Runde Auto Chat

You've "seen" them everywhere (even flying in the skies above Runde Chevrolet in East Dubuque on some occasions); The Seal of the President of the United States, on the back of coins and about 20 of them are flashed on the Steven Colbert Shows introduction video on Comedy Central. The American Bald Eagle is the most advertised and recognized bird in America, and for good reason. Very-frequently you can see them in the media, semi-frequently you will see them in the air, rarely will you see one close and very-rarely would you ever have the chance to see one lay eggs and care for them... until now.

The Decorah Eagle Cam was set up by the Raptor Resource Project to give viewers a chance to bear witness to the birth and care of America's Bird in real-time. While watching the live feed bear in mind that the nest is 5-6 feet across and weighs approximately 1.5 tons in a tree about 80 feet in the air. It's hard to consider it when you watch the video but that is a HUGE nest! As of March 4th the mother eagle has laid three eggs. They are expected to hatch in early April. This is a great opportunity to see the Bald Eagles, live, for a long period of time and it's all happening in the Decorah Iowa! Just another great thing the Tri-States have given us access to.

Click on the Link below to view the Eagle Cam: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/decorah-eagles

Dave and Patricia Opperman are a hardworking couple from Wadena, IA - about 60 miles out from our Hazel Green location. They took some time out of their hectic and always busy farm life to pick up a vehicle and do a little interview with me.

How did you end up coming to Runde's?
I was on AutoTrader.com and found a nice '03 Silverado that looked good and decided to give it a try. I came to Runde's and talked with Al and ended up buying it.

On a scale of 1-10, what would you rate your experience here?
Oh a 10, I loved the place there were no problems.

How was Al Kloft, your salesman?
He's a very interesting guy, very good.

What do you like to do around the area?
I just farm, it's about all I do. I used to hunt but I don't much do that anymore.

No movies or anything?
Not much anymore. Most of the new movies I haven't seen and I don't recognize any of the celebrities that you see on magazines and T.V. Most of the celebrities that I knew are mostly all deceased or dying.

Patricia: Yea, we don't watch a lot of movies but we did take the grand-kids to one a week ago, Yogi Bear, I thought it was a cute movie.

How many kids do you have?
We have four kids... and how many grand-kids... 11 grandkids.

Who's the Chef in the house?
Patricia: I am.

Dave, what's your favorite dish she makes?
I like her hot beef sandwiches.

How long have you two been married?
A little over forty years now.

Do you remember the first date?
I remember meeting her and I was really nervous and scared... that was a long, long time ago.

Are all of your kids grown up and out of the house now?
Yep, all married and moved out.

If you were to win the lottery what would you do with the money?
First half of it would go to charity. Then I'd pay off the taxes and bills. And maybe do something I'd like to do with the rest.

If you would go any one spot in the world where would you go?
Dave - I'd go back to Germany - I was jet-lagged when we got there for the first day and we didn't get to stay very long the first time. We flew into Frankfurt and we were only 14 clicks from the old German border so we went there and I finally got to see how they would fence off the border. For the longest time I could never quite comprehend how they prevented anybody from getting through the border. But they have guard towers with snipers and lots of lights everywhere so It'd be pretty risky to try to cross.

Patricia - I'd go to Hawaii (Dave chimes in) but she won't fly so we can't go. I definitely wouldn't mind going there either, though.

Don't care for planes too much?
Patricia - I don't trust them. Dave - I'd like to go back and see a little more of Germany though, my ancestors came out of there in the 1680's - some of the first ones to come over here. They came out of Bremen which is north-west Germany and they migrated here where most of them ended up in the Cedar Rapids Area.

What invention would you say is the best?
I'd probably say all the medial inventions they came up with over the years are the most important.

That's all the questions I had for you guys. Thank you for sharing a bit of your lives with us today. Enjoy your new Silverado!

All families go through tough times, whether it be economic, emotional, physical… How these times effect individual family members varies, but when it comes to economic challenges, it can leave some children not being able to experience the holidays to the fullest. Think of the surroundings you grew up in. Were there so many toys every holiday that you couldn’t possibly play with them all within a day's time?

Or maybe your family could barely afford to get you one toy... Wouldn’t you want every child to experience the holidays the way they were meant to be celebrated -with a great meal, gifts, and a sense of happiness? That is the goal of the Salvation Army with their Toy Collection Campaign.

Salvation Army officers Major Tom and Major Kay Mason spearhead the Army’s Toy Collection Campaign. Major Tom came into Runde the other day to pick up the Runde Community Support Truck that will help them out immensely with the event. Major Kay was with him and was gracious enough to sit down for a few minutes with me to explain the toy collection campaign.

Hello Major Kay, can you give me an overview of what the Toy Collection Program is and what it all involves? We usually start the whole thing during the 3rd week of November. This is when families come in and sign-up to receive toys and/or food. The families must meet the guidelines set up by the Department of Human Services (DHS) for the program. After they've signed up, we provide anywhere from 525-530 families with food and/or toys for the holiday. We like to limit the number of families to around that range so that we can stay within our budget.

Is this a Salvation Army event or are other agencies involved? It’s the Salvation Army’s event and we are partnered with "Toys for Tots". We call them “The Calvary” because what we do is purchase toys with the budget we have and then we depend on people to drop off and donate the rest of the toys. Toys for Tots fills that need greatly. We also have an Angel tree at Borders Book Store for donations the public can help with.

Can you give me a little more detail about the program… how many toys do you expect to be giving out this year? Dubuque has supported us very well. This year we are able to give out anywhere from 1,800-2,000 toys. We give the parents or guardians of the child a letter telling them to come at a certain time when we are giving out the food and gifts. When they arrive, at their predetermined time, the parent or guardian picks out the toys for the children located in our basement. Each child gets 1-2 new big toys 1-2 medium toys and 1-2 small toys. Then we have little “give-aways” like coloring books, crayons, etc. and fill their bags with those things.

