5-25-18 Clear Lake, Iowa

As Frank Sinatra would have sung, “Noobee doobee doo!”  Several of you have asked for interior pictures of Noobee.  I can do that but if you want to see the layout, go to the Winnebago website and search for the 34T Forza.  That’s us!  We chose the floor plan that has a settee instead of that big long C-shaped sofa.  Also, you say, “OMG, Noobee is HUGE!”  Well, the reality is that Noobee is only 20 inches longer than Bee and exactly the same height from the ground to the top.  Maybe the paint job makes it look bigger or something.  The box structure is closer to the ground giving it more cargo capacity so that’s probably part of it.  It looks big and scary to me, too, but in reality, it is so similar that we are putting things in the same cupboards where they “belong.”  It’s really neat… nearly no learning curve for this part.

Noobee at Oakwood RV Park... doesn't look
so big there, now does she?

Today’s assignment was to drive the beast.  So I actually drove a diesel today for the first time in my life.  It didn’t feel a whole lot different than driving Bee but I was nervous, especially in the high winds across the plain.  There are things that differ from a gasser but it doesn’t seem that complicated, which only proves that I am obviously overlooking a lot.  It’s off to WalMart we go for the usual essentials:  soap, rugs, salt and pepper, mattress pad, a couple of lawn chairs, an entry mat on which to wipe muddy shoes.  You know the drill.  Once there, I actually parked staying inside the lines and everything.  (My kindergarten teacher taught me well!)  Strangely, although it is the same size as Bee, it is an intimidating beast.  Some things are just alarming, like when the air brakes deflate with an explosion.  The Winnebago guy coaxed me to touch the air horn and it is heart attack material.  Yikes!  Of course, “The Man” drives it like a veteran, not ruffled in the least.

Iowa:  where there are Hy Vee Markets.  You may know what this means:  walleye.  As far as we know, there are 3 places in the US to acquire walleye (without a fishing pole):  Boise, the Hy Vee Markets in Iowa and Basha’s in Wickenburg, AZ.  So today, I drove the frig down to the market and exclaimed, “Fill ‘er up!”  Just kidding about the frig part but we did stock up on about six pounds of walleye.  Unable to resist, dinner was a few filets accompanied by fresh Iowa sweet corn on the cob.  The first dinner in Noobee!  Well now!  It just doesn’t get much better than this!  A few restaurants serve walleye but as one proprietor reasoned, “Why offer walleye?  Nobody orders it.  When you can go down to the lake and catch walleye all day long, why buy it in a restaurant?  I caught seven of  

Lakeside Church, built by Scandinavian, Russian and
German immigrants in 1890

them just yesterday.”

Life in Noobee has been pretty exciting and uneventful all at the same time.  We keep thinking we should take it back to the factory for something but so far, nothing has gone awry.  Well, OK, nothing that we can’t crawl around to fix or tweak.  The Winnebago factory is 15 miles away and this rv park is out in the country on Clear Lake.  The park is expansive and green, green, green.  There is a tiny church on the property, the Lakeside Church, built in 1890 and moved from its original site 2 miles from here to save it from a practice burn by the Fire Department.

(As the pastor cornered me to discuss the history, I was invited to attend the Sunday service.  It was a narrow escape.)  The chickens wander about and provide everyone with fresh eggs and the rooster awakens us in the morning with a loud, “Cock a Noobee doo!”  Great northern geese are on final approach for the warm summer season.  This is quite an experience!

The inside of this church was destroyed by vandals.
The current pastor rebuilt the pews.  Original wood
boards make up the floor and wainscoting.

King of the yard

Twice today, we went down to the lakeshore bar and grills, once for a quick lunch and again for dinner.  The natives are restless!  We have been told that winter temperatures here can creep down to -60F with wind chill factored in.  Now that it is sunny and warm, the ice is melted and the lake is in the form of a liquid, the pontoon boats and other water craft are swarming to the loading docks and beaches.  The humans are crawling out of their cocoons.  Lilacs and daffodils are in full colorful array.  Let the holiday week end begin!  Spring has sprung in the Midwest!