Back to Clear Lake for Fireworks

After the Hobo convention, we stayed until the missing part arrived, by Wednesday-1 week after the tow-we were on the road again. the wonderful folks at Oakwood Campground, let us finish staying 5 days we paid in advance. We mostly recovered and cleaned.

One day, one of the Camp Hosts came to the door and asked if we would like to go to the fireworks. One of the other campers were leaving and could not use the tickets. Our hosts said,"you two have been through so much, we would like you to have the tickets". Thanks sounds good. How very nice. What nice people.

I had read that the National Association of Pyrotechnics was having a week long convention. During the days they had workshops, etc, at night they gave fireworks displays. We could hear the booms some nights. We were going to the finale, the last night, the big wazoo.

We drove to the Fairgrounds at Mason City at dusk. It was like a concert, lines of cars, people all over. We, with tickets, got into the stadium. We had chairs and found a place almost center stage. It was explained that these fireworks would be 100x better than Walt Disney. We noticed alot of people had ear plugs.

After dispensing with the end of convention awards etc, the award winners each gave a display of their work. Now they use computers to set off the displays, which gives a multitude of different visual arrays. Each one of these were amazing. Some of the shells were one of a kind, made special for this event. Bragging Rights. It was explained that some shells take too long to hand fill, and could not be used commercially. Some of these shells took all week to pack. These are the best of the pyrotechnic geniuses..

Unbelievable eye candy.

Then there was what was called the public show, where each company donated several shells for the finale. They didn't donate the small stuff!! One was a Chinese one with a big flash and a ear popping explosion. The guy behinds us saying YEA, YEA...he was getting off!!

There is no comparison of fireworks I have seen...this was 10000000x better and longer than anything I have ever seen.

Imagine unbelievable fireworks of all colors, shells going off on top of each other, the sky was painted sparkles and blooms, and they were playing Pink Floyd music in the background.

IT DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER THAT THAT!!!

Hobo Convention Part 2

All the big events happened on Saturday. The street fair was still going with corn steaming and hot coffee.

At 10am was the Giant Parade. I like parades and most are ok, but this was a giant hometown parade. Everyone in town and many from neighboring towns came to watch.Texas Hobo Mike was thinking he was going to get the gravy and biscuits, which he craved all week and are only served on Saturday. He gave a ride up on the Hobo float thinking of those biscuits, only to find the restaurant, like everything else in town, was closed for the parade. This was a real slice of mid-west hometown pride. The classic cars, The Shriner's in their zippy cars, the firetrucks and school band were there. Then came the floats, some very humorous, and then the tractors. first came old classic small tractors, the newer ones, until this giant monster tractor filling the whole street. It looked like an alien. And then the current Hobo King and Queen sat atop the Hobo float, with all our news friends smiling. The parade ended with horses, beautiful prancing down the street, some wearing diapers, others leaving a road apple or two. It was a great parade that lasted almost 2 hours.

At noon everyone in town gathered at the city park for the traditional free hobo Mulligan Stew. The people of Britt make 20 barrels of stew, consisting of 450 lbs beef, 900 lb potatoes,250 lb carrots 100 lb turnips, you get the picture... Everyone either brought dishes or Styrofoam ones were available. We sat under the big oak trees eating our stew and watching the candidates for Hobo Queen and King circulate the crowd for votes. Dakota was directed to a bowl that had spilled and she had plenty, all the while wagging her tail.

Hobo King and Queen coronation. After we all ate, the candidates for Hobo Queen each spoke. Voting was done by applause of the entire town, not just the Hobo's. In order to win, you must be present 3 years at the Hobo Convention. It was very close, but the judges determined Stray Cat as Hobo Queen. Then the men talked, we applauded, and by overwhelming vote, Inkman is the New Hobo King. They were both awarded crowns made out of Folgers coffee cans and a walking stick, which all the former kings and queens signed. songs were song and everyone celebrated. There was more music at the park, but all the 'boes went back to the jungle.

Hawk and his crew were working on dinner when we came back. Everyone was talking about the election and most were pleased. Stray Cat belongs to both sides, both hobo and tramps, and there is hope that she can bring the 2 sides together. It is mainly a generation thing, but physically the tramps are on the other side of the track and box car. Hobo Mike had his walking stick signed and he held it proudly.

