Dudley sounded wakeup call for Jim at 5, but after he and Rosie completed their morning constitutionals they allowed him to go back to bed for another hour. It was cool and crisp, a perfect Autumn morning in a nice campground. KOA Newton Iowa is convenient to I80, has nice wooded sites, and not terribly crowded at this time of year.
After a leisurely start, we set off for the Maytag farm just north of our campground. Yes, it is the same Maytag that everyone has heard of, but they have a dairy division that specializes in cheese and the corporation itself is currently owned by Whirlpool!
We drove the 4 miles to the store/factory, got a taste of their wonderful "Bleu Cheese" that they are famous for. We ended up buying that, some cheddar, some Swiss, and a can of Iowa popcorn. Oh, did we mention Jim loves cheese almost as much as Becky loves chocolate?It was an easy but pretty boring 250 mile drive down I35 to Leawood, Kansas - the home of our daughter Jenny Palmer, husband Tom, and their three sons Cormac, Colin, and Bennett. The only excitement, if you can call it that, came at the first rest stop in Missouri. Jim got out with the dogs to give them some exercise, and with every step they took on the grass some 100-200 grasshoppers took flight! Some Biblical plague to go along with the weird weather they've been having in the Midwest this year perhaps?
We arrived at Jenny's house around 3pm, and the dogs were thrilled to be there and get reacquainted with their "cousin", the Palmer's dog Lilly. They had met her 3 years ago on our around-the-US tour, and they get along great. Son Colin arrived soon after our arrival, then Jenny & Becky picked up the other two boys. Colin took off to visit a friend, Cormac gravitated to the family IPAD, and Bennett led the adults to the basement to observe his Lego village and obstacle course.
The rest of the day/evening was spent settling in and enjoying a great home cooked meal that we didn't have to prepare!
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