Worden18

We saw three old abandoned schools along the way.

View of the '51 coming up from the riverbank.

Same rest stop...

There was a mowed path that led down to the river bank. The water was actually flowing fairly fast. Upper Iowa River I believe. The dark areas under the upper part of the pillars is actually hundreds of barn swallow's nests!

Wifey took the afternoon off work (Thursday June 29) so we decided to go cruisin' in the Meadowbrook. We picked up a ton of brochures on our last trip to Decorah, IA, and I looked them over to see what might be fun. We decided on the "Driftless Area Scenic Byway" that runs through NE Iowa. We didn't travel the whole thing, but instead took a detour back across through Lansing and eventually back to Decorah. I drove 40-45mph with the exception of when we left Decorah and headed north on Hwy 52, then I drove 55mph. This was a little rest area along the way where we stopped to stretch and let the dogs out.

I realize this, just a spur of the moment pipe dream I had

Glad they got it out of there. Can't believe someone would "time capsule" an awesome car like that. To hell with the museum, someone needs to drive it!!

And one more of the truck. Driving home after our visit to Iowa was awesome. There wasn't much traffic and it was nice and cool. The car ran perfect. Sometimes I drove 55, sometimes I drove 40. But at any speed I was happy it was the Meadowbrook I was driving

Another shot of that car.

On the way home I spotted these 2 classics just off the main road. I had seen them before (they are just outside of Mabel, MN) but hadn't stopped to take a pic or two until today. Of course the truck is a Ford, but I'm not quite sure what make the car is. I think its a Buick? I didn't get close enough because I think they are someone's lawn ornaments and I didn't want to trespass.

Ground view looking up at one of the churches near the courthouse. There are four enormous churches within one block of the courthouse. This one was erected in 1917. While looking up I wondered how the bricklayers did their job with such precision at those heights!

Here's the courthouse (1904) which was erected after the old courthouse from 1857 was demolished. They had numerous pictures of the previous courthouse and the demolition of it as well. The building to the left is the jail, which was erected in 1878 when they realized they needed more room away from the courthouse for prisoners. Only one person ever escaped. There is still bars across the windows on the upper floor.

The old train Depot downtown. Not sure if its a museum now or not. Looked taken care of, but nobody was around. The tracks are long gone.

The Meadowbrook resting in a parking lot in Decorah while we walked around. I always like taking pics of it in parking lots among modern vehicles; looks so out of place

This building is directly across the street from the old hotel. It is one of the oldest buildings in Decorah, erected in 1855 as a grocery store. The old pics showed limestone gutters back then, and the street was quite a bit lower than what it is now.

Another shot of the former hotel....

This building in Decorah was originally a hotel (1870s) but only lasted about 5 years. After that it was a boarding house for a long time, but now is a Norwegian Heritage Museum (since 1936). We didn't tour it because we had the dogs with. Beautiful building!

We first stopped at the BP station in Mabel, MN for gas. Car is running great; the engine has really smoothed out. There's about 1,800 miles on the rebuild now.

Today's adventures (Sunday June 25) took us to Decorah, IA. My family and I had never been there before, so we thought it would be worth the trip to check it out. If anything, just driving the Meadowbrook down there would be good enough for me We were pleasantly surprised at how nice and clean the city was, and how much history is there. There are plaques all over town showing the historic buildings how they stood back in the 1800s. So I am going to post some of that stuff for you guys. I'll keep it short and simple. Its been unseasonably cool here in SE MN, so driving around has been absolutely perfect. We took the dogs with as well and they always enjoy being "lulled" by the sound of the Meadowbrook's engine and the slight vibrations on the floor Here's my son and the dogs:

The guy that put the camper on that 58 Plymouth owns about 2 million+ $$ dollars worth of CORRECT and original or perfectly restored (and some very rare) cars. I know this because his son gave me a tour of their 2 heated pole buildings the day I looked at that Plymouth (when I considered buying it). So I've long since forgiven him for his one abomination LOL. They are hosting a car show on their property like they do every year; this year its on August 5th. I hope to attend it. Even if I don't, I'm going back there to request another tour of his car collection at some point, and this time I will take pictures for you guys so you can see his array of vehicles. I mean, if he sold everything off today a guy could retire off the sales tomorrow. I was blown away by what I saw that day. Like I said, in due time I will take pics and post up his amazing collection.

Looks great! Welcome to the forums, its a great place

Here's a final shot when we were leaving Burr Oak...

After the car show we drove down to Burr Oak, IA to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum. I spotted this ('55?) Desoto up on blocks on somebody's property.

This guy came late and then took off before I made it over to his car. I got close enough as he was pulling out of the lot to see it was a Dodge Bros, but that's about it. Certainly was from the 20s. Wish I would've been able to ask about it.

My car sat between a 40 Chevy (ratted out) and a 55 Ford Fairlane which ended up winning best in its class (1950-59). A really nice 66 GTO won best of show. Lots of Mopars I would've picked first