The Pillars of Pilot Rock: Valentine, Nebraska 10/16/09

If you’ve ever camped or been to a picnic area of a State Park chances are the fire rings and picnic tables were made by Pilot Rock. Ned and I have been camping together for about 7 years and the first thing we do when pulling into a campsite is check out the fire-rings. Yep, over 90% of the time they are manufactured by the RJ Thomas Company – aka Ned’s cousins. (Well, actually they are his double-cousins: two brothers married two sisters the lineage continues and thus some convoluted connection). This morning we got a personal tour of the Pilot Rock plant and saw raw steel being turned into fire rings, grills and such. For such a small Midwest town, it’s quite impressive what these two brothers have accomplished. Their dad started this company in 1959 and today they employ about 60 people. Their products are shipped worldwide, including Disneyland in France! One statistic that I learned and was very impressed with was that in the company’s 50 year history, they have had continuous employment, never having a layoff. After all the small towns Ned and I have traveled thru in the last month, with many of them struggling, I found this inspiring. Today’s pic is Steve (left) and Craig (right) standing amongst their trade-mark fire rings. After the early morning plant tour, Craig and Julie treated us to that wonderful mid-west hospitality with a scrumptious brunch. Knowing we had a long haul, Ned and I soon “skedaddled” out of Cherokee, Iowa and headed for the Nebraska border. As usual, we decided to take an obscure route, called the Outlaw Trail, along the Northern edge of the State. We were on highway 12 most of the day and only saw a handful of other vehicles, including tractors hauling hay. (It just amazes me some of the remote places people live.) The route was quite pretty with the continuously rolling sand hills and grazing cattle. We finally arrived in the town of Valentine, Nebraska (aw – how cute is that?), and decided to have a corn-fed Nebraska steak at the local “fine dining” establishment. It was quite the local haunt, by the time we left it was hoppin’. Ned and I are currently staying on a wind-chilled grass prairie RV park –brrr. As I write this the van is a rockin’ to the gusts outside. I’m so glad we have a furnace!!! I hear it’s roasting in California so sure hope to pick up some of those heat rays as we head into South Dakota tomorrow.

Exploring Ned’s Iowa Roots: Cherokee, Iowa 10/15/09

The state park we stayed at last night was absolutely beautiful, unfortunately it was too wet and cold to do much exploring. Unlike the other states when we meander the back roads, Iowa’s roads are straight. We drove due west most of the day. Our first stop was in Ames, Iowa. We drove around the university, where Ned’s parents both went to college, took advantage of their free internet and stopped to have lunch. The afternoon is when things really got interesting. We drove to Bagley, a VERY small town, about 50 houses and not much else. Ned’s dad was raised here and it was fun to drive by the abandoned high school and take a tour of the town. Ned really wanted to send his sisters a post card from here, but you can imagine the likelihood of that with no stores. We stopped by the one room/one employee post office and chatted with the very sweet postmaster, Linda. When she heard about Ned’s connections to the town, she sold us two of her own Iowa postcards and proudly put the Bagley, Iowa cancellation mark on them so that Ned’s sisters could have a memento from their father’s home town. Very touching! From there we drove down a dirt road, up a small ridge to visit the Dodge Center Cemetery where Ned’s great grandparents and other relatives are buried. It was something to see the headstones with dates from the 1800s, hear their stories, and know they were related to Ned. Quite moving. The next stop was due North for about 2 hours to Cherokee where Ned’s mother was born and raised. We visited the house where she lived from age 4 til she left for college. We think we also found the Methodist Church where his parents were married. It was so much fun to experience and share in Ned’s family’s history. Tonight we are staying at the home of his second cousin Craig and his wife Julie (the same ones we stayed with in Minnesota). We had an absolute blast going out to dinner with Craig, Julie, Steve and Laurie (more cousins). These Iowa guys sure can drink! We enjoyed a German Oktoberfest meal at the Gashaust, complete with lots of German beer and stories. Too much fun. I’m looking forward to tomorrow where we take a tour of the family owned Pilot Rock plant.