That night was the normal entertainment, it started very nicely, but as the evening drew on, the younger tramps, who had been drinking heavily, started playing electric guitars. As a bar owner I saw this so often. Alcohol does NOT MAKE YOU SOUND BETTER!!. It got pretty bad, and then one of the boys lost his pants, playing in boxers, and that was about all I could handle, so we left. The music stopped shortly after.

SUNDAY was somewhat a sad day, as people started packing up, cleaning up and saying goodbye. Some had tents, some had popups, and some slept in the boxcar. Everyone had coffee and you could see their feet were getting itchy to get back on the road. Most of the tramps were going to the Tramp convention in Denver somewhere. Others were headed to Wisconsin for another gathering, some were going home. We were still staying waiting for parts.

I quick took a shower before we cleaned them and closed them. Everything was bleached down with the Hobo King working hard with a few others. I volunteered to scrub the huge pots and pans. Even Hobo Mike worked hard helping with the floors. The jungle fire continued to smolder as we finished up. Ashes were put in bags to take to other gatherings and for next years jungle fire. We watched as everyone slowly left, and then there was just us..

It was a wonderful time, we met some great new friends, and we are going to come back next year.

The last time I was in Pipestone

I know this is out of step with the story, but I have to interrupt to tell a story, because I had an amazing day today, and yesterday, and the day before that...

The last time I was in Pipestone, MN, about early September 2005, when I went on a spiritual quest roadtrip. It was days after Katrina, things were very uncertain. The reason for the trip was a vision in a dream. But I will tell you part of the story later. It was me, my dog friend, Honeybear, and my Chevy Blazer. It was a life changing experience. Here is what happened in Pipestone.

2005

I rolled into Pipestone, a rural town, around 11am and admired the red colored stone buildings. I stopped at in the center of town and went to The Pipestone Museum store. I walked in and the first thing I saw was this small child who was running towards me. It was a young native girl, about 3 years old and she says with a smile, "I have been waiting for you". I was startled, but I could hear what my friend used to say,"out of the mouths of children, comes the truth". So I paid attention.

This little girl walked me around the store explaining this and that, what she liked and not. I was enthralled. Then the little girl took off one of the several necklaces around her neck and said"Here this is for you" and handed me a Catlinite butterfly on a leather tie.

Did she know my name is Butterflywoman? Interesting...

There were other interesting moments.

As I was leaving she explained" You need a hat".

I said I had a hat and could only wear one at a time...

a couple days later I lost my hat at the Crazy Horse Monument.

This little girl stands out in my memories. Over the years I thought of her as I told the story. I knew I would see her again.

++++Story break++++

The Prairie

My favorite view is looking west at the setting Sun sky. The colors are painted across the sky with a pallet of orange, red, golden, evening twilight blue-magenta. Clouds arrange themselves in entertaining delightful ways. It seems you can see 200 miles away.

The birds are going to their homes now. Crows, blue heron, doves, small birds, talking about their travels, where the food was, and general bird gossip.

You don't believe me??

Just listen to the the birds singing at twilight. Hopefully there are birds were you are.

Excuse me but I must say, as afar as the environment, " Be mindful of the yellow canary" The bird kingdow's health reflects our own.

Also, there are many groups trying to save what is left of the prairie, or restore prairie land. For people who do not live here, you do not see the gentle beauty. But I can say, this is an important mission, environmentally and spiritually.

Back again to the story.

The watching the sunset, the kaleidoscope of changing colors and cloud formations. The tall prairie grass, golden in the light, sways gently with the wind. A Clump of trees are seen in the distance, where the Pipestone creek flows and the quarry lies. Sprinkled about are yellow daisy type flowers, weaving and bobing in the wind like a troupe of dancers. A flash of a purple spike flowers dances here and there, the silver of sage, and the flower Eggs and Butter complete the ground. There are butterflies all over, flitting around the flowers, occasionally meeting with another in a fanciful tango. There are dragonflies zooming around like dive boomers.

Put together this is a place that opens your heart. You can feel the gentle caress of the Creator's beautiful land.

I saw a Doe with her twin fawns, and wild turkey, all in the same area.

