States & Provinces visited on this segment: Missouri, Iowa
Dates: Monday, August 27 to Tuesday, August 28
Miles Driven: 310 (11,355 total to date)
Summary: We left Colleen and Tom’s house Monday morning and drove north up to Amana, Iowa to meet my parents. My parents live in Oregon, about 30 minutes from us, but due to overlapping vacations we thought we were not going to be able to see them for ~5 months. They left at the start of June before we did for a ~ 2 month trip up to Alaska and NW Canada (Yukon and Northwest Territories). They also had a fall trip planned back east that they were going to leave for in late August and not return home until the end of October. At the last minute we managed to get our schedules arranged so that we could spend two nights with them in Amana while they were on their way east and before we made the final ~2,000 mile drive west to home. We got adjacent campsites in Amana. By the time we arrived in late afternoon they were already in the campground and set up. We had dinner with them that night, celebrated Elizabeth’s birthday with them, and got caught up on each others adventures.
On Tuesday we sent the day exploring the Amana Colonies with my parents. They have been there several other times so they acted as our tour guides. The Amana Colonies were founded in 1854 by a group from Germany and Switzerland seeking religious freedom. They formed seven villages in the area – Amana, East Amana, Middle Amana, High Amana, West Amana, South Amana, and Homestead spread out along several miles of the Iowa River. For the first 75 years in Amana they practiced a communal way of life, as a self sufficient community with no personal property. Then in 1932 the “Great Change” occurred and they discontinued the communal way of life. However, the church life continues today with few changes and the Amana Society that was formed with the original commune members as shareholders still exists today. The Amana Society still farms over 25,000 acres around Amana and over the years the Amana Society diversified and started such businesses as Amana Appliances. They even own the campground that we stayed at. It was interesting to learn some of the history of the area and see some of the buildings and the businesses that are still in operation today.
On Wednesday morning we said goodbye. My parents headed east, and we started the long drive back home. From Iowa we don’t have any major stops planned. At this point we just need to get back home so we will have time to unpack and get ready for school and work next Tuesday.
Photos (to be loaded soon): http://picasaweb.google.com/bryan.vacation/Part20Iowa
Next up: The final 2,000 mile drive home
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