The corn fields of Iowa

On our travels from Sioux Falls we were lucky enough to visit & tour the Louis Dreyfus Ethanol Plant at Grand Junction. This plant has been open only a few months & we were treated to a personal tour of their facility which was fascinating.

The past four days we have been in the areas surrounding Waterloo, Iowa meeting with farmers who are passionate about their industry. We enjoyed our day Friday with Clay Mitchell (a real technology buff) and then with Ben Riensche touring parts of his farm. Ben & his family welcomed us into their home for dinner and it was really nice to have a home cooked meal and spend some time with a family again.

Saturday we took a break from farming and drove to Hazelton to see the Amish villages, and then onto Amana which was an original German colony which now is designed for the tourists with lots of gift shops, cheese & wine tasting, a brewery and restaurants.

Sunday we had another fantastic day enjoying another meal with Ben & his family before visiting another farm operation at Hudson. Alan & his wife Sarah, along with his business partner Ted & wife Lynda hosted us for drinks around the camp fire & dinner with all food (excluding meat) coming fresh from Sarah's amazing vegetable garden - something to strive for at home!