Spencer, IA Clay County Fair Day 2

Thursday, September 11
Well we arrived at the fair about 8:45am this cold misty morning.  It was about 53 degrees with a misty breeze. The main reason for going to the fair today was to take in the Truck and Tractor Pull at 1pm. We decided to start by looking through the vendor exhibits that were indoors. We thought the sun was supposed to come out.  We found several items that would be great in the coach.  

We were told by some other fair goers that the Medicine Show was good so we decided to go see for ourselves.

These 3 men were VERY talented.  The man in the middle is Scott.  The "instrument" he was holding had several horns (both the kind you blow in and the kind you squeeze the blub), a whizzer, part of a wash board, chimes and some I've forgotten.  Scott also played the drums and banjo.  They all sang and told jokes, all clean.  It was a great time.We were glad we went.

Next we saw bears doing tricks.  It was kind of sad to see these bears doing their tricks while being lead with honey treats.  We did not stay to watch any more.

It was still overcast and windy so we decided to have lunch indoors.  We are glad we brought our heaviest coats and stuff to sit on and blankets to cover with.  After we ate we headed for the grandstands.  We found good seats and watched.  Now y'all get to see pictures.

It started with modified tractors.

Once the tractor got revved up, the smoke changed from white to black.

The amount of money put into these tractors is amazing.

Next were trucks. This was called a "truck".  See that rear tire wrinkled?  There were several more trucks after this truck.

Next were the semi-pro tractors.  They each had something around 1500 horse power.

Next came the modified semi trucks.  

We took movies of these runs, but they are too big to post.  And we wore ear plugs, because they were loud!

Spencer, IA Clay County Fair Day 1

Wednesday, September 10
The Clay County fair in Spencer, IA was part of the reason for the stay at Spirit Lake.  Spencer was about 16 miles south of Spirit Lake.  As we drove into Spencer we saw this car for sale:

This Oldsmobile was in cherry condition.  Tic thinks it is probably a 1954 or 1955.

They had a tent of antique cars and trucks.  This Ford caught Tic's attention.

This Ford is even older.  I'll stop with these two trucks.

We saw lots of quilts.  All these on this side of this display were hand sewn.  The quilts on the other side were machine done.

We thought this quilt was really original!

We also liked this very detailed quilt.

How about this handmade wooden hay truck.  Talent!

This is one side of one display of fruits and vegetables entered in the fair.

This was the gourd and melon section. 

We walked into a large building that had a huge model train setup.  The display was probably 50 ft by 25 ft.  As we walked around there were lots of different Iowa cities and areas displayed.  The display was enclosed by glass so it was hard to get pictures.  I narrowed the best pictures down to the following. 

There was even a wind farm. We have seen many wind farms here in Iowa.

Look at the various train trestles. 

This corner represented the Clay County Fair.

Not sure which city this represents but it is along the river obviously.

Golf anyone?

Train yard and gravel pit.  All the detail just amazed us. This is the last picture of the train display.

There was lots of farm equipment on display.  I really liked this tractor.  You could take this one any where in any condition.  I could have fun driving this!!

Indian motorcycles are being made again.  Tic's dad had one.  His dad would take him for rides while Tic sat on the tank.  

Cool looking bikes!

Next to the Indian motorcycles were the Victory motorcycles.  This one looked futuristic.  Look at the headlight.  Below is the rear view of the bike.

Below is Farmer Bob.  He roamed around the fair grounds.

Farmer Bob's tractor and trailer was loaded with everything you can think of.  It was a hoot.

We were privileged to see Tina and Lena at this county fair also.  Still just as funny.

We had to leave the fair early today because Tic's brother & sister-in-law were coming to our coach to see it and visit.  They were to arrive about 3:30 in the afternoon. It was OK because we already planned to go to the fair the next day also.  And it was getting COLD!

Cutty's in Spirit Lake, IA

Monday, Sept 1 through Tuesday Sept 9

Today we left Lake Shetek, MN for Cutty's in Spirit Lake, IA.  It was only a 1.5 hr drive.

This is a fairly large place as it has 257 campsites.  This is associated Coast to Coast so only extra cost is $2/day for cable and $1/day for 50 amp.  There are lots of trees so some turns are tight.  It is a very nice park with an indoor pool and hot tub, a TV viewing area beside the lobby, a small fast food service, shuffle board, putt putt and several locations with restrooms, showers and laundry service.

This is our site.  We have a hard gravel parking pad with a concrete pad with an aluminum picnic table.  There is enough space to open the slides and awnings, but not a lot of extra room.  See how close the site next to us is?

The first afternoon after we got set up, we went to visit with Tic's Aunt Artie.

She lives in a really nice little condo complex.  It is laid out like an assisted living place, but they do not provide meals and each person owns their condo.

Artie was given the nickname "Praise the Lord" because that used to be in every sentence she said.  The first time I met her she was introduced to me as "Praise the Lord".  It was years before I knew her name.  When we saw this above her door we had to have a picture.

One day we drove over to the City of Okoboji on the east side of Lake Okoboji.

This is a walking bridge across a narrow part of the lake from a parking lot to a marina.  See Dusty waving?

There I am.  It was a little cloudy this morning.  All in all it was a beautiful day.

At a flea market we went to in Wisconsin, we bought ourselves 2 golf putters and some golf balls so we could play putt putt whenever we want at the different campgrounds that offer it.  We have played almost daily here.

It had rained early this morning, but later when the sun came out we decided to play putt putt again.  We had to skip this hole, can you tell the deep water hazard on this one?

This is a fun hole.  Also look at the soda machine in the middle of the course.  Funny.  There is another soda machine towards the back of the course also.

Doesn't he look like a pro?  That is my ball off to the left.  He just sunk his put.

This is a unique hole.  You have 3 choices on how to get to the middle.  The pole is not where the hole is.  The hold is actually in the center of the center part.  There is a hole at the top of the right side that will have the ball go the center.  If you hit it too hard it goes on past and down hill where there is another hole in the middle of the left side that will have the ball go to the center.  If you miss that hole you can keep going to the center. 
I did not take pictures of any of the other holes, but it is a fun course.

This looks like a fun playground for the kids here at Cutty's.