Summer Cruise to Dubuque, IA – June 27-28, 2020

Eight club members and five guests had a great cruise to our neighboring state of Iowa on Saturday, June 27.
We started our cruise by traveling over to the Amana Colonies in Iowa where we had a great family style lunch. There was time after lunch for some of our members who like to antique shop and a few purchases were made! After lunch we took a short 10 minute drive to Larry Pacha's, one of our club member's house who has a great collection of Vipers, Viper memorabilia and other car related things. We had a nice visit with Larry and heard a few Viper stories! From Larrry's house we traveled up to Dubuque, checked into our hotel and headed to a Mexican supper. Some members washed their cars and made sure the snakes were ready for our driving the next day.

Sunday morning we traveled to downtown Dubuque and visited the Fenelon Place Elevator Company. The cable car was built to transport the Mayor from his house on the cliff to his bank which was 2-1/2 blocks away. Otherwise, his horse and buggy took half an hour one way to his bank. After riding the elevator up and then back down, we took a short drive to Eagle Point Park which was along the Mississippi River. We cruised through the Park and stopped at the overlook view of the River's lock and dam. You could also see a long distance down the river. After cruising through the Park, we headed to Balltown driving through the countryside of IA. We stopped to again view the Mississippi River from the distant but at this point, you could see Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and of course Iowa. Great views! Next, we headed over to Strawberry Point. We drove through the countryside, got turned around once but found our way again and finally reached our place for lunch. During the drive to Strawberry Point, we viewed rolling meadows and fields. Didn't realize Iowa was so hilly but it was beautiful and

green! After lunch we headed to our final destination, Backbone State Park. We took a nice leisurely drive through this park and found many people having picnics, taking hikes and even playing in the streams of water. We had to cross 3 small bridges covered with water so our cars took a brief undercar washing! Again, another nice park to drive through.

Our weekend cruise was mostly driving but we also had a great time catching up and visiting with each other. At this time in our country with social distancing, we enjoyed getting out cruising in our cars, enjoying the park cruises, viewing the Iowa hilly countryside and just chatting with our Viper friends. Everyone mentioned that it was good to get out and drive their Vipers!

Couple more cruises are planned for this summer. One on July 18 but it's the Chicago River Cruise, not a car cruise, and the first weekend in October will be our fall cruise to visit the Ark Encounter in KY. Please check the website for both of these cruises. We'd love to have more members and guests to join us!