McAllister Heartland Tour: Day 6 - Montrose, Iowa

We spent today packing up and relocating the group across half the state of Illinois to the west banks of the mighty Mississippi River. Our destination was the tiny riverside town of Montrose, Iowa.

With the family mandated meeting time of roughly 4pm, Amber and I took our time packing through the morning. Once we collected all of our things into their various bags we decided to go for a run. There was ample baby sitting persons next door, even though the majority of the women were out hitting the Morton garage sale circuit.

For some sick reason that I still have yet to figure out I decided that I would take my wife on the running route I traveled in high school - while training for soccer. Somewhere deep in my sub-conscience it may have been a ploy to impress her in some way. What ever the reason, when we hit the corner of Fourth and Idlewood - exactly half way - I was regretting the choice.

It was nice to know that I was in much better shape in high school. Yet, my performance on this day was a detailed measure of exactly how far I had fallen since.

After dragging myself back to the Nelsons we loaded up the car. Amber went in to shower while I headed next door to rummage through my boxes in the attic. Lifting the lids on a few boxes I was amazed at the things I decided were essential to hang on to. A box of CD cases - no CDs, just the cases - a box of random clothes items such as hats, old socks, t-shirts, etc.

A quick look through the clothes box and I had one word for the contents: Goodwill. The CD cases were garbage, especially since the vast majority of them I hadn't owned in years. The several boxes of sports cards will be staying for another time.

I reconfigured some of the car packing to add some other items that we would be taking back to Logan. With the car loaded and Ashley fed/rested we were off to Iowa.

Half of the families chose to stop by Carthage Jail on their way to Montrose, while we followed the path laid by my parents some 15 minutes earlier that took us a way I had never been. Even with everyone leaving at different times and going different routes it was amazing that we all gathered at the Nauview House at roughly the same time.

Like in Morton, our group could not be held by a single house. Our family was assigned to stay at the Lakeview Cabins - also in Montrose - along with Brent's family. The accommodations included two small cabins separated by about 75 yards of trees. A gravel path connected the dwellings.

The surrounding area included a small fishing pond complete with a row boat and paddle boat for our use.

Each cabin was equipped with a studio apartment type set up inside. The kitchen area included a full stove and oven, microwave, and small fridge. There was also a table with three chairs, a sleeper couch, and a bunk-bed like I had never seen before. Each level of the bed housed a double sized mattress. And of course there was a small bathroom.