Nothing Runs Like a Deere

Yesterday Brett & I decided to head across the river to check out the John Deere Museum.

We always said we would check it out, and with only a few short weeks left in the Quad Cities it was now or never.

Some of the tractors have really, really big tires.




Here's Dr. Brett driving one of the super cool tractors:


Look! A really, really big bulldozer thing!


Some wise words from our friend John Deere:


The view of the whole pavillion:


Amy behind the wheel. Do I look the part?

Some of these things were pretty sweet. They were fully equipped with comfy seats, heat, a/c, cupholders, cd players and GPS systems. I may consider a second career in farming.

This one looks kinda fun:


Brett couldn't resist playing with all the buttons and knobs. (Neither could I.)


Here's Brett playing the combine simulator game:


Here I am taking a turn. I failed miserably. Don't ask me why I habitually stand like that, I must be channeling my inner ballerina or something.


This looks like an interesting contraption! I have absolutely no idea what it does...


And for your viewing pleasure here are some more cool giant machine things. I'm pretty sure that's the technical term. :)




Alternate title for this post: California Girl Tries to Talk About Tractors.

Fulton/Galena

Brett's Mom came to town this weekend and we had a really great time just hanging out and catching up. For our one "road trip" day we headed up to Galena, which I have previously blogged about and we also stopped in Fulton, IL to tour this cool windmill they have there.

First, the windmill: Originally the people of Fulton wanted to purchase an old windmill from Holland and have it shipped to America, but Holland does not allow their old windmills to leave the country, so that was a no-go. Instead, they decided to have a windmill assembled in Holland, and then shipped to America. The whole thing weighs a whopping 74 tons and does not have a single nail holding it together. They built it the good old-fashioned way using only wooden pegs.

The windmill is one of only a handful of working windmills in the United States. At the Fulton windmill on windy days they grind their own 100% natural completely organic flour, which I think is really cool.

Next we headed up to Galena where we once again tasted some really amazing wine at Galena Cellars (love them!), ate lunch at Johnathan's, and browsed all of the fun little shops along the way.

Good Times in Galena

We had an awesome "retreat" day today that consisted of me, Brett, Jamie and Dr. Johnson doing a little bit of Iowa/Illinois road-tripping. Our first stop was at Crystal Lake Caves in Dubuque, IA.


This is the crystal clear lake for which the caves are named:




They refer to this stuff as "cave bacon":


This stuff is onyx, which apparently will shine light through it no matter how thick it is:


And here's the group after the tour with our trusty tour guide:


Next we crossed the river into Illinois and spent some time in beautiful Galena.


We went to this awesome winery for some wine-tasting and some "group therapy"


We got some amazing wine called Oktoberfest from Galena Cellars that I can't wait to have. Since we were all a little tipsy from too much wine tasting and not enough food, we headed to lunch.


Brett & I:


Doc. J and Jamie:


After lunch we went and walked around the downtown area. They have so many fantastic shops. Here is one of our favorites... an entire garlic store!


Finally, to relax after our tough day of cave exploring and shopping, we stopped at Frank O'Dowds Authentic Irish Pub on our way out of town. The kegs chained up out front really add a nice touch. ;-)


For more pictures from the day, go here.

Teeny Tiny Town

On our drive home from Bushnell, IL this weekend we stopped to take a couple of pictures in the teeny tiny town of St. Augustine, IL, population 152. I took pictures of what I have determined to be the worlds smallest police department/fire station combo, and post office:

Bad Luck in Bushnell

We went to Bushnell, IL (about an hour and a half South of Davenport) this weekend because a friend of mine was having a bridal shower. So far, we have not had fantastic luck with our trips to Bushnell. The first time we went last February it was in the middle of a crazy ice storm and it looked like this:




Note the healthy accumulation of ice on the windsheild wipers... we actually had to stop to scrape the ice off the car halfway between Davenport and Bushnell. Obviously not ideal road trip conditions.

This trip the weather was beautiful and we had a really great time. Unfortunately, one of our tires decided to develop a (not so slow) leak last night. It needed to be replaced, but of course in a town of 3,000 people the tire shop isn't open on weekends. The good news is that when you are in a town of 3,000 people everybody knows everybody and our friend Derek was able to call the tire guy who opened up the shop just for us. Too bad our plans were foiled again when he didn't have the size tire we needed. I felt like we were in the middle of those 'car trouble in a small town' horror stories you always see in the movies. Luckily, the next big town over had the size tires we needed. $150 and a couple hours later we were on our merry way once again. I don't have any exciting pictures of our tire adventures to share with you, but we did see a giant tractor driving down the road:


Now that's something you just don't see everyday in Southern California.

Maybe we will have better Bushnell luck next time. : )