You said the gifts have to be new?
We believe that the children getting these gifts deserve to have new and unopened items. We don’t want to give them used goods when they should get something new for the holidays.

What else is the Salvation Army planning this Holiday?
We provide food vouchers for the families so they can go out and buy Christmas dinner. We also do “Adopt-a-Family” where certain families decide that they really don’t need anything new for Christmas, so they use the money they could have spent on themselves and make arrangements to provide for a less fortunate family.

How far does the program cover, geographically?
We are in the Tri-States, there are set boundaries - I think Epworth, Elkader, Dyersville, Farley, Freeport are all within our boundaries… sometimes we go into Illinois and Wisconsin but not very far because there are different Salvation Army’s there that have their own programs.

Where should people bring the toys if they want to donate?
They can bring the toys to the Salvation Army at 1099 Iowa Street. We are there Monday through Friday from 9a.m. to 4p.m. We only take new toys that are still in the original packaging. Right now we are kind of short on the 9-12 age range for toys. There are no requirements as far as the toys go ... just that they have to be new and unopened. There is no price-minimum or limit or anything like that.

How is the Runde Community Support Truck helping you this year?
Runde’s is letting us use the Community Support Truck which is very helpful. Since we are so small we don’t have a big truck. We have a van that can’t really handle everything we need to transport. The truck is really nice because we don’t have to make so many trips back and forth to pick up toys now. (And they loved the hydraulic lift!) Perry Mason recommended The Runde’s Community Support Truck because he had experience using it over the summer and said it was great. We really appreciated the help Runde’s gave us.

Where and what are you going to be transporting?
We are transporting toys from the "Toys for Tots" Warehouse over to our basement at 1099 Iowa Street where our Toy Shop is and where the families will come to pick up the toys.

It really is a great program that you guys are putting together and we are happy to help in any way we can.
Thank you. Runde’s has been a great help and we will always keep you in mind looking towards the future.

If you have any donations you would like to make to this event you can drop off your new toy to: The Salvation Army 1099 Iowa Street Dubuque, IA Let’s put some smiles on kids' faces this holiday season!

What happened 28 years ago today? Well the U.S. House of Representatives rejected President Reagan's request for $988 million to build and deploy the first five of 100 MX missiles. The Who sold out Mecca Arena in Milwaukee and Rock & Roll was still king. And Andy Strub, who works in our Parts Department, was born. (Some of you may recognize Andy as the scoreboard operator for the Dubuque Fighting Saints -- and you would be correct with that recognition.) Andy's phone was vibrating off the hook today with people who wanted to text him Happy B-Day messages, greetings, and salutations (not necessarily in that order).

When we asked him what he was going to do after work, he said he was going out to dinner with his family. We asked about presents and he said that being taken out to dinner was the present and he also added that he's not much into the traditional gift-wrapped type of present with ribbons & a bow accompanied by the annoying musical card. We asked him where he would go if he could pick any restaurant in the Tri-States and he said that he wouldn't mind trying The Crust that is now open in the Bricktown building in Dubuque.

We asked if he has any New Years Resolutions mapped out yet ... ya know he's a year older/wiser and he probably plans ahead more now. He said that he was going to try to get back to playing more hockey and buy a new truck. What happened 28 years ago today? Well the U.S. House of Representatives rejected President Reagan's request for $988 million to build and deploy the first five of 100 MX missiles. The Who sold out Mecca Arena in Milwaukee and Rock & Roll was still king. And Andy Strub, who works in our Parts Department, was born. (Some of you may recognize Andy as the scoreboard operator for the Dubuque Fighting Saints -- and you would be correct with that recognition.) Andy's phone was vibrating off the hook today with people who wanted to text him Happy B-Day messages, greetings, and salutations (not necessarily in that order).

When we asked him what he was going to do after work, he said he was going out to dinner with his family. We asked about presents and he said that being taken out to dinner was the present and he also added that he's not much into the traditional gift-wrapped type of present with ribbons & a bow accompanied by the annoying musical card. We asked him where he would go if he could pick any restaurant in the Tri-States and he said that he wouldn't mind trying The Crust that is now open in the Bricktown building in Dubuque.

We asked if he has any New Years Resolutions mapped out yet ... ya know he's a year older/wiser and he probably plans ahead more now. He said that he was going to try to get back to playing more hockey and buy a new truck. They say your 28th birthday only comes around once, so we hope you have a good one Andy and we'll finish with a special Birthday Wish from Andy's boss - Bryon Lehnen.
 They say your 28th birthday only comes around once, so we hope you have a good one Andy and we'll finish with a special Birthday Wish from Andy's boss - Bryon Lehnen.

The season of giving... what better way to give than to make sure kids stay warm and full this Holiday? To help out those in need we are are collecting food and clothing at our Chevy store that will be donated to three different charity's. If you would like to make a donation, stop by our Runde Chevrolet Showroom in East Dubuque, IL. We are filling the Giving Tree in our showroom with Children's hats, mittens, gloves, ear muffs or scarves, everything to stay warm this winter!

We're also collecting donations of non-perishable food items for Holiday food baskets. All donations will be delivered by December 18th with the tree donations going to St. Mark Community Center and the City of East Dubuque Giving Tree and the food donations to the Dubuque Food Pantry.

Directions: Come in with your food or clothing item before December 17th and simply put the item(s) on or below our tree set up in our showroom floor. Runde Chevrolet is located: 780 IL Rt. 35 N East Dubuque, IL 61025 (866) 735-5200 Thank you for your kindness and care.