In search of a good danish and coffee

Sept 5 - 7, 2012
Amana, Iowa
aka The Amana Colonies
Amana RV Park
PA Park

Our drive today was mostly I-80 and we passed many, maybe 30 or 40 blades for wind generators.  I tried many times to come up with a decent picture and finally did.  They sure are big.

Picture out the window showing the farms here: wind generators, corn and beans.

On the way to Amana we stopped in Elk Horn, a small Danish farming community.  They are famous for the Dutch windmill.  It was brought here piece by piece in the 1850's.  The visitor center was a gift shop trying to sell all kinds of Danish stuff.  We wanted to go to the bakery for a coffee and a danish pastry but they didn't open until noon.

 The only place in town to get a danish and coffee was down the street at a little cafe/gas station place.  So we walked on down. We walked in the wrong door and there was a group of men sitting around a table all talking and having coffee and eating cookies and popcorn.  It was a daily ritual.
We talked to them for awhile, they were the nicest group of farmers you would every want to meet.  They come to discuss the no rain situation, price of corn, the moisture of the corn, price of  soy beans the size of the ear of corn, and a few lies here and there.  They plant corn and soy beans and never water them.  There were no sprinklers, no irrigation pipes anywhere.  The water level is very deep and not enough for the crops and not enough water in the rivers.  They just wait until it rains, which hasn't been very much the last few years.  I think they probably pray a lot too.

The men were a lot of fun to talk to, they wanted to know about our life on the road 

and we wanted to know about their life as a farmer.

(the cafe was through the door on the left)

The corn this year is only about two-thirds of what it should be, they don't harvest until the moisture is down to about 15%.  The corn is stored until they need to sell it, could be next month or a couple of months from now.

In the very back of the photo below is the door we came through and there was a table of ladies, having coffee, talking about their kids, the church pot luck, and knitting.  

Cute little place and we finally got a delicious danish pastry (a real danish pastry) and a cup of coffee.

We arrived at out campground with a few wrong turns, thanks to Gypsy (our GPS), but we made it.  We are surrounded by corn fields.

More later, time for a glass of wine and fix dinner.

Have a blessed day, thanks for stopping by.

Nancy