It is inspiring.

2009

We are staying here several weeks . We went to the END OF THE LINE RAILROAD MUSEUM, The Pipestone Monument, Woodstock,MI, and today we did the wash. While driving around looking for a food storelast week, I saw the sign INDIAN CRAFTS. I put that in my mentl notebook. I knew it was close to the laurdramat. While the clothes were in the wash cycle, I went for a walk, 2 blocks up, and found the store. It was very small old prairie house, a woman with her back to me was painting the portrait of traditionally dressed Sioux Man on a stretched piece of deer hide. I walked around looking at the lovely items in the store. There was flute music playing and the aroma of sage. The place felt comfortable and energized. Then this young girl around 6 or 7 comes out.

I looked at them carefully, and ask the mother, "Did you run the Museum store awhile ago?" She said yes.

Oh My God, I found the little girl again. I took hold of the butterfly pendent around my neck. I show it to her mom, and told her the story I enjoyed telling about her daughter. Although the little girl did not remember me, which is understandable, her mother did. I do remember you, you were the one looking for turtle effigy's. You know she only went up to you and another woman, normally she is quite sky around strangers.

I was thrilled.

and that's what it feels like here.

the prairie is pretty cool.

The Hobo Convention 2009 Britt Iowa

As you turn off Route 18 south onto the Main street, the first thing that strikes your eyes are two sets of huge silos on either side of the road. Like castle sentries guarding the town, these 6 or 7 stroy high concrete silos are inpossing. they are the town grain co-op silos/graineries.

Right next to the Silos are the train tracks. We drove down the main drag looking at the small town shops and one blinking light at the center of town. This is a small town only 10 blocks by about 15 blocks. It is a town when you go into the local cafe, everyone knows eachother. That is where we headed first, to get some breakfast at MARI-JO'S HOBO HOUSE, where you can get an egg, bacon and toast for $1.99. We sat there listening to thelocal gossip of the town's people and the Hobo's eating there, while we drank coffee.

Sitting on the bench outside was man with his packs. He looked familiar to Hobo Mike and we sat down to talk. Here was Iowa Blackie, who sold us a calendar which he wrote. It was cheap because the year is almost all used up. He was named because of his black hair, which had now turned grey and needed washed. He wore old biker leathers and constantly wrote in a small book. He has an opinion on everything, clearly an intelligent man. He was once Hobo King in 1993.

After talking to Iowa Blackie, we went across the street to the Hobo Museum. The museum was once the movie house, spendid in the 1920's, now all the chairs were removed and displays of Hobo signs, Hobo art, and clothes, packs and shoes. It was interesting. All the hobos were to sign in, so Texas Hobo Mike signed the big book. We got Hobo convention teeshirts there.

The town was a buzz, all sorts of people walking around, Hobos, tramps, town people all smiled at eachother. There is a family feel here. The Hobo jungle was officially opened, so we drove the couple of blocks and parked. The jungle sits east of the main road along the tracks, you could smell the wood smoke of campfires and hear the dogs barking as strangers passed the camp.

The city had moved an old box car to the jungle and had put up a cooking-eating pavillion, which had real bathrooms and showers. A luxury on the road. As we walked the west side of the box car was the tramp camp. Tramps are different from Hobos. Hobos like to travel and will work , and occassionally take a handout if offered. Tramps like to travel and don't work and will freeload as much as possible, and occassionally steal. The tramp camp was mostly made up of younger people, most travel by railsor car. Many had peircings, and tattoos and names like OPPS, ANIMAL,and STRAYCAT. They seemed to all have dogs. This side of the camp was called the sinners camps, because they drank and etc. They had tents or slept in the box car. I talked to many of them and they were nice kids.-mostly 20's.

We mostly hung out by the pavillion where the Hobo were. Most of the Hobo that came here every year , were glad to see old friends. They talked about where they had been and good places to go. They came over to greeted us and before we knew it, we felt like part of the family.

That night, they lit the jungle fire, which like a ceremonial fire burned until the last Hobo left on Monday morning. The Hobo King, Stretch, who is very tall, and Hobo Queen Connecticut Tootsie said some words, they had a moment for all the departed Hobos, who "took the westbound train", and there was music, harmonica, guitar train songs. We left early that day to see about the repairs on the RV.

