The Peoria County Farm Bureau Marketing Committee has scheduled a two day bus trip on Thursday, January 28 and Friday, January 29 to tour the John Deere Engine Works and Tractor Assembly Plants in Waterloo, Iowa. We will also tour the Herbert Hoover Library and Museum in West Branch, Iowa and Duffy's Collectable Cars in Cedar Rapids.
The bus will leave the Farm Bureau building in Peoria at 7 a.m. on Thursday and the first stop will be at Grandma's Kitchen in Walcott, Iowa for breakfast. After breakfast, we will tour the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum in West Branch, Iowa. Hoover is the only U.S. President from Iowa and served in the White House as the 31st President from 1929 to 1933. He is known as the Great Humanitarian. The permanent galleries in the 44,500 square foot library-museum begin with Hoover's boyhood in Iowa and continue on to the Waldorf Towers in New York where he spent the final years of his life. A temporary exhibit at the library-museum during our stop will feature quilts and is titled "Patterns of the Past - A Century of American Quilting 1840 - 1940. On display will be a collection of exceptional quilts from Nancy Pfutzenreuter. The library-museum has had over 2.5 million visitors since its opening in 1962 . President Ronald Reagan redidicated the library-museum in 1992 after an $8 million facelift.
From West Branch, our group will travel to Cedar Rapids and stop by Duffy's Collectable Cars. Duffy's is one of the founding collector car dealers in the United States with over 25 years in the industry. They specialize in muscle cars, convertables, and investment grade collector cars from the 1930's to the 1980's. The dealership has 75 collectable cars for sale and old cars are constantly being refurbished at the store.
Our overnight stay will be at the Heartland Inn in Waterloo, Iowa. The hotel is smoke free and features an indoor pool, free wi-fi, evening snacks, and a hearty breakfast including waffles and biscuits & gravy. Adjacent to the hotel is the Highway 63 Diner that has great home-style meals at a reasonable price.
On Friday morning, we will tour the John Deere Engine Works Plant only a few blocks from our hotel. This plant manufactures the 8, 9.1, 12.5, and 13.5 liter engines that are installed in tractors, combines, and OEM's. After the the engine works tour we will stop for lunch at Bishops Cafeteria in the Crossroads Mall, before heading to the northwest side of Waterloo for a tour of the Tractor Assembly Plant. This location assemblies the 7000 series small and large tractors, and the wheeled and tracked tractors of the 8 R and 9000 series.
From the tractor assembly plant, our group will head to Davenport, Iowa for a hearty evening meal at the Machine Shed Restaurant before arriving back in Peoria at approximately 8:30 p.m. Friday evening.
Cost for the two day bus trip is $110 for Farm Bureau members and $140 for non members. This includes charter coach transportation, one night at the Heartland Inn in Waterloo (based on double occupancy), tour of the Herbert Hoover Museum-Library, tour of Duffy's Collectable Cars, tour of both John Deere plants in Waterloo, breakfast at the hotel Friday morning, lunch at the Bishop Cafeteria on Friday afternoon and dinner at the Machine Shed Restaurant in Davenport Friday evening. The trip will be filled on a first-come first served basis and the deadline for reservations is Friday, January 15. In case of inclement weather and the trip is cancelled, your check will be returned or you will be fully reimbursed. Make checks payable to the Peoria County Farm Bureau.