The world famous Apron Museum in Iuka was one of the places Janis Bisordi, 70, wanted to see while making a tour of the South recently in her vintage 1976 VW Camper. She is a retired teacher living in New York, just north of New York City. On April 28th, she was on Highway 72 going through Barton, Alabama when a man in overalls flagged her to stop. He told her about his uncle working on a camper just like hers, even the same color. Janis didn’t have time that day for a visit, because the people at the Apron Museum were expecting her. She spent some time in Iuka and ate dinner at Lil Smokies, and loved her visit to the Apron Museum.
The next day, she went to Cherokee to visit Marion and Martha Couch, whom she met while in the area and bonded over a shared love of vintage VW vans. Hours were spent talking about Volkswagens and getting to know each other. 
When Janis left her new friends, her VW was running rough and misfiring. When she pulled into McFarland Campground in Florence, it was backfiring so badly that some campers called 911 about gunshots at the park!  The next day, Janis contacted the mechanic and it was going to be a week before he could get to the VW. She stayed in the camper at the park until he could get to it.
Since the motor was a fairly new rebuilt motor, they didn’t think it would be much to fix it. The Couches invited Janis to stay a few days with them until it was repaired. It turned out to be more than a little adjustment to the motor. It had to be removed and repaired. 
Janis had already seen some of the sights around northwest Alabama, like the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, Helen Keller home, and Frank Lloyd Wright home, but during her extended stay she got to see more in our area: the Tom Hendrix Wall, Coon Dog Cemetery, Rattlesnake Saloon, and more of Iuka. She also did some shopping in Corinth.
She also got to experience rain on a tin roof, bullfrogs on the pond, and two owls hollering at each other. She was awakened by a loud rooster every morning and got to feed treats to the goats. 
Janis needed to get back to New York, so on May 17th, she flew back home for a couple of weeks. The mechanic said he needed to drive the camper for a while anyway to make sure there were no more problems, and safe for her to get on the road with it again. She’ll be back in a few days to pick up her camper and the personal belongings she left here.