Small Towns On Mississippi River in Eastern Iowa - Quiet Backroads & Finding Unusual Roadside Stuff
Small Towns In Eastern Iowa
Transcript
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welcome everyone Adam the woo here as
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the recording of this Tuesday June 18th
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2024 could file this one under relaxing
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day roaming the back roads and checking
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out small towns in
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Iowa no real game plan but just kind of
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moseying around the countryside
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farmland and communities
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thereabouts in this particular region
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starting off here at
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cherl or sharel founded in 1833 Iowa and
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it's known as Iowa's beautiful Hilltop
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Community Prairie Meadows 2000 grant
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program that's the skyline right there
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so I'm going to hit up this town see
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what I can
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find in the
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hillside Z of I I'm inviting you yes you
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it's good to have you here to join me
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shall you weather's nice too it feels
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good sun is
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out I'm always amazed at how magnificent
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some of these churches through these
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little tiny towns are I me you get the
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whole population of some of these towns
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in one church
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building I mean I'm exaggerating a
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little bit but
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this is interesting I've been to a lot
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of
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cemeteries you don't really see a lot of
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crucifixes though I mean you see them on
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the top of the Headstones
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yeah these go really far back born in
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1815 passed away in 72
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Schmidt here's Jacob
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Schmidt John ja Jingleheimer
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Schmid just down the hill over there is
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a little baseball field off in the
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that's a pretty good reception on TV
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antenna
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America's agricultural
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Heritage Agricultural Center I should
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probably get out and look at a Cheryl
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Mount
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house constructed in
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and the front room served as a post
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office for the town of Cheryl and also
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was the sales room for horer farm
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machinery it's now a private
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residence so say right
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there right the top of the hill the end
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of the top of the hill you got the bank
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right over
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there all right now entering ball town
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or maybe it's
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Balton probably
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Balltown we're driving along and we saw
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these wolves we thought they were real
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wolves they don't look real from the
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side but from the front when we were
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approaching we're all like oh my gosh
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there's real wolves either that or
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they're just really
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still the ball Town
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wolves and ball Town
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Mary classic bug
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alert Subzero
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bug the license plate there this is a
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feed
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store big gain feed okay this says
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walkway to Iowa's best Mississippi
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Valley Scenic
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Overlook the best view is here in
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Balltown
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Balton right over there Mississippi
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River the tractor is now caught up
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what if that thing followed us around
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all day like
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duel should make a horror film St spiber
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could come back and do
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a follow up to dual the
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Overlook like something out of a movie
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up here
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Brett box country dining open in
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1852 it's over
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there my sister and her husband are here
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Ryan and Faith are here as well
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a the feed shop is founded an 1884 is a
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general store hotel and a saloon
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skip Brett
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boach now sells a feed shop now sells
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animal fee but originally it was a hotel
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and a saloon
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Balltown is the second most visited city
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in Iowa
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really there's a Mississippi over
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there it's all
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Farmland
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trees
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barns you can see for 65 miles according
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to the
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pocket on a clear ey I was just just
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mentioning duel look at this what the
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heck is that Spielberg driving that
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thing got the Iowa flag
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here our liberties our
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rights C could read it our liberties our
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rights we
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prize also the US
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flag and
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another baseball field on top of the
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hill Iowa's oldest restaurant and bar is
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located here in ball
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town oh there's also Gardens over here
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too what is it a beard Gordon a beer
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Gordon a beard Gordon
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boss these it called fir trackers I
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can't remember what they're called but I
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feel like they were called do you ever
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use the app that you can tell what the
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camera what these are yeah but then I
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use them on leaves and it tells me
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50 choices and I never get them right
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that big ant right there on
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there big old I touch this one my 4 on
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the over here at the feed store a big
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gain Feed Store check out this
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Pittsburgh Paint
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side classic old
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school says it's the
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oldest so is this me you're not supposed
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to park here are these parking spots
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does X Mark the Spot
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so you got the parking spots but then
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you have a big X I know you're not
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supposed to park there but should you
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can you park here where these xes
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are I would be very confused to park
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there there's a car parked over
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know look like there might be a maybe a
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storm Rolling In Too the wind picking up
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there's an
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old piece of farm equipment here and
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then over here look like you have some
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beer barrels on the back of this Aro
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beer wagon not speed
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wagon but it's the Ario beer
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wagon horses over here here hello
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hores
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hello how's it
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going how you
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doing okay see
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you all right we're in the next town
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over evidently Brett Bach even though
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it's a totally different town was very
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prominent around here we were thinking
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maybe they'd have coffee down there they
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do have a Sinclair Gas Pump but it looks
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like that's just a
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garage this is way Vista oh this is
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North waya
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Vista North buav Vista name of the town
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ran just told me look it
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up again these little tiny communities
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with massive
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churches it appears to be the the grot
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Vista yeah that's
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cool it's up the side of the hillside
