Meet the Innkeepers

John and Karin purchased Die Heimat Country Inn B&B in February 2025. They are happy to be settling in Iowa after living in many other places.

Karin grew up in Arizona, graduated from NAU in Flagstaff, and raised her two sons in Prescott, AZ. She has been a nurse for 30 years, primarily in the Intensive Care Nursery, and has been doing travel nursing off and on for the last five years. She found the Amana Colonies after working a couple assignments at the University of Iowa NICU. Karin, with the help of John, is also an active real estate investor, focusing on creatively helping distressed sellers get a new start.

After falling in love with Amana, she meet Marc and June who were looking to retire. Her longtime dream of owning and running and inn started to fall into shape. Her German heritage and some time spent in Germany lends itself well to the culture of the colonies. She also enjoys cooking, traveling, biking, racquetball, and learning the piano.

John grew up in North Carolina and Texas and attended LeTourneau University in Longview Tx, where he studied Electrical Engineering. He then joined the Army and traveled the world, saw exotic new places, and met interesting people. When he got out he then spent the next 25 years doing IT/ Telecommunications work with CenturyLink/Lumen, the University of Colorado, and then back to the DOD (Department of Defense). He still is working with the DOD building out and supporting the Space Force mission set. He has spent years following his passion of cooking for others to connect people through a love of food. He is working on his first book "The Lost Love Language", a book that combines the love of cooking and bringing people together with recipes and stories behind them to create memories. John also is an avid golfer.


John and Karin enjoy welcoming guests from many places around the world to Die Heimat Country Inn, which in German means "the home place". John and Karin hope that each of their guests will feel a sense of home and belonging at Die Heimat Country Inn B&B during their visit.


John and Karin got married in 2023 in Borgia Castle, on the border of Tuscany and Umbria in Italy. They have a blended family of 5 children, 4 boys and 1 girl. They are now expecting their first grandchild this July.

We have been blessed through out the years and we pray we can now bless others through our gift of hospitality and service.

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