Day 60 and 61 - From Minneapolis to St. Louis

On Day 60 (July 17th) we drove from Minneapolis to Des Moines, IA, stopping during the noon hour in Forest City, IA, at the Winnebago factory. We lunched in the RV in the parking lot of the visitor center and took a factory tour afterwards. The bus tour consisted of being driven around the very large factory grounds, having various buildings pointed out to us. Then we were taken to a building where the side walls of RV's are made, and another building where we watched flooring being installed, which is done before any walls are installed. It was so hot in the factory that I forgot to take any pictures (the tour is on the catwalk up close to the ceiling, and it was HOT!) We took a tour at the Monaco factory several years ago, and we felt that it was a superior tour in every way - I remember seeing many different processes from start to finish. The Winnebago tour was pale by comparison. Nonetheless, we think they make a good product, although one man in our tour group, who was the owner of a new Winnebago Vectra motor home, was obviously not happy, and kept making remarks about how you could see how human error came into play!

The drive from Des Moines to St. Louis (Day 61 - July 18th) was pretty - I'll say it again, Iowa is a really beautiful state - but it is really hot! The temperature in St. Charles, where we are currently staying, just west of St. Louis, was over 100 degrees when we arrived. But we did expect it to be hot.

Our front air conditioner does not seem to be working tonight, so we will have to rely on the back one. Gary thinks it may have something to do with the quality of the power here in the RV park -- the quality of electric power can vary widely. We'll see..........