Lanesboro, Minnesota

September 21 - 25, 2017:

It’s a short 65 mile trip on route 90 and 16 to the 205 Campground in Lanesboro Minnesota.  Lanesboro is a great small town, but we are here mainly to visit my old childhood buddy, Gordon Tindall and his wife Val.  We last saw them in 2015 when they came to Tucson to pick up a pool table.  We had visited them in Lanesboro about 5 yeas ago in our first year RV’ing.  Gordon has a beautifully restored diner, “The Spud Boy Diner”, situated in downtown Lanesboro that is claimed to be the last remaining wooden diner on wheels.  You might think of it as the original food truck.  It’s only open for breakfast these days but remains top rated for breakfast in Lanesboro.  We stop in for breakfast a couple of times to watch Gordon do his magic at the grill.  The diner has recently been put for sale to make room for Gordon and Val’s new endeavors, Val’s Black Crow consignment shop and Gordon’s Man Cave Pool Hall, Man Art and Mom Art shop.
  

That's the Spud Boy in the canter

They changed the name on the side from "Spud Boy" to
Hank's last year for a Lanesboro theater show

Love that sign

A man sized breakfast for me

Gordon at work

Gordon's Hudson Hornet ride

  

Lanesboro is a beautiful small town with scores of B & B’s, several nice stores, restaurants, cafes, art, theater and the Root River State Trail for biking or walking and the Root River for tubing and canoeing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanesboro,_Minnesota
http://www.lanesboro.com

Downtown Lanesboro

Amish tours in Lanesboro too

Old railroad bridge in town

The Sons of Norway are active in Lanesboro

Dam and waterfall on the Root River

Tubers on the Root River

Lanesboro has an active arts community which Gordon and Val take part in.  There is a “History Alive” street theater program on the weekend that Gordon and Val both have parts in with Val playing in three scenes.  I am enlisted to play a hobo, a role that only requires me to sit on a log in the hobo jungle, I can handle that !  It is a hot weekend with near record temperatures but the jungle is partly shaded and open to a light breeze.  This theater performance takes place in the 1930’s and moves around town where a number of scenes are staged mostly on the street outside.  It is historically accurate as the scenes are scripted after actual town events from the period.

Gordon and Val have a scene together

A scene in front of the St. Mane Theater

A scene at the Gypsy camp with Val in the background

The Hobo jungle

Gordon, Val and I at the Sons of Norway Hall

Twinkles and I visit the nearby town of Deborah, Iowa where Gordon had his first diner, the “Clarksville Diner” many years ago and where Val previously lived.  Gordon had saved this diner from demolition in Clarksville, NJ, moved it to Deborah, Iowa, where he restored it and opened it up for business.  Gordon eventually sold this diner to a buyer in Paris, France where the diner resides toady.

Deborah is another beautiful small town somewhat famous as the home of Brian Andreas and his world famous “story people” poetic signs and storyboards.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decorah,_Iowa

Mural on wall in downtown cafe

Very ornate building front in Deborah

Winneshiek County Courthouse

The Story People store

A Story People mural on a side street

The stained glass ceiling in the Hotel Wiineshiek

Old Decorah downtown mural 

Val’s “Black Crow” shop is now open for business with lots of artistic consigment items and Vals handcrafted baskets and other goodies.  Gordons side which was originally a grocery store has a few "manly" items for sale in a front room, along with many of Gordons model race cars and other unique items.  The large back room is under construction as a pool hall.  Gordon has four vintage old tables which will be assembled for the Pool Hall.  One of these tables belonged to Gordons grandfather where it was in the basement of the Tindall farmhouse, on which we shot pool on for many hours as youths.  It was great to shoot a few games on this table again, the last time I saw it was probably in the early 1970’s.  He also will have an art gallery featuring several of his Mom’s paintings on one wall.  This place is sure to become a hangout for all the local characters of Lanesboro.

Gordon and Val's shopes

A few of Gordon's model cars on display

Gordon's "Cowboy Cadillac" sits on a side street

Gordon and Val take us to the town of Winona, Minnesota to one of their favorite attractions, the Watkins Heritage Museum.  The Watkins Company was founded in Winona in 1868 and became a huge supplier of lotions, spices, salves and assorted home products.  The museum is in part of the original factory building.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watkins_Incorporated

Watkins started as a door to door sales company and
developed into a giant

They sold everything !

Vanilla was a huge seller

We then went to the Winona Savings Bank which is a huge impressive stone building with a museum area on its second floor.   The architecture of the building is really the main attraction.   

https://mnprairieroots.com/tag/winona-savings-bank/

Huge columns

Massive stained glass window in the bank

The African Safari Exhibit in something you wouldn't
expect in a bank

Gordon and Val in front of the bank

We then went to the Winona County History Center with two floors of great exhibits.

A record setting Flathead Ford powered Bonneville
Salt Flats race car

Old Coffee Cart

Another great stained glass window

Antique Winona steam fire engine

Its always great to get together with Gordon, who is the closest thing to a brother to me.  It’s wonderful to get together and relive some of out drag racing glory days and remembrances from our potato farm days.

Be sure to follow : www.hitchupandgo.com

The next stop is Cedar Rapids, Iowa,

Twinkles and Slick