Saturday July 4th – Independence Day

Woke to drizzly rain this morning, so didn’t rush off early. Very grey and pleasant temperatures. Thought we better check out the “Farmer Market” in town that we had seen advertised, but a bit of a disappointment….about a dozen stalls in front of the stores on Main Street, selling a bit of home cooking and crafts, nothing to inspire. Found the other park in town that had a dump station, so cleared out the tanks.

Decided to head west along the backroads and check out the countryside. Miles and miles of corn and soy, but very prosperous looking buildings. On the whole everything is kept real neat and tidy, with a lot of farmers mowing their roadsides. We continued west to Pochohantis, a rural settlement maybe a bit smaller than Humboldt. Had a lunch stop in the park, then a leisurely drive back around the “block”. Roads all run North/South or East/West in mile squares.

Parked outside Born Free factory and hooked up to wireless again, then back to the supermarket carpark where we are leaving the van and going to walk into town to see the paraded…..more later.

…..Wow, what a slice of American life. I am sure the whole town and surrounding districts turned out for the parade. Everyone came with their chairs (we sat on the kerb!) many had set them up earlier in the day to get prime seats. There were almost 150 entries in the parade from school bands, farm vehicles, vintage tractors to a guy herding a dozen geese…all dressed up! It lasted over an hour, and wound through many blocks of town. The children had come prepared with bags to collect all the candy that was tossed out. A real festive atmosphere, everyone was celebrating.

After the parade, everyone moved towards the fairground for the fireworks display, we joined the crowd at the nearby carpark. What a display, it went on for 25 minutes …the biggest I have ever seen, the colours were just amazing.

Back to the Joe Sheldon park for the night.

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