Wednesday on the Road

First, the Italian Restaurant is called Radish.

Second, for those who asked, I did not get a picture of Gunner... Shucks!

When I tried to get into the internet last night so that I could write this blog, I couldn't connect. I thought that I might be in a pocket with no reception. What I found out when I called Verizon this morning is that I'd never activated my modem... go figure? Mike and Chris have wireless... luckily, they had given me permission to sign in! SO, it is now Thursday night and I'm behind.

Back to Wednesday, We were up and moving by 7. Mike and Chris were both on their way out, so we bid our goodbyes, hugs and kisses, and helped ourselves to COFFEE and breakfast of cereal, fruit and toast. Earla put Gunner in his kennel, we loaded the car, made sure the house was locked and we were on our way by 8:30. The picture of Earla is in front of the house. We headed out of the community and turned onto the main road at which point I said, we need to go east, we're going west into the sun. Earla said, quite calmly, "East is into the sun." She may have been a little nervous about my navigating at that point. We only had one turn around before we reached hwy 69, which we knew we wanted to take north. Once on 69, we enjoyed the fields, the trees, the wind machines, and the beautiful day while we looked for clotheslines with clothes hanging on them --- a goal of Earla's. We took one wrong turn in Ames, but with a little map reading, we found our way back to highway 69. About midmorning, we started looking for a diner, a midwest diner for coffee. We went through a number of little towns with no diners. Finally, we reached Belmond at about 11:30 and did some serious searching. We found The Country Bar and Grill. It appeared to be closed. We couldn't see through the windows. We went to the Hallmark store next door and asked about a diner and she sent us back to the Country Bar and Grill. It was a midwest bar and grill and apparently the place to gather for lunch. Earla had a BLT and I ordered a pork tenderloin sandwich ... I was in Iowa after all. Food was good. Service was interesting. The bill was hand written on a 3 x 5 piece of white paper. It was an experience. We left the bar and grill and were on our way... about 45 minutes to Forest City where we wanted to walk through Heritage Park. We drove by the Heritage Park. It was closed, so we continued our journey up highway 69, through Leland, a town of about 250 people where I went to elementary school. I pointed out Our Savior's Lutheran Church which was "the town church" in our parrish. We continued two miles north, two miles west and half mile south to the house where I grew up (next three pictures). The house was built by my grandfather and uncles in 1920. A basement was added in the early 50s and my dad enclosed the front porch and added the garage in the 60s. We drove into the driveway and were greeted by the present owner who just happens to have gone to high school with me. He allowed us to wander and chat. He and his wife have done some beautiful landscaping, converted the chicken house into a recreation area, put in a pond and have updated the house some including a picture window in the living room overlooking the side gardens. The best part is that the house is basically unchanged, the place is being very well taken care of, and the current owners are very happy there. It does my heart good. We left the farm, turned south and drove 1 1/2 mile south to West Prairie Lutheran Church where I was baptised, confirmed, and worshipped until I moved away from home. The church is neither on a hill, nor is it leaning... consider the photographer! The church was open so we could go in and look around. Little has changed except for hand rails to the alter and a new fellowship hall on the back. We, also, visited my parents, grandparents and greatgrandparents, all of whom are buried in the church cemetery. When we left the church, we drove back by the farm, back to highway 69 and north through Lake Mills, then Northwood, St Ansgar and picked up Hwy 218 into Minnesota. Earla drove right to Owatonna where Gert and Larry Een (Erin's grandparents) live. We arrived about 4:00 and, again, we were greeted with warmth and hugs. I had not met Gert, and I feel so very welcome here. We chatted and got acquainted. We turned on the Twins/Yankees game. Gert fixed us a scrumptious dinner. We had a pasta/chicken/pine nuts dish, salad, veggies, bread, jello and pumpkin bars. YuMO! We gathered in the downstairs to watch the rest of the game, which was a bust. But the conversation was good. Earla was knitting and I was crocheting and Misty, the cat, was exploring. We chatted and planned for a while, but crawled into bed fairly early anticipating a full day on Thursday.