IA | 2019, May 8-12: McGregor, Iowa Pikes Peak S.P.

[Iowa Dave]

Good to hear you signed up for all the days and looking forward to meeting you. I remember the old overlook setup and it was not good. The new setup from above is very nice, tolally safe and has a great view. Sunrise in the east can be awesome. There’s a nice parking lot now and all accessible walkways. One of my good professional park friends was the superintendent in Decorah for many . years. It’s a nice town.
Iowa Dave

[Julia2256]

Thanks. I am all signed up. Excited about attending my1st egg rally!!

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by Julia2256

Thanks. I am all signed up. Excited about attending my1st egg rally!!

Good to know your reservation is complete, i had not checked the reservation count on the rally weekend for a couple weeks but looked at it this morning. While it can't be determined how many of these reservations that show are held by fiberglass camper owners, a good number of reservations and indications by attendees like you on this site, lead me to know we're going to have a real good crew at the park. There are still quite a few open sites and it's early yet but if anyone is thinking they would like to attend, reservations will take a jump when this upper midwest weather breaks. For now, its like living on the Ice Planet Hoth or in the movie Fargo, or in the classic novel Annapurna. which, when we used to get too far from home on a winter hike as kids, gave us the classic line "when will this agony end"? And we would laugh and keep heading for home.
iowa Dave

[Wisconsin]

Site 39 for the 4 Schroer's from WI. Thursday check in.

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by Wisconsin

Site 39 for the 4 Schroer's from WI. Thursday check in.

The Bag has been “recharged” from last fall so after I check to see how much those young’ns of yours have grown over the winter, I’ll get it out of the Highlander and give them a go at it. That goes for all the kids from fiberglass trailers. It will be good to see you again.
Iowa Dave

[Iowa Dave]

We are going to get to 35F today. It’s a heat wave! Here’s a picture a fellow I know took last year. Hopefully the forest will be fungi filled that weekend.
Iowa Dave

[Tom Haberski]

I was just informed yesterday of the rally by Thoer, an Escaper & have signed up....site 50, he in #51. I've read other suggestions for things to do & see, and there are many in the area. A few I'll add here. There's Pete's hamburger stand in downtown Prairie du Chien. They'll open in late April. 110 years of dishing up iconic, unique burgers. Stopped there in late Sept. last year and they were sadly closed for the season. Got to get back.



Schera's Algerian American Restaurant & Bar in Elkader. I have not eaten there, it is popular and well liked and Elkader is a quaint, old town on the Turkey river. Worth a visit. It even has a constructed whitewater run through downtown, so bring your boat.


Decorah, Iowa. Besides the places already mentioned, there is the Seed Saver heritage vegetable garden center. Slick, new facility, rare and unique veggie seeds for sale.

Also in Decorah is the Porter House, an old home with a jaw dropping stone fence surrounding the property made of rocks from all over the world. Quirky, but beautiful.


Guttenburg, IA is another swell old, quaint river town.

Across the river in Wisconsin is Potosi, with a super brewery/restaurant in a spectacularly restored brewery building. Several beer brewing museums are located in the building, and one is free. Well worth a meal, a sip or 2 and the view from an outdoor patio. Good parking if you have your rig along.


I stop here and add if I think of others.


bon voyage,


Tom

[Wayne Collins]

Schera's Algerian American Restaurant & Bar in Elkader. I have not eaten there, it is popular and well liked and Elkader is a quaint, old town on the Turkey river. Worth a visit. It even has a constructed whitewater run through downtown, so bring your boat.

The Turkey and Upper Iowa Rivers are great canoeing streams. This year they may be running high after all this snow melts. /wc

[CindyL]

Elkader also has a movie theater, an old Opera House, and great antique stores. The Algerian restaurant has seating over the river in view of the Keystone Bridge and courthouse. Elkader is named after Abdelkader ibn Muhieddine, an Algerian freedom fighter who was renowned world-wide for his humane treatment of others. Elkader has a sister-city relationship with Mascara, Algeria where he was born. This is why they have an Algerian restaurant. They also named one of their city parks after Mascara.

I forgot about Guttenberg. Kevin was a school administrator there. In addition to its quaintness, they have a museum of the Mississippi and the dam in the river there.

We lived in Elkader for 15 years, and it is where both of our kids were born. However, it has been several years since we spent a lot of time there.

CindyL

[Tom Haberski]

I just remembered to add the nearby Yellow River State Forest as a possible place to camp at before or after the rally, or for a hike and to enjoy some Driftless views. Primitive spot, little in the way of facilities there, but nice campsites, 3 campgrounds ( 1 for horse folks) but privies only and water available only at a ranger station. There may be a dump station there too.


May would be a time to see a cerulean warbler there.....we did so some years ago. Rare bird, I'm told, but a naturalist has discovered many in that park.


Trout fishing in the streams there, stocked trout and replenished often. Also a very quiet spot.



It's pretty close to Pikes Peak, just north. YRSF was written up years ago in Outside magazine as a Midwestern backpacking mecca. It's big, and lots of trails in it.