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into the like in the cave almost
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Mississippi
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Rivertown not in Mississippi but still a
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Rivertown just on the Mississippi River
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it's technically in
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Iowa Someplace
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Else Bar and Grill old Coca-Cola
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sign next to this ice machine we got
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this old convenient store here with a
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retro Pepsi sign got a Coca-Cola back
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there then we got this retro Pepsi this
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Pepsi actually looks a little older than
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the Coca-Cola
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one can't tell what that says
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drinks something something food and
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mixed drinks historic River town of
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Gutenberg I will not be making any
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Police Academy references or I will not
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be talking about cocoon or the actor
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that played in
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them but I might mention short circuit
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you know you're in this area of the
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country when the convenience stores are
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predominantly Casey going to get a
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piping hot caffeinated beverage in here
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we went through a few towns there's no
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coffee that we could find so going do
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Casey have these Illinois Indiana I IA
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probably Wisconsin probably other places
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too but they don't have these in Florida
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they have them up
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here grinding it up bright and
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balanced aromatic full body coffee with
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a hint of caramel or
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caramel Casey's medium
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all right here we go now I asked a city
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worker who has driving a city of
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Gutenberg truck and he said it's
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pronounced Guttenberg
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but I'm going to pretend like I didn't
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hear
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him I mean I think everyone else has the
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same thought I do I'm just thinking of
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Steve
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Gutenberg who probably was not from here
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man I was just in East Moline
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Illinois recently that's where John
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Deere is from
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hello how do you pronounce this town's
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name Gutenberg Guttenberg all right
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thank
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you Guttenberg
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Lane
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trans a car dealership a lot of classic
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cars
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all these are still for sale this says
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still for
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sale a truck a van over there is
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cool Dodge custom Royale I like that
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van oo look at this thing
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here oh here's the new newspaper the
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Press
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this is like the main drag through here
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through town got a pizza place over
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there and you got a little Chimes right
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here on the Mississippi
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River out there
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oh there sure is there a pelican white
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American
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pelic there's the Pelican floating out
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there in the Mississippi
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River just right here along the the
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river bed or a river
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bend well it's not really bending it's
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just right here along the
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river it's good coffee good Casey's
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Coffee beautiful sounds on the
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River this is
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interesting battery down there juicing
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this thing up whatever this
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is battery
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powered here at
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Guttenberg right here on the
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crossroads the crosswalk I should say
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it's like a bird upside down but there's
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the bird's
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beak and the bird's body there the
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crosswalk this buildings of the national
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rry of historic places built in
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1858 right here along the
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massive so down here down the
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hillside is hams well they sell hams
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beers little cafe down here known as The
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Fish
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Shack look at this a little Fish Shack
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down on the down in the
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water old Coca-Cola signes a pork sign
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the Ham's beer sign Cafe
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sign that gun wind thing oh yeah the
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wind
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uh directional what do they call
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that or Southeast W Compass no not a
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compass wind wind uh wind we had one on
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the F it's called
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something a Weather Vein weather m is it
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weather M or Weather Vein what I know
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never know how to say
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that cool sign of signs over here do not
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enter $100 fine for displacing rock
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speed limit signs one lane bridge
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traffic in this alley all shifted over
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here right here
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on downtown is right along the river and
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there's even a little underground bunker
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there like a tornado shelter
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there I was wondering where the damn
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baring Grill was it's right here
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old really glad stopped off here just
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found this random well I'm just kind of
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driving around randomly aimlessly around
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with no real Rhyme or Reason stumbled on
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guttenburg a river town
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right along the Old
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Miss very cute cheers nice mural over
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there woo wind just picked
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up wind just picked up big
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time all right this is a bicycle of some
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sort someone's fishing on
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it this is also interesting the front of
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this building over here
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I can't tell exactly what this
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is is it a
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mouth is it
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the lyrics here to Wonderful World
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inside of
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this love that song you know what
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version of that song I really like is a
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joey raone version I can never not
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listen to that and not be happy Joey
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Ron's version of what a wonderful world
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is so Dad good that's a great sign
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it sounds like something the dad from
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The Brady Bunch would
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say little hardware store right
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here very unique municipal building up
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here on the end
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out look at this very interesting
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architecture on this building
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here my sister just informed me that
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these are in fact
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petunias so I don't have to ask are
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those
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petunias Guttenberg
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zip code
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52052 there's the post
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office I continued on way just driving
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down the open road back roads if you
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will over here is a real beehive of
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activity these are boxes full of bees
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fact I can see them from here I don't
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want to get too close I want to have a
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Thomas J
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moment but I could see a lot of bees
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down
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there thousands of bees they're all
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swarming
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around this as close as we should
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probably
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there might not show up on camera too
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well but they're swarming around all
