Going Off The Road

Tim and I left the Great River Road temporarily for a detour to Forest City, Iowa where Winnebago RVs are manufactured.

Tim wanted to tour their factory and I had no choice but to come along.  Not that I'm complaining; it's pretty amazing to see how these homes on wheels are made.  Plus, Tim allowed me to plot our course to some interesting places along the way.

With our first stop being the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch, Iowa, we added another presidential library to the list of those we've already visited.

Cartoon on display at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.

I think we Americans have denigrated Hoover as the president who failed to bring the United States out of the Great Depression, but after visiting here, I have a new respect for him.

This two-room cottage is where Hoover was born.

I never knew that he was raised by his maternal aunt and uncle after his Quaker parents died.

Herbert Hoover, Age 3
Photo on display at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum

Nor did I know that after graduating from Stanford, he made a fortune as a mining engineer working for companies in Western Australia and China and later as an independent mining consultant who traveled the world until the start of World War I.

Herbert Hoover
Photo on display at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum

By 1914 with wealth more than $4 million, Hoover used his a portion of his fortune to organize an unprecedented relief effort for the hungry citizens of Belgium who were caught between the warring nations of Germany and France.  This earned him world-wide recognition as "The Great Humanitarian," notoriety that brought him to his first elected office, the presidency in 1928.  Yet, within a few short months, the global hero had become a scapegoat in his own land eventually losing his bid for re-election in 1932.

President Harry Truman with former President Herbert Hoover
Photo on display at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum

Still, when President Harry Truman invited Hoover to undertake a post-World War II global relief effort, Hoover did what he did best, rescue those ravaged by war.

Next stop, Cedar Rapids, Iowa!  There Tim accompanied me to see the loft studio of Grant Wood.

Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930 [Oil on beaver board], The Chicago Institute of Art,.

This was where the artist painted American Gothic in 1930, a painting that reminds me of my grandparents.  The farmer above is almost a dead ringer of my paternal grandfather.

Famous for wearing farmer's bib overalls, Wood lived here with his mother and often his sister as well while he created the paintings that soon linked his name with other Regionalist artists like Thomas Hart Benton and John Steuart Curry.

After seeing Wood's studio, who could resist visiting Cedar Rapids Museum of Art where the world's largest collection of Wood's paintings may be found?  Tim, that's who!  A little dose of art is enough for him, but he graciously allowed me 30 minutes to visit the museum while he sat in the car, checking his email.

Grant Wood, Young Corn, 1931 [Oil on masonite], Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

My favorite was Wood's bird's eye view of a corn field in his Young Corn painting.  The precision of the corn plants on the rolling hills vies with the puffy trees for your attention and almost overwhelms the farm family figures below.  After traveling halfway across Iowa with its miles and miles of corn fields, I could understand why Wood would choose corn for his subject.  Such fields are everywhere!

Grant Wood, The Mourner's Bench, 1921-1922 [Oak, carved and stained] Cedar Rapids  Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

His "Mourning Bench" especially caught my eye as an example of his sense of humor.  He carved the three woeful and crying children's heads for the bench while the rest was made with the help of his art students from McKinley Junior High School.  As a former middle school teacher myself, I could imagine the warm relationships he forged with his students.

The Historic Park Inn Hotel

Passing through Mason City, Iowa, we stopped at the Historic Park Inn Hotel, the last remaining hotel designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  His commission here was to build a bank, a hotel and law office in one unified building that would anchor a downtown corner in this small county-seat community.

The result is vintage Prairie School: a long, low look with an overhanging roof and his signature windows.

Windows, however, are what's missing from the ground floor of the bank he added to the east side of the structure.  That ploy gives the bank a vault-like appearance, a "strong box," indicative of the building's purpose.  The hotel reopened its doors to the public in 2011, following a 18.5 million-dollar renovation that added en suite baths to rooms where no two are alike.

Finally, the law office on the second floor is now a quiet spot for hotel guests to read or work.

Then on to the Winnebago factory tour, the main reason for this side jaunt.  There we were tempted to buy this new Class B recreational vehicle, a miniature model of the real van.  At least, its price fit our pocketbook!