I wish I could start every trip we take with a car show. But I’d like to keep my travel partner so that will remain just a wish. The Iola Wisconsin Car show had been on my radar since we started planning this year’s tour. While my resto-modding project ( click here for that story…
Category: Paddle Pedal & Coffee Tours
Theses are long trips touring a specific state (or part of a state) on a quest for kayaking, biking and coffee. In addition we’ll search for cool hiking, special interest tours, good places to eat and the best pickleball courts.
West Bend, Storm Lake, Kamrar July-2022
This was going to be a big day as we were driving 1.5 hours to West Bend and another hour to Storm Lake then returning “home”. We headed out on Friday July 22 and stopped in Webster City at a very nice coffee shop for breakfast – Morning Glory Coffee. After breakfast, we drove to…
The Grotto – July 2022
When I was very young, my parents took our family to Northwest Iowa to visit my mom’s relatives. While there, we took a side trip to West Bend to see a grotto. I did not remember much about this place but was motivated to visit again. Since David and I planned for our 2022 summer…
Pickles Pub, Kamrar, Iowa – July 2022
For most of the Iowa tour, we stayed at a centrally located Airbnb. Many of the out-and-back excursions were less than a two hour drive. Our general plan was to start driving to the destination, find coffee along the way then do the activities of the day, eat supper, then return for the night. This…
Iowa Rock-n-Roll Museum, Arnolds Park, IA July-2022
When we choose to visit the museum, we were not sure what we would find. Iowa is a really neat place but not really known for it’s rock-n-roll pedigree. Of course there is the famous accident that took Richie Valens, The Big Bopper, and Buddy Holly in 1959 at Clear Lake but not much else…
Lake Macbride, Iowa City
As we were traveling to start the day we stopped for coffee at Coffee Revolution in Davenport, IA. The shop is a little bit of a drive south of I-80 but easy to get to. The shop had lots of branding items and gifts. In fact it seems that if you are a regular, you…
The Day the Music Died
Clear Lake, Iowa is a great place to visit. Lot’s of stores, restaurants and some good coffee shops. Also it has an very interesting historic site just outside of town. It is the location where Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valen’s plane went down on February 3, 1959. The site has a small…
Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad Dinner Train
We’d heard of the Boone Dinner Train and it had come highly recommended so when planning the South Dakota we got reservations online. We bought out tickets in April for the July date. We were told that the dinner sells rides sell out very quickly. We arrived a little early and took our time touring…
Okoboji Classic Cars
This place was really cool. Literally and figuratively. The temperature was in the mid 80’s so stepping into air conditioning felt great. We purchased tickets for the tour and after a short wait the guide took us through the hidden door into an amazing setting. We walked down the center of this small town main…
Spirit Lake Iowa-2022
Big Spirit Lake is part of the Iowa Great Lakes (see post) so we thought we would give it a try. However we woke up to 20 mph gusts- not ideal for paddling on such a big lake. So we opted to catch breakfast first the Breakfast Barn in Spirit Lake. Great classic breakfast, omelets,…