fast lane. A quick internet search brought up just what the Dr. ordered. The 2012 Iowa barn tour on Saturday in Central Iowa in and around Amish country. So early Friday morning we hit the road for an 8 hour drive to corn country.

My research had also shown me that in the county next to where the barn tour was to be held was also known for it's barn quilts and self guided tours to see them. We took the backroads and stopped at some garage sales and so forth and then we arrived in the town of Washington, Iowa which was to be our home the next 2 days.

The town was lovely and had a restored downtown with a courthouse square and all the stores looked full and prosperous. And with farming being the best part of our economy I would have to say most all of Iowa looked prosperous.

I soon found an old gas station near downtown that had been converted to an ice cream shoppe and Mrs. PF posed for this photo there.

We both ordered large peanut butter cup sundaes that were rich and decadent. We could have gotten by with much smaller portions but it was good.

And we stopped at the fairground office of the County Extension Office where two friendly Iowa girls gave us maps of the barn quilts so we could begin day one of our tour.

Their office was adorned by a barn quilt as well and both of them told us their own homes had barns with quilts too.

In case you didn't know, a barn quilt is simply art work made from a quilt pattern and painted on large pieces of plywood and hung on a barn or shed and they can be found all over the Mid West but more in some areas than others. In the case of this county it is a way of boosting agri-tourism. We got started on the road and it didn't take long to find them....

Most of them had a sign and a name of the quilt pattern and you were welcome to drive in and take photos. 

The county was mapped out in several areas and each area had a theme or a style of quilt pattern. We did not see them all but saw a good number of them.

It was all akin to a giant treasure hunt where you had a map that was vague and not to scale and not always entirely accurate. But that made it more of a challenge and was all part of the fun. The roads were not busy, the traffic was mostly slow, and the scenery was perfect in my book.

We were lucky to see such nice barns and art and well kept farms.

I really liked this one and was glad I took the photo in spite of a worker on a ladder who was nailing some boards down because much to my shock the very next day as I drove by the same guy was covering this barn with modern tin siding !

He had already covered the painted ear of corn. Lucky timing for me that I had preserved it in my photos.

And then I saw this corn crib a little further up the road and stopped to take several photos of it.

The owner of the farm was right next to me in his garden and I did not notice him until he spoke which scared the heck out of me. His name was John and he had just celebrated his 78th birthday and he told me he and his dad had built that corn crib in 1962. And he was born on this farm where he still lived.

He said that he had been in the Army for two years at the end of the Korean conflict and that was the only time he had lived anywhere but here.

I asked him about the Star Trek sign and he said...

"some damn fool decided that Capt. Kirk of the TV show was born in the town of Riverside, Iowa which was only two miles away from where we are standing." "But he added, he hasn't been born for 200 years in the future yet" and that the town holds a well attended festival each year in Kirk's honor. I enjoyed the story and he also told me how he and his dad had cut the logs to build this shed from timber along the river bottom on this very land and he was proud of what they had done.

John continued working on his electric fence to keep the coons out of his sweet corn as I continued to take photos of his other barn nearby.

I left my new friend with a firm handshake and a farewell and as I stopped to take a photo of this banner hanging in the village of Riverside I couldn't help but think of how handy it would be if my new friend owned a laser gun to keep the coons away from his garden much like Captain Kirk would be using some 200 years into the future.....

And with that I will wrap up part one of my summer adventure along the backroads of Iowa. Stay tuned for parts two and three soon.

"Time to Kill"

It was a Wednesday and I was a long way from home at mid day and waiting to meet a co-worker to give him some badly needed supplies. But there was one problem....he was running late and was miles and miles away from me and he held the key to the building I needed to unlock. He said "I am sorry but it will be at least 2 hours before I can get there so try to find something to do if you can" --- :-)
"No problem" I said, and I took the short drive to Ellis, KS to see a customer which only took 5 minutes and then drove by the Walter Chrysler boyhood home Museum and took this photo.

I thought about taking a tour of this neat place right on old US 40 Highway but then I saw the shop of my friend Mike who restores cars in a cool old car dealership building nearby. And proudly sitting out front was his newly purchased 1956 Chevy Nomad wagon.

I knew from his recent messages to me that he had bought this car about 2-3 weeks ago and had went in a rental car with his wife and two young kids to Montana to get it and it appeared to be so road ready that they actually took it to Yellowstone and had a great family vacation by taking the long way home.
I found Mike inside pounding on a steel fender with a body hammer. His employees were in the back area doing paint work.
His strong handshake and friendly smile were those of a self made working man. He quickly showed me a few of the customer projects including this cool hemi powered 34 Ford coupe. It had a hand built firewall, very cool custom dash, and really cool engine mounts and a cleverly hidden AC compressor so as not to ruin the traditional hot rod look he is striving for.

He also showed me some of his toys including this pinball machine that his kids like to come and play. 

Mike had alot of old signs and cool stuff to look at but seemed more proud of his collection of old tools than anything. And old brake lathe and some very old air tools for metal shaping were not only shown to me but also demonstrated as well. I was enjoying the tour and took a photo of this old lube station...

