Tour 59 - Day 4 - Sioux City to Iowa City

This morning, we met at First United Methodist and hit the road. We drove through miles and miles of corn fields to our first destination, the Villisca Ax Murder House! YouTubers and ghost hunters have made this house famous. Today was the 113th anniversary of the murders so we couldn't pass up this spooky attraction!

Rachel and Sophi have relatives in Iowa and have had the delicacy known as Casey's Pizza. Several host homes talked about this pizza too, and we found out it is the best selling pizza in Iowa. What's unique about this is Casey's is a gas station, similar to Maverik in Utah, but with great pizza! Rachel couldn't leave Iowa without a taco pizza... so today, we made that happen. 

The chaperones tried some brisket pizza and it was pretty good!

After driving through more miles of corn, we had to make a pit stop which we turned into a photo opportunity and some fun:

We made our way to St. Andrew:

They treated us to a lasagna dinner as well as veggie burgers and gf buns. There was also a salad bar and dessert. This was a much newer church than we played in last night, less than 10 years old. It is fun to play in so many different types of churches within just a few days:

Younger ringers enjoyed watching while the seniors played their senior piece:

We love having visitors on tour! Here is Kelly and a co-worker who just retired to Iowa:

Rachel, Sophi and the Arlens:

Will's grandma and friend, Dave, drove from Missouri to see the choir. There's a rumor she will be sending us back on the road with cookies! 

There are some fires bringing smoke to the area. The only upside to that is beautiful pictures of the Strawberry Moon, courtesy Terry:

It's another short night with a bus trip tomorrow to the highly anticipated House On The Rock in Wisconsin!

Tour 59 - Day 3 - Lincoln to Sioux City, Iowa

 Today was a pretty short drive day so we took advantage of that and had a little fun. We drove to Omaha on the way to Sioux City to play a little Top Golf! We broke everyone into 5 random groups. Some were experts and some had never swung a club - but fun was had by all.  

After lunch we had a couple of hours on the bus to rest. We had a little bit of extra time so we swung by the Blue Bunny ice cream museum and shop in Le Mars, IA.

In Sioux City, we played at First United Methodist Church. It was a beautiful church with stained glass windows and a lot of history. 

The ringers were on fire tonight and receive another standing ovation!

The church has several bell choirs and has a program that offers low income children music lessons.  A former student of the music director works in television news so he arranged for an interview with CP and Molly. They had a nice package on the choir, with just a few mixed up facts...   :)

6/9/25 Monday
KTIV-NBC 10pm News
Sioux City, IA

"The Wesley Bell Ringers Stop In Sioux City During Their Summer Tour"

https://www.ktiv.com/2025/06/10/wesley-bell-ringers-stop-sioux-city-during-their-summer-tour/

It was a lovely evening at a wonderful church. Thanks First United Methodist!

Tour 59 - Day 2 - Cheyenne, Wyoming to Lincoln, Nebraska

 We had another long day on the road to Lincoln. The morning was spent getting quality naps in: 

We made a stop for lunch at a grocery store so everyone was able to get something they liked. Daphne chose a loaf of garlic bread:

Everyone enjoyed the parking lot picnic: 

After lunch we made it to Lincoln, home to St. David's Episcopal .

After setup there is time to do homework and play a little bit:

Our hosts treated us to a delicious pizza dinner and then it was off to the concert:

We were lucky to have former CUMC member Alice Nkatha in the audience who remembers CP as a little boy:

After the concert Father David had the group pose for a picture before heading to host homes:

We had some shenanigans at one home. Without any mountains to guide us we have no idea where North is:

This is the last of our really long travel days for a bit. Tomorrow is a pretty short drive to Sioux City. See you there!

Tour 59 - Day 1 - Salt Lake City to Cheyenne, Wyoming

 

The Wesley Bell Ringers

59th Summer Tour

Salt Lake City to Cheyenne, Wyoming

AND WE’RE OFF! Tour 2025 started with loading the bus at CUMC at 7am in the morning. 

We had a couple of stowaways who wanted to join Flat Ed on the trip. 

After a wonderful send off by our supporters we were on the road:

We stopped for a break at the Little America where we had some $.75 ice cream before continuing to Cheyenne and Highlands Presbyterian. The ice cream went fast we have no photographic evidence.  We got back on the road and made it to Cheyenne, Wyoming and Highland Presbyterian. 

We set up and practiced before a fantastic baked potato dinner with chili, broccoli soup, and fabulous desserts. 

We were thrilled to see such a large audience for our first concert on the road. The ringers played well and we had our first standing ovation of the tour. The audience had lots of questions for the ringers after the concert:

We love visits from family and friends and we put on an excellent show for them. The Regnier clan had a tailgating party in the parking lot of the church while waiting for concert to begin.

Tyler, Madi's cousin and a former ringer came to see us:

    

A former ski instructor who taught with Marilyn McGill came to the concert to visit with Marilyn's grandchildren, ringers Marysia and Jacob:

After the concert the choir went home with church members. One member took 4 boys and another took 7 girls! They all made it back to church on time in the morning by 6:45 for a breakfast of casseroles, biscuits, muffins, and fruit. 

Highland Presbyterian really kicked off our first day of tour right. Thank you! Now off to Lincoln, Nebraska for day 2.

Announcing 2025 Summer Tour Dates