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those boxes pallets
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of bees
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guess well actually I don't know what's
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in those boxes to attract the base
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but definitely don't want to get any
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closer to this I'm way zoomed
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in all entering Garber
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now again I don't know how a lot of the
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names are pronounced but the way it's
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spelled I would assume it is
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Garber this is Main Street turning onto
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Main
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Street here in Garber
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church that's the mailman putting the
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mailbox on but take a look over here at
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this the old heart I got to pull over
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here there stuff still in
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there old hardware store still had stuff
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on the shelves old cigarette sign here
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for Cool
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cigarettes look at that
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okay well nothing really on this some
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stuff on the shelves but it's not like
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an active hardware store that closed
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it's just kind of some supplies and
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things this is really cool no pun nendo
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cuz it's k ko
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L at that Relic pulling that too hard to
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get new tenis
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shot a weird Little Rock over here
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it's like something you'd see like a
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placard on or
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something maybe like right on the front
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but there's nothing on
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there oh man this brings back
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memories there's one of these in eala
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Oklahoma where my sister and I lived and
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we used to go to the park every day we
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were do and do
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it oh man Tak back old
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memory you okay yeah you're supposed to
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run it gra don't do
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it
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man TR to throw my arm out that brought
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back a lot of old memories of you
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followa
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Oklahoma and that marry go around at
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that Park is still there last time I
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went through there old service station
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there here's the anchor in the classic
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Pepsi sign up
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top it's a siren going off
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it's not noon so it's not the noon siren
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there's no bad weather so I don't think
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there's a tornado coming through maybe
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they're just testing
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it check out this it's a bathtub on
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Wheels a motorcycle well it's a yeah
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it's a motorcycle has a bathtub
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connected to it and
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also what is it TV it's got TV on it oh
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is a TV on there are you an open store
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inside okay come inside a
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second look at this like a bull head
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made out of Quaker Quaker Steak
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cans look at this looks like a train but
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it's really an automobile
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are what a cool place there goes another
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mailman it's a regular car vehicle with
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a little light on the top that's how you
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know it's a mail person all right over
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into kohlberg now established
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1848 the gateway to the beautiful Hill
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Country that's what that says 412
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people just a good size water tower for
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412 people right there the Hub
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drinks see a lot of good old soda pump
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sign Cocola and
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Pepsi okay there's a ice machine repair
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place right here and in front of this
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which at first I thought it was made
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maybe possibly a hair cutting place of
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some sort but I can't confirm that now
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it's just empty building number 208 but
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look at this it's the Forest Gump bench
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is right
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here it's the freaking Forest Gump
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bench well it's a gun it's a bench that
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has Forest Gump ingrained in it next to
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this which is
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a little TV
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antenna you know I had to sit on once I
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sat it and I realized it's not really
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very structurally sound it's uh think
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it's not I don't know if it can hold my
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body weight
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but life is like a box of chocolates
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these look like comfortable
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shoes kind of
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are I just felt like running
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I just felt like
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running that's the freaking Forest Gump
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bench look at this thing this thing is
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really
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rickety probably shouldn't have sat on
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there with my body weight
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but that is dang
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cool we're just finding all kind of
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stuff through here more classic trucks
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and
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cars old Chevy here
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I don't know what this is a Ford or a
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Chevy it's like a Dodge it's a
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Dodge we saw a sign from the road this
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says a guinea Farm but I saw something
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that said they had llamas down this road
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maybe a little farther down the
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road there's not a paved Road it's a
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Rock
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Road cows right there
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Cales up top there I don't see any
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llamas they are c those are llamas they
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are llamas hello Cal I know you're cute
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too I look at the
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llamas they got the cow separated from
31:46
the llamas here's a few
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more staring at us
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well that one's not staring at us that
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was looking the other way just doesn't
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care all these other ones though we
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having a steering contest look at those
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like like it's like nightmare
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fuel that almost looks like the uh the
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scene from The Shining when Shel deval's
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going up the stairs and like caretakers
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like on the bed with
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the you know what I'm talking about the
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world is that what it looks like the
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bear suit when he's like
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down there in the
32:45
middle it's like does not want a not
32:48
stare SP
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all right you win this contest llama
33:03
we're over into Luxembourg now I believe
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it's called Luxembourg is the Fidelity
33:07
Bank and
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Trust all right into Holy Cross now
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1845 see the water tower off in the
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distance heading into Holy Cross
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look at
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that a massive church
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building Barber Shop got Newman's
33:52
barbing grill with a newer Pepsi sign
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oh interesting here is n nin's North no
34:05
o n a n North also there's a tornado
34:09
siren right
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there but then there's also new Man's
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Bar and Grill so Newman and
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nans hey ma'am meet me over at Newman
34:22
where which one which one
34:25
newans where which the bar and grill or
34:30
the bar and grill hey new
34:33
on you know what though you got to be a
34:52
Ember nins
35:05
Nan carried on continued on a little
35:05
farther made it over to
36:08
all right going to wrap it up for the
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day hang out with my sister her husband
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and have a good rest of the day a little
36:14
family time I'm
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departing Iowa tomorrow morning bright
36:19
and early and heading into another
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state a lot of things on the agenda the
36:25
rest of this road trip but departing
36:28
Iowa in the morning got a long drive for
36:33
my destination tomorrow this's a little
36:35
ghost side try to figure out what this
36:36
says here says Carl
36:39
something yeah either way that's going
36:42
to do it for today thanks for watching
36:43
I'll see you in the next video the
36:47
Vlog is over