We soon sat down in a pair of soft upholstered easy chairs in the sales lobby area and he told me he was glad to rest as he had poured some concrete early that morning for a project at home.
I kept staring at the Nomad outside and finally said ---
"we should go for a ride" ---
And just like that, we were cruising the two lane blacktop with Ipod tunes playing good music accompanied by the sound of the 327 cubic inch engine under the hood. The car was built for roads like this one and Mike talked of last weekend's trip to Colorado to a big Good Guys show where his family once again got to go along and enjoy the fun. We were going fast and the fence posts looked like a picket fence and I was just wondering how my day could get any better when he pulled up to a Dairy Queen and we both had big ice cream treats. It was a real pleasure on a hot and windy day.
After that he showed me around the small town where he lived. A nice park across the street from his home, a nice creek that is dammed up and has camp grounds with fishing right behind his home, their church within walking distance, his wife's bank job 2 blocks away, his own shop 3 blocks away.....and I wondered...
How could he have chosen a better place to live and raise a family? It was perfect like some Norman Rockwell painting.
We continued the cruise and found this enormous old railroad locomotive repair shop where Mr. Chrysler first began his career  as a mechanic and I took some photos of his car there.

He has plans to repaint the roof and buff out the rest of the paint and then lower the suspension some more and so it will only improve as time goes by. 

This shop building was part of the same railroad complex and was nearby.

And Mike told me that a roundhouse had once been here too but sadly had been torn down long ago. They were used to turn the heavy locomotives around and are very seldom seen anymore...

And after a few more sights my tour was over and we both decided it was time to get back to work. I sure enjoyed my visit with him and plan to come back later. Maybe next time I will visit the museum.

But one thing stuck with me on that day... positive things can happen even when you are having what could have been a bad day.

Thanks Mike for being a great host and sharing a slice of your "American Pie" with me.

Join me next time as we drive the back roads just to see what's around the next bend in the road...

New Clothes "to die for"

I deliver medical oxygen for a living. I tell people I am a "hot air salesman". And yesterday I was at the home of an elderly couple who I have been seeing for the last four years. They are simple country folks with perhaps an 8th grade education but wise in common sense like so many of our "greatest generation". Anyway, they had just returned from a neighbor's funeral and I noticed he was wearing bib overalls. They live in a small farming community. He told me about the funeral and how the man had died suddenly of cancer. Then he told me that four years ago his own doctor had told him he would likely die in three months or so from his heart and lung condition. And he said the first thing he did after hearing this bad news was to go buy a new pair of bib overalls and a black and white checkered shirt. He then instructed his wife to make sure he was buried in those new clothes. And then he stood straight and smiled ever so slightly and told me in his words "I ain't had to wear 'em yet". I love my job..... See you next time!

"A Simple Sunday at the Flats"

It's Sunday, the day of rest here at the Flats. We started out this nice summer day by drinking coffee in the early morning sun on the outside patio to see if we could spot any hummingbirds. 

We didn't see any of the elusive birds at our new feeder but we did sit back and admire the new artsy birdbath that Mrs. PF had purchased this weekend at the area's Smokey Hill River Festival.

And along about this time the small Catholic Church across the street from us ended it's weekly service and some of our friends from there came over for coffee like they usually do. We had a good visit and talked about the wheat harvest and other items of local interest. And after they left I continued to enjoy my backyard and play with some of my bikes. I also noticed the wind was picking up and my Uncle Sam whirlygig was spinning faster and faster.

I sure enjoy a slow paced Sunday and it was nice to sit on the front porch swing for awhile too. It never gets used very much since it is on the sunny side of the house and it gets hot here.

From my front porch view I could see the PF Limo as shown in this photo. It is perhaps the most fun car in the world (in my humble opinion) and is awaiting a new engine transplant in the next couple of weeks.

  As you can see the streets in our little town are unpaved and consist of mostly sand and fine gravel. It gets dusty here with the hot winds of summer blowing across the Plains but that is part of our life. I guess you could say it is better than heavy traffic like our big city friends have to live with. 
And it was about this time that Mrs. PF called me inside for Sunday dinner which is normally a big deal around here at the Flats. This week was no disappointment either as she had roast beef and homemade biscuits cooked on our outside propane grill. The Iowa sweet corn was good as were the fried apples....

With some real butter and some locally produced honey we were in for a real treat. She had set the table for 3 but our would be guest did not show up so there was plenty to eat. The new potatoes and new onions that were given to me by my friend Bob were a big hit as well. Here is a photo of him in his corn patch hoeing some weeds. He sure has a nice garden and works hard at it just so he can share the goods with folks like me and I appreciate that...

After dinner it has been a day of relaxing and napping. We don't get to do that very often so it sure is nice when we can.
And then later in the mid afternoon Mrs. PF told me it was time for pie and ice cream...cherry pie that is...yum !

We like pie around here and I try to make sure we "get enough to keep our strength up" as the farm folks like to say. 
The deep dish pie was great, the vanilla ice cream was homemade right here at our home and it's rich flavor was the perfect compliment for the tart sweetness of the cherries.

And there you have it....an ordinary Sunday where the plain folks from the Plains enjoy the simple pleasures of life...one day at a time.