On friday the main road was shut down for a carnival and flea market. Giant inflatible rides have taken the place of the tilt-a-whirl. It was overcast and the streets were pretty empty. After breakfast at the Hobo House, we went to the jungle and drank coffee and talked. Hobo Mike was telling some of his stories. At 2pm, I was invited to the Ladies Tea. Every year women hobos, tramps, friends, and towns ladies meet at St Patricks church for ice tea and cookies and stories. This is where I met some of the tramp girls and became good friends and all of the Hobo Queens. It sounds like it would be stuffy but it was good home town fun. We laughed at the jokes and I left with a great feeling. I stayed for the Hobo Poetry reading, which were often stories of the road or some Hobo's bad or good luck. I met 2 folks there who had written books of either hobo stories or biographies of hobos. We ate dinner in the jungle. The crum boss, or cook in charge, was a man named Hawk. A short man with thick glasses who somehow managed to cook for maybe 100 people using donated and purchased food. The food was great we had taco's and salad, and coffee. At night people signed up to entertain the group. Each person had 3 songs, some were very professional, some, well needed a little work, but it was all appreiated.

That was Thursday and Friday August 6 and 7. Tomorrow I will finish the story.

Clear Lake and how we got to the Hobo Convention

August 1, we left Pikes Peak state Park on the Mississippi and traveled route 18 across the prairie of northern Iowa. It was a great day to be on the road, past small towns and fields of corn. The air is cool and there is a bit of a wind. We settle for the night in the parking lot of Walmart Mason City. The next morning we were to go to Oakwood Campground next to the lake. On the 6 miles there, Agatha would not shift out of 2nd and in fact stopped completely. The only response was "shit".

We got it to the truck stop and looked around for some help. Saturday is not the best day, but we found some lovely people at Gus's Repair who gave us some names to try Monday. We managed to get her to the campground at least, and waited until Monday. This was the weekend of the classic car event in Clear Lake and there were all sorts of Mustangs, GTOs, 57 Chevys, Raodrunners, etc. At the campground Don and Pier were across from us. They had a big converted bus RV and a yellow 57 chevy. Don looked at the RV and we thought it might be the transmission, but it wasn't. They are very nice people. In fact everyone I meet in IOWA was very nice.

Sunday we went into town and realized this was Iowa's beach town. It reminded me of being at the shore. There was a free concert, CELEBRATION IOWA, with the best High school musicians. They were amazingly good. I'm sure we will see some on American Idol. We had ice cream and brownies from the church ladies. The weather was beautiful. It was a perfect day.

Tuesday morning we tried to go to the repair shop, but alas Agatha was not going to do anything...she stopped dead and there was some smoke coming out of her. I called Good Sam's for a tow. They said they were going to tow us 34 miles. I'm thinking there goes the Hobo convention, since I expected to be towed towards Des Moines. The truck instead was taking us to Britt. Britt of all places, exactly where we wanted to be.

We followed the tow truck down Rt. 18 to a small town and into the parking lot of Pritchards Ford. It was 2pm and very hot. I felt so discouraged with every bad possibility running through my brain. Dakota and I sat under a tree while Mike talked to the mechanics. There was good news and bad news. It was not the transmission, it was the computer board that we just replaced in Ohio. It seems there was a short in it and it caught fire. We were lucky that the whole thing didn't burn, and it will take about a week to get the replacement parts.

The folks at Pritchards let us stay in the RV in their parking lot. They hooked us up with an extension cord so we had a light and the fan. Ok we can get by.

The Pritchard lot is on RT 18 just outside town. There is a big field, where we saw a deer eating the soy beans. Across the street are fields of corn as far as you can see, only broken up by clumps of trees where the farmhouses are located. In the distance are the towering windmills. Rt18 is a main highway and is made if concrete with asphalt lines. Every night I went to bed with the sound of slubb, slubb, slubb of the tires over the asphalt. It became a music. At night the moon was out and we watched the bats fly around the lights of the lot. It was actually nice there.

more mound pix

here are some more

Along the Mississippi River

It is believed that the HOPEWELL SOCIETY was several thousand years old. The Mound people populated along the Mississippi River and then out to all the Rivers in Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, even along the Susquehanna. This was a large population of Original People. They built mounds for homes, for ceremonial and for graves. Some of these earthen structures were believed to be as tall as some pyramids. The Mounds have been weathered now, but as you walk you can feel the power. The ancestors still walk around.

