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Welcome
to the
Adventures of
Barry Fluth's
1953
Mercury Convertible
Barry and Barb Fluth with their '53 Mercury Convertible 
Barry Fluth's 1953 Mercury Convertible is a classic "street rod" and very much a work in progress.  He has owned it for over 10 years now, each year improving it and restoring it to better-than-new condition.  Since Barry (or "Bear" as friends call him) and his wife, Barb, spend their winters in Gilbert, Arizona, and their summers in Monticello, Minnesota, the '53 Merc is required to take a cross-country road trip twice each year.  This blog serves a record of these bi-annual journeys.  So come along as we chronicle our latest trip --  Spring 2011: The Windmill and Water Tower Tour.

Windmills in Iowa

Time and Date: ~5:00pm, 29 April 2011
Location: Red Oak, IA
Odometer: 6553

It would be a tradegy to pass Stanton, Iowa, and
not stop to visit the home of "Mrs Olson," the famous Folger's Coffee spokesperson.  (If you remember Mrs. Olson, then you are pretty darned old!)  In order to cash in on the fame of the celebrity from Stanton, the town decided to go with a coffee motif in their water towers.







In 1971, the town erected the first tower, shaped like a coffee pot and decorated in a style to celebrate the Scandinavian origins of most of the townsfolk.  The "pot" holds 40,000 gallons, on top of a 90 ft. tower.  The pot is 35 ft high, 20 ft wide, the spout is 10 ft high and 6 ft deep and the handle is 15 ft high -- if you really care.


In 2000, the town completed a 96 ft tall "Coffee Cup Water Tower" to complement its Coffee Pot Tower.  The "Cup" holds more than the "Pot" at 150,000 gallons.  It won the "2000 Tank of the Year" award from the Steel Plate Manufacturer's Association!  (I'll bet you didn't even know such an award existed.)













Just after crossing under Interstate 80 in western Iowa, we came into Elk Horn, home to many Danish settlers in the area.  Elk Horn is also home to the only working Danish windmill in the US.  Built in 1848, the windmill was bought and shipped here for the 1976 US Bicentennial.  Elk Horn couldn't afford to pay anyone to reassemble it, so the townspeople did it themselves.  Unfortunately, the task couldn't be completed until 3 months after the Bicentennial in March 1977.