They have chatted with a sheep shearer from Australia, checked-in a retired circus performer from Sweden and spoke with diamond mine workers from across seas. And they have a story to tell about each one of them.
    One of the most interesting guests that stayed in the Cresco Motel during Chuck and Kathy Skjeveland’s 19-and-a-half year-ownership was a five-time national Norwegian champion accordion player.
    Kathy, remembering the guest fondly, tells the story of how the musician asked her to join him for a jam session on the sidewalk of the motel. A little nervous, she retrieved her own accordion and sat down to play a few tunes with the Norwegian performer.
    The couple, who sold the motel and retired last week, has had the opportunity to meet people from all over the world during the past two decades at the hotel. Guests like those from a Dutch motorcycle company and an animal handler who let Kathy Skjeveland hold a sleeping baby kangaroo in the lobby of her and her husband’s motel, will not soon be forgotten.
    The Skjevelands said the thing they’ll miss most about the motel is the people they met every day.
    But the couple is looking forward to spending more time together, with their grandchildren and traveling.
    While they owned the hotel, it was sometimes hard to get away together.
    “They talk about cabin fever. You can definitely get it here,” Chuck Skjeveland said.
    Kathy Skjeveland, originally from northern Wisconsin, and Chuck Skjeveland, originally from Albert Lea, Minn., plan to stay in Cresco for the time being.
    The Skjevelands handed over the keys of the Cresco Motel to new owner Zahid Ali last Friday. Ali, originally from Pakistan, moved to Cresco from Sacramento, Calif., where he was a motel manager for the past eight or nine years.
    “One day I dreamed of having my own business,” Ali said.
    He began looking for motels for sale. An online advertisement for the Cresco Motel caught his eye last fall, and he came to visit the motel last September.
    Ali liked what he saw and decided to purchase the hotel and make the move to northeast Iowa.
    He said he looks forward to living and working under one roof, and being able to spend more time with his family.
    Ali and his wife, Rubina Kousar, have two sons, Hanan, 9, who is attending Ridgeway Elementary School, and Burhan, 13, currently in Pakistan.