Corn!

It was an exciting day today. My first time in Iowa so it's worth "writing home about". Highlights along the road... Site of the first US train robbery... Corn... Grinnell College (we did a rah rah for you Rosemary)... Corn... Cedar County, home of Quakers who were big in the Abolitionist Underground RR and where (listen up KK) John Brown trained his followers... Corn... The World's Largest Truckstop... And corn (or did I already mention that?)

Next came Illinois. Highlights... Birthplace of Ronald Reagan... Corn... Electrolux... Corn... Chicago... Traffic... Corn...

Indiana... Corn... (The amount of state we needed to cross did get smaller after all.)

Finally Ohio! What other birthday girl could (or would want to) celebrate in 4 states. She had a very memorable birthday dinner... And, in case you're wondering, she's blowing out a grape on the dish of humus to make a wish. (Wishes always come true this way.) Those grapes are Moon Drops and are DE-licious! (Thank you Yvonne & Garry to turning us on to them!)

Trivia from yesterday... The youngest Pony Express rider was 11.

For today... What is the only state where two of its borders are formed by navigable rivers?

And a second question since we're almost home. The photo below was taken in what state? Iowa? Illinois? Indiana? Happy Birthday Judy!

Flat...

We were so sad to leave Sarah, Kenny & Alex but leave we must. To send us properly on our way, they made us a wonderful breakfast with eggs from their own chickens, Kenny's home cured & smoked bacon, homemade waffles. It's a wonder we were able to waddle off as planned! PS - Alex is soon going to outgrow us all.

Then it was on to flat. And more flat. Nebraska by mid morning to find more flat while we passed by towns such as Brush. Finally a break in the exciting countryside to visit downtown Gothenburg and the Pony Express Station/Museum. Quite nice. Almost everyone has heard of the Pony Express (you have, haven't you?) even though it only operated 19 months in 1860-1861. Each rider rode 75-100 miles switching horses every 10 miles or so. The trivia question, of course, deals with the Pony Express. What was the age of the youngest rider hired?

The woman at the museum recommended we have lunch at their local steak house. We couldn't miss it as it was a metal building with a large cow. Parking proved not to be a problem. Thought you'd like to see a taste of Nebraska in the background.

Flat, corn, flat.... Finally Iowa!!! We're barely into the state but so far it's a bit more rolly with a few more trees.

The answer from yesterday... Boulder

Amazing!

Sarah works for Sister Carmen's in Lafayette and is in charge of the food bank among a great many other things. They, mostly volunteers, distribute an amazing 150,000 pounds of food to families in need each month. This is Sarah & Kenny & their son Alex in front of the garden she instituted. Did you ever see such amazing sunflowers?!

And this is Alex in the playroom where he volunteers to help watch younger children while their parents are using services available at Sister Carmen's.

For years I've been wanting to see the pepper roasters they have at the farmers markets here in the fall. This time my timing was just right. The peppers were delicious! We got the mild although I suspect not many of you would have enjoyed anything hotter. The guys were, of course, trying to figure out how they could make a home model.

Answer from yesterday... $20,000

Today... In what city is the Atomic Clock housed which sets many of our timepieces?

Goodbye Utah, Hello Colorado

Need I say more?

John G. thought he could secure rooms for us here right across the street from Colorado's welcome center. Although I did wonder if the trees were coming out of the "rooms" or behind them, we did opt to push on.

A much better decision too! Don't Sarah & Kenny look great? (Which, of course, they are!) The cake, gluten-free, was great too. (For those who know them, I'll make sure Alex gets a cameo tomorrow.)

Trivia from yesterday... Sundance Film Festival 

Today's trivia... We had lunch in Meeker, Colorado today. It was a trip down memory lane as John & I once spent the night there while Tillie the '76 VW was undergoing one of her daily repairs. Last weekend World Championship Sheep Dog Trials were held there. How much was the grand prize worth? Hint... It was considerably more than the VW repair.

Terrifying!

Making our way to Twin Falls, Idaho, we stopped at their very nice visitors center and saw tee shirts with people bungi jumping off a bridge. A bit later we were driving over that same bridge when John G. saw someone jump off just as we passed. If his hair wasn't already white, it would be now. Pulling in just after the bridge we were in time to see three others jump. They were parasailing. Those little tiny spotches of color are where they landed a few seconds later, hopefully in one piece.

Tonight we're in Park City, Utah, where many of the competitions for 2002 Winter Olympics were held. John G. must have had some sort of epiphany after dinner because the next thing we know, he's leading us into the Mormon ancestry store and to have his mother's roots checked out. They found her too. Even the census where John's father's occupation in NYC is listed as "tracer" and his brother (that's you Frank) is 1 year old.

Yesterday's trivia... Basically, a penny can mean anything you want it to.

Today... Besides skiing, what else is Park City famous for?

A penny for...

Today we took the very scenic route from Boise through the Sawtooth Mountains and the Stanley Basin to Sun Valley. In answer to your question if there's snow in the mountains (you did have that question didn't you?), John K. is demonstrating below. The photo was taken at the Bethine & Frank Church Overlook with the Sawtooths and the Basin in the background. You can just see the other John over John K's shoulder. Guess where that snowball went? Some guys just never grow up!

On to Ketchum and the grave of Ernest Hemingway. John G. went to his funeral and wanted to leave a penny on his grave. It's the large flat stone under the trees on the right. Actually that's not true. It looks like the flat stone in the photo but is just to the right out of sight next to it and is covered in pennies. The one in the photo is for Mary Hemingway. I just missed the one for Ernest in my excitement to capture the other "visitors" in the left of the photo. I'm now convinced the real reason folks leave pennies is because the other "visitors" would just eat the flowers.

Trivia from yesterday... Senator Frank Church

Today... Assuming I'm wrong about the reason for leaving pennies, then why do folks leave pennies on Hemingway's grave? a) for luck; b) a sign of respect; c) to ask a favor of Hemingway; d) they're too cheap to leave a quarter; e) someone told them to

Boise...

A day of roaming the city... First was a pharmacy for Judy for antibiotics and cold pacts for an infected abrasion she got while mushrooming in Washington. She also tried out the emergency room around the corner from our B&B last night and gave it a thumbs up. Not a task she particularly wanted to do, but sometimes necessity calls. Then it was on for a bit of "a trip down memory lane". The depot where John & Frank arrived as children with their parents