PIKES PEAK STATE PARK

I felt something funny with the rv as we drove over the Mississippi at Dubuque, IA. This town reminds me of Lancaster. We spent the night in the parking lot of Walmart, right on their strip. In the morning we hunted for someone to look at the RV. We ended up on the waterfront at a truck place. The brakes were fine, they said. We had Mike's car checked too. then up winding roads through hills and corn fields, we traveled north up the river road. We made it to Pikes Peak State park, named after the same dude as he mountain. The park sits on a bluff above the river. Many tribes inhabited this spot because it is high and for trading. The Wisconsin river meets "Old Miss" there. We had a great site.

The park has mounds there as well. It is very spiritual feeling place. Dakota and I hiked to the mounds. I had been here before, last time I traveled, and maybe in some other life. We walked to Bridal falls. There were over 300 steps up to the bluff top where the mounds were. I stopped to catch my breath, near the top, and I felt a big chill run down my spine. There were spirits there, and not so sure they were happy I was coming up. I said aloud, "I am coming to offer a song to the ancestor, may I come up?"

ok so it felt ok, so I went up and I sang a song. I walked almost to the tip when I started to feel alittle spooked again, so I turned around and went back. I made a tobacco offering at one of the mounds. As I was going back down at the same place, I again felt a chill. "I said Thank You, and beat a track down the side of the bluff. It was an interesting hike. At the Lookout Point, I met a bikers club from Wisconsin. Love those men in leather... op oh yea....It seems everyone in Iowa has a Harley.

EFFIGY MOUNDS NATIONAL PARK

Just up the road north is the Effigy Mounds. Here is a National Park preserving Native culture. The mounds are a 1 mile hike up to the top of the bluff. There are bears and circles. There is a definite energy there. Mike agreed to try to walk, and I was surprised that he made it. He said the energy helped. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effigy_Mounds_National_Monument

We did tobacco offerings, and met some other hikers. We also met a 6 foot black snake...yea Mike never saw me move so fast. One of the other hikers saw the snake too, evidently he shows himself every once in awhile up there, because the Rangers laughed when I told them They showed me his skin they found.

Interestingly, the Hopewell culture is sometimes called the serpent culture, due to all the serpent designs that have been found over the years. We think it was one of the ancestors.

There are some cool little towns along the river here MacGregor was a ferry spot, now has lots of nature lovers, hippies, and old farmers. It was a fun place to hang out. We went to the old Hotel there and had lunch. reminded me of the Blue Star Hotel.

Next we are off to Clear Lake...

Galena, Illinois- home of President Grant

Union and Woodstock, Illinois were nice, but it sure was nice getting back on the road. Liam Maloney had suggested checking out Galena, Ill. Galena is a former mining town that at one time was very prosperous, it died, and was revived. It has 1850's era architecture, which now houses trendy shops and restaurants..To me it reminds me of Brattleboro, VT. It seems to also have many weddings, at least from looking at the advertisements, and I can see this would be a nice place for a wedding.. we saw several love birds walking around town.

The town is in the NW part of Ill, and it is mountainous. The area mined Galena and other lead minerals, but since lead is no longer popular... The odd thing was I could not find any mineral Galena in Galena at all....

The town has an interesting history. The Town museum is worthy. After the civil war, General Grant and family came to live here, as well as 5 other Civil War Generals. There is Grants house, which we didn't see, and more important is the famous painting at Appomattox with Grant taking Lee's surrender, by Thomas Nast. Also I did not know that a Seneca Man transcribed the surrender, and was a friend of Grants, who also live in Galena.

The only thing bad about the days , was we got kicked out of the Walmart parking lot at 10pm. The nice Cop, said it was an ordinance, because a campground was right next door, only problem was we couldn't get into the campground that late , being it was closed, so a very tired group drove off the the Walmart in Dubuque IOWA. But Something smelled like burning tires when we got there.. we were too tired to deal with it.