day 22

after driving through wheaton and visiting my old stomping grounds (have you ever been somewhere that you haven't been to since you got your drivers license?  it's kind of hard to remember how to get around), we set out for iowa.  apparently the iowans have a new subtle abstinence campaign/chastity belt promotion.  i think it's quite effective.

i had been on-line looking up "things to do on the I-80" since i knew we were going to be driving on it for several days and i found the amana colonies.  i didn't really know much about it, but it said it was a historic village and you know how i love history…

we found an rv park and got into our first "trailer trash" confrontation (we like to call ourselves that these days).  when the guy showed us to our site, there was a pile of wood lying next to it which he said we were welcome to.  so cliff and josiah set to make a fire.  an hour later, the fellow parked in the site next to us pulls up in his truck, goes to his trailer and nonchalantly says over his shoulder "how's my wood burnin for ya?".  oops.  not happy.  and he certainly wasn't interested in our apologies or our offer to get him more.  by the end of our stay we had made amends, but only after he went to complain to the staff and they sent the guy over to apologize to both of us for his error.  we'll be sure not to make that mistake again.

the next morning, we toured the area and discovered its rich history.

some persecuted christians had moved over from germany in the 1800s and settled near the iowa river.  they established these seven colonies and lived communally, sharing everything.  no one received a wage and they were all assigned jobs by the governing council.  meals were served at communal kitchens and no one had to pay for any service the town offered.

it is definitely modernized (as was evidenced by the woman who came out onto her porch in sweats to make a cell phone call and smoke a cigarette...oh, and the bacon lip balm)

and has been morphed into a popular iowan tourist destination, but it still made me stop and consider what we could learn from the simplicity of their everyday lives and faith.

p.s.  this was something else we found on the "I-80 attractions" list...not quite as historic maybe, but mildly entertaining.  especially one of the three gift shops which sported a rack of christian books/music next to the dirty bumper stickers.