TO THE NELSONS - ELK HORN, IA

September 28 – 29, 2010



What a dilemma, do we drive by freeway, straight south on I-35 and then straight west on I-80 to our destination or could we take all the back county roads, zigzagging diagonally across the state for a shorter, more interesting route. What to do; on the freeways there are no school zones to worry about and on the morning of our departure the skies looked threatening, leaving our choice to use the freeways, a bit longer but perhaps, safer.



A Danish Windmill in a Danish Town



We arrived at the Danish Inn in Elk Horn, IA, just in time to greet our friends, Dale and Marge Nelson, and sit down to the excellent buffet. Dale and Margie are “snowbirds” who spend their winters in Mesa, AZ, where we often meet for Sunday breakfast and a few other activities. Dale is a perfect example of a fellow who works hard; and on mustering out of the military he settled in this Danish community where he worked for the farmers and saved his money, eventually buying farmlands of 200 to 300 acres as they became available until now he has amassed some 2500 acres in various parcels throughout the county.



Up on the John Deere Combine

 From the Inn we drove out to their nearby house where Dale and Fran guided our coach onto their driveway where we would spend the night. That afternoon we drove out to where their son, Jay, was harvesting a field of soy beans in their beautiful new green and yellow John Deere Combine. Jay stopped the rig and Dale asked if we would like to take a ride. He didn’t have to ask twice; Fran and I were thrilled at the idea of riding in this beautiful behemoth.



A Combine Set up for Corn

Gaining access to the cab requires climbing about an eight foot ladder to the fully enclosed and air-conditioned cab with a Plexiglas nose overlooking all the machinery. The rig is fully automatic with a GPS unit to guide the steering; once a 30 foot swath is cut the GPS will remember and guide the rig on successive runs, quite amazing. I was also amazed at the flexibility of such a huge machine; it could turn and spin-around, even with the cutting head up front. More gadgets, the unit will measure the moisture content of the product being cut; if it is too high you shouldn’t cut it until the moisture content drops to below 17%. Then another gadget will tell them the number of bushels per acre. Looking through the back window you can watch the soy beans filling the hopper which will signal when it must be unloaded. But then it was Fran’s turn to ride, while Jay explained some of the finer points of the combine to me. As an aside he mentioned that the combine cost $250,000 so they take good care of it. Fran was just as thrilled as I was at the end of our rides and it was certainly one of the highlights of our trip.

Dinner with the Nelsons - Geo, Fran, Dale & Margie

After a tour of the countryside which included a bit of history, we returned to the Nelson’s home for cocktails and a Danish-style dinner rounding out a fantastic day. After a good night’s sleep we met with the Nelsons for breakfast before we headed out to our next destination. We will be seeing Dale and Margie this winter when Elk Horn is freezing cold and under a few feet of snow.

Meanwhile we are off to Bentonville, Arkansas and the home of Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Bye, y’all!