We arrived at the Waterloo/Lost Island KOA in Waterloo Iowa on 23 Aug 2024. That night was the start of Steve's 50th High School Reunion. We attended the social at the local American Legion and Steve enjoyed seeing old classmates and having some laughs. Their name tags had their yearbook pictures and many of the classmates have changed quite a bit. Steve was recognizable to many as were his closest friends in high school, Carl and Jeff. I (Anita) had fun watching the classmates recognizing each other and then reminiscing. Jeff's wife Donna and another Steve's wife Sharon kept me company. Donna is local, so she knew a couple of people there. Sharon surprisingly ran into her brother's ex-wife.
Saturday morning, Carl, Jeff, Steve and Steve M. played golf. Donna, Sharon and I (Anita) hung out. They picked me up and we went to a place called Barn Happy in Cedar Falls. It's a neat place with gifts you don't find just anywhere and a lunch section. We had lunch there and then went to meet the guys as they were finishing their golf game. We had stopped off for me to get Steve a new Iowa State ball cap so by the time we got to the 18th hole, the guys were starting to finish up. It was one of the hottest days of the Summer, so the guys were pretty tired. We all went home to get some rest and then we all went to the last night of the reunion at the Waterloo Elks Lodge. That night there was a buffet and a DJ. The meal was delicious and the Elks Lodge is the nicest one we've ever seen. Carl came to join us after the meal. We had a nice time and left around 9pm. We were tired and were planning to attend mass with Jeff and Donna at 8:15am the next morning at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Waterloo. After church on Sunday, we went back to Jeff and Donna's house and spent the day with them. Jeff made a delicious breakfast around 10am and we just hung out and talked till meeting another classmate Dale, and his wife Kelly at a local restaurant around 4pm. After that early dinner we were all tired from the weekend, so we said our good byes.
24 Aug 2024 Waterloo Iowa
Saturday afternoon we went to the cemetery to visit the graves of Steve's parents. We had not been there since the dates of death were added for Steve's dad.
24 Aug 2024
Steve's dad's military service plaque
Elk's Lodge Waterloo Iowa 24 Aug 2024
Columbus High School Class of 1974 Memorial - 24 Aug 2024
Sacred Heart Catholic Church Waterloo Iowa 25 Aug 2024
Sacred Heart Catholic Church Waterloo Iowa 25 Aug 2024
Steve, Anita, Donna, Jeff - 25 Aug 2024
On 26 Aug 2024, we arrived at Hickory Grove County Park in Colo Iowa for three nights. We had lunch with Steve's college friend Paul and his wife Leslie on the Tuesday in Ames Iowa. While in Ames, we got groceries and filled up our fuel tank. We had a nice lunch with Paul (AKA Goldie) and Leslie. Of course it was Anita's first time meeting them and it was fun getting to know each other. Paul and Leslie are in touch with a few of the other college friends from Steve's years, so they caught up on everyone too.
After lunch we drove through Iowa State University, Steve's Alma Mater. Once we got home, we just hung out at the camper for Steve to rest. All the burning of the candle at both ends caught up to him and he got a cold. It's not bad, but he's taking it easy before we head west and want to do some hiking. It's been easy to stay indoors with temps in the mid to high 90's and high humidity. The temp won't get as high today (Wednesday 28 Aug), but the humidity is still high and there is no breeze. We found that out on our short walk in the campground this morning.
Tomorrow (29 Aug) we're heading to South Dakota. Mitchell will be our first of three stops and we'll have about eight days in South Dakota. We've really enjoyed our time in Iowa, especially getting to see friends.
Steve, Anita, Paul, Leslie - Ames Iowa 27 Aug 2024
Ames Iowa 27 Aug 2024
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