You are welcome to join me for a dream of a lifetime...driving cross country on two lane roads enjoying God's amazing creation and visiting family and friends along the way. Sit back and let me do the driving!
and A Grateful Heart for Cousins!
Today Pops would have been 102! Hard to believe he has been gone 13 years! Thankful for all the special memories!
This morning was the last day at the farm! Bitter sweet! So many great memories! It is hard to leave yet I know there are some great memories ahead!
Breakfast was Fleskpankaka and noon lunch buffet at the Pizza Ranch! Mmm good!
Head from Pokey to Waterloo a 2 1/2 hour drive to visit the afternoon with cousin Jim and Reatha (Jim’s dad Oliver was my dad’s oldest brother). Lovely time catching up on the afternoon, enjoyed a great supper of tender bbq ribs, coleslaw and Tom’s freezer corn! Currently their daughter and husband with their two children are living with them, he recently got a job at a church as worship lead and children / youth ministries and are looking for a home. Son Seth and family live across the street and they joined us for part of the evening. So special to connect and meet extended family.
Left about 7:30pm for a 1 1/2 hour drive to Dubuque to spend the night with cousin Miriam and Greg. (Miriam's dad Melvin is my dad’s youngest brother!) So much fun connecting with my cousins! They are the best! We chatted til 11 before calling it quits for the night, as my plan was to leave the house at 9am.
This morning included a nice visit with cousin Al and Lori and their daughter Andrea as the had a “downsizing sale” this weekend. Also picked raspberries for two hours = 6 pints, washed, dried, flash froze and then put up in freezer bags for Joni to enjoy during the winter months with her breakfast. This afternoon picked the last of the tomatoes, helped decommission the tomato and cabbage beds for the winter, picked more raspberries, very pleasant afternoon.
Today was another very special “Friday with Auntie Mavis” with a bonus as her eldest daughter Melody joined us for lunch and the afternoon! Was an extra special treat because Melody is up at The Resort lake in Minnesota from Memorial Day to Labor Day so I never get to see her when I come back each year for Threshermens. Nice dinner (noon in the Midwest) at a quaint restaurant in Lakeview, enjoyed today’s special of 1/2 hot beef sandwich. Mmm good! Then it was back to Auntie Mavis’ apartment to put up a Fall wall panel and use more of our “words”!
Quiet evening on the farm, with tasty left over ribs for supper and yes, work on more packing up for the next leg of my trip, also a little map reading for driving coming up. Will be sad to leave family in Iowa but excited for the adventure and connections that lie ahead.
It has been so much FUN helping “just a little” these last 6 weeks! I will miss it for sure! I didn’t really help with too much this week, just setting up, tearing down and cleaning up after. Produce has changed as the strong sellers now are tomatoes, onions, potatoes and squash. But also available broccoli, kohlrabi, garlic, tomatoes, cabbage, kale, celery, beets, carrots, peppers.
Market was a little slow today, maybe folks are up at the Clay County Fair? But still fun to connect.
Tonight’s supper: grilled steak, fresh from the garden baked potatoes, green onions, and freezer corn. Mmm good!
With 7-8 hours of driving yesterday I decided to stay near the farm today. Loaded the car topper and its contents as I begin to anticipate the next leg of my cross country journey which will begin Sunday. Spent time organizing and reorganizing bags, containers etc. visited the AC. Post office for the last time this trip , I hope. For 2 hours in the morning picked 6 pints of raspberries, then washed them, flash froze them and finally bagged them. Wiped down the door jams of all the gravel road dust, actually most of the interior of the car! Late afternoon went into town for a short visit with cousin Julie, then it was time for a special treat of a massage! That was much needed with all the driving the neck and upper back muscles are all tight.
Then relaxing supper and evening with cousin Julie and Gary. Oh how I wish I lived closer to my cousins!
It was a day of driving but not yet to a new destination, this was for getting my labs! Though I managed to talk my oncologist to postponing my 3 month scheduled CT scan I was not successful in delaying my C125 blood draw which needed to be at a Lab Corp. Yes they are nationwide but the closest were 3 1/2 hours away either Lincoln Nebraska or Des Moines Iowa. I chose Lincoln! Left the farm at 6:30am, arrived Lab Corp 10:15 and by 10:30 was finished! Began my return to the farm with a few stops including Dow City to spend the afternoon and supper with dear friends Carol and Paul Rehm. It was a time to catch up on their recent cruise to Alaska and enjoy fellowship together. And…a delicious meal of potatoes, zucchini, onions and sausage all wrapped in foil and put on the grill for 45 minutes. Delicious!
Loved the drive today which was often on back roads to see the progression of the crops, many near Dow City were being harvested, while up near Albert City they are just getting started.
Left Albert City in the dark and returned after dark! Days are definitely getting shorter!
