We had planned to stay at several breweries and go hops-hopping across Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa to get to our Amana destination. We made it to Amana, and even checked in a day early. We stayed at fewer breweries than I originally planned but still had a pleasant trip.

The first night we stayed at 10-56 Brewery and the second night I waiting to long to reserve, so we stayed at a farm. I told you about those stays the other day.

Both kinds of brews

We stayed two nights at Beans & Barley Brews Harvest Host in Ashkum Illinois. We originally planned one night but it was a good, quiet location and the Starlink worked well. So we decided to sit still and get some work don’t instead of driving. Our overall driving distance really could be managed in one day, so we did’t necessarily have to get any closer to Iowa.

Beans and Barley wasn’t exactly a brewery. That’s not to say it wan’t a terrific stop, though! Open from 6 am to 2 pm, we didn’t have to even make our own coffee in the mornings because we could just pop inside for a cuppa. When we arrived on the first afternoon we got settled then went inside for some lunch.

The restaurant owner is the daughter-in-law of the property owners. She told us that she had considered opening a brewery, but realized a restaurant would be better and they could bring in all sorts of great beer selections. They have a really large, really good selection so that’s a win! And the food is spot-on!

We made our food choices. I had some yummy sliders and Tony had the local version of Frito pie. They were both really good and sure hit the spot. Tony ordered a pumpkin beer. The restaurant owner brought him all the different choices she had available. He took a fun photo of his lunch with all the different options. Then he chose one, but smartly saved it for later rather than drink with his lunch. I was not that smart. I ordered tea, then apparently forgot I had, and I ordered a cider. So I had plenty of liquid to go with my lunch!

The food was delicious and gave us a good energy boost to work the afternoon away. In the evening. We got some coffee for our afternoon and sat down to our computers for the afternoon

The property owner, Cameron, invited all the Harvest Host guests inside for a beer and a chat. It was really delightful sitting with the owners and the other guests, just chatting about our RV experiences. Cameron said he has heard so many interesting stories! His wife Dee was with their grandkids the first night, and Cameron offered baked potatoes and lots of toppings. The second night Dee made a few flatbread pizzas. They make all of her own breads with flour from a local mill, and boy are they ever delicious!

Each night we were there we had tow other couples as neighbors. They did offer electrical hookups. We didn’t realize we took the primo electric hookup spot, even though we didn’t plan to plug in. The motorhomes that parked next to us each used an extension cord, and the third couple each night parked further away because they didn’t need electricity. Late in the afternoon on our second day we did go ahead and plug in, because the skies had been pretty cloudy the whole time and our Starlink was using a lot of our power.

We also went in for breakfast each morning. I had an omelette the first mornings and sausage sliders the second. Tony had a farmers stack. The first morning the base layer was a pancake. The second day he opted for potatoes. He loved both, but said the pancakes were a better option.

Hopped Out, Opt Out

When we left Beans and Barley, we were supposed to go to one more brewery. However, we found that we really wanted to just get somewhere where we could be stationary for a while so Tony called the Amana RV Park and got permission to arrive a day early. When we arrived they even were able to set us in the site we would spend the whole weekend. So that was convenient.

Amana, Illinois

So, we are at the Amana RV Park. We just finished up a weekend with a Forest River Owners Group - FROG - Oktoberfest rally. We went into town all three days for Oktoberfest, and drank beer, ate good food, and listened to lots of music. We found it funny that the FROGtoberfest rally didn’t have any group outings to Oktoberfest, nor have any Oktoberfest-themed gatherings at the campground. Still, we met a lot of fun people and had a great time at Oktoberfest in Amana.

We also wandered around town a bit. We have done that before at Tony wrote about in the past. We will be here another week and next weekend we will be joining RV Miles for their Homecoming event. So you’ll probably hear a bit more about Amana in the next week or so!