[kwic1]

We have reserved site 21 for just our second rally with a camper. This is our first and only ever camper, so we are still very new at all this. We stopped in to the Mississippi Rendezvous two years ago without a camper to meet some fellow RV'ers and tour some units. We were in the process of completing the build sheet for our Escape 19 at the time and wanted to see some units since the factory was 1600 miles away. Our only other rally was in Lanesboro, MN late last year, and we attended an "informal" rally in Sioux Falls to meet and greet those traveling through to Boler's 50th and laying over at the KOA in Sioux Falls. (Yes, we hitched up, pulled across town for the night and then back home in the morning as the caravan pulled out for Winnipeg). The rest of last year was just 4 or 5 local outings to state parks and a KOA. We started this year off by taking a two week, 3700 mile round trip to Arizona for a brief business meeting in early February. That was a bit longer than our trip to Chilliwack last April to pick up our camper, but it sure beat just flying down and back. And we are feeling more comfortable and experienced because of it. We are looking forward to the Pikes Peak Rally in May and breaking out this year's camping season with all of you in McGregor! And for Wayne Collins - I still have some work to do on the Dulcimer....

[cpaharley2008]

Dang it, looks like we will miss it. We are coming through the area the following week on our way to Chilliwack. The map has us going to Madison, so we could have detoured a little. Next year, hear that Corky and Darlene? Boy $16/night is a steal compared to Algonac, that is costing $50/night for us out of staters......on edit, Dave, can you pass this message along to Corky and Darlene, they do not have internet access easily, thanks.

[Wayne Collins]

Originally Posted by kwic1

We have reserved site 21 for just our second rally with a camper. ………………. And for Wayne Collins - I still have some work to do on the Dulcimer....

We'll look for you there. I'll have to oil the tonsils and tune up the harmonicas.
/wc

[Iowa Dave]

Having no pressing issues for the afternoon Rita, Jake and I made the trip up to Pikes Peak last Monday. (Jake Drove). Even covered with 2 feet of snow, the park was still very nice. We checked out the camp site we had reserved, slipped and slid out the overlook, checked out the assembly shelter, and drove north to Marquette and stopped at the Driftless Wetland Center, There we met the Director, Alicia Muhlarky. She said her daughter Fulla was still at school but would have liked to have met us, What a nice little nature center. i learned that there are even more things to do in this area than i had imagined even though Ive been visiting this fascinating part of Iowa affectionately called "Little Switzerland" for over 50 years. We've had an excellent thaw this past few days with most of the snow gone now. Saw my first Red Winged Blackbird yesterday so it won't be long now. Who has seen and heard a ruffed grouse on his drumming log?
Iowa Dave

[cpaharley2008]

I had a supervisor at work named Marty Malarkey.....distant relative to the Iowan Muhlarky tribe.

[Tom Haberski]

I did see a robin in the backyard, mucking about after worms, in between snow piles. I think the frost was still in the ground, so I don't know how well that harbinger of Spring made out.

[Iowa Dave]

Hi Jim
I did meet the director and her name was Muhlarky. When she introduced herself I remarked that her big day ( St. Patrick’s Day) was coming up. She said she had married into that clan. Then she added “when I had my first kid, people suggested I name her Fulla or Alotta”. That’s where I got the inspiration for my slight exaggeration. Hey, my grandma was a Dougherty so I come by it honestly. Happy St Patrick’s day and don’t forget St Joseph on the 19th of March. He’s the Czech Saint who invented Red Beer and carp sandwiches.
Iowa Dave

[Iowa Dave]

Hi Tom
I’m not much of a robin fan as a harbinger of spring. Here in Eastern Iowa there are a number of robins that don’t go south. West of Belle Plaine there’s an artesian that runs heavy all year long. As it drains away to salt creek the supersaturated soil with water moving through it does not freeze easily. Worms “migrate” to the edges and the robins know this. Though strange to see, I’ve often seen robins there all winter picking worms and other invertebrates out of the muck, even after a light snowfall.
Looking forward and hoping that the early warblers will be at McGregor. Seeing lots of Eagles, the mom at Decorah is on the neat.

[Roy in TO]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Boy $16/night is a steal compared to Algonac, that is costing $50/night for us out of staters....

I didn't realize it was that much! I wonder what that works out to in Canuck Bucks?


From past experience MI gets cheaper if you camp for more than 1 weekend. They have a season pass for "out of staters" for $30.50. That works out to less than 4 nights in a season.

https://www.michiganmiles.com/state-parks-info/

$30.50 annual fee for out of state visitors, or they also can pay $8.40 on a daily basis. Unless for sure you're only camping or exploring other MI recreation attractions for less than 4 days (a true shame), the annual passport is definitely the best deal, especially since this or a daily fee is required at all campgrounds.

And they have a $8 per reservation fee.

[Iowa Dave]

Hi Roy,
I’ve camped and explored Michigan many times. When We are planning our outings for the year we pay attention to costs and we study up on reasonably priced camping that will allow us to enjoy local attractions. Having spent 32 years in public parks and recreation I am well aware of the need for revenue generation and unfortunately for campers, the mandates currently popular for self support of “special interests” i.e. camping. The fork in the road comes when fees get high enough to discourage participation and the fallout becomes fewer campers and less dollars spent on local tourism in whatever form. In this “golden age” of camping, facilities are often full from sheer camping pressure as opposed to the quality of the facility, local attractions or whatever. I don’t look for this to change anytime soon. Selfish as it is, many folks do not share their experiences in areas where they found cheap camping. Can’t say as though I blame them. Personally, while we don’t have mega attractions here in Iowa, we welcome all, attempt to encourage fee setters to keep camping reasonably priced and emphasize the fine interaction campers will enjoy taking in the local attractions and great food and drink available here. Where the question is often asked “Is this Heaven, no it’s Iowa”. Of course these days, more often my question is “Where the Hell are my camper keys?” See you in September. And 50 dollars US was $66.65 Canadian or so last week.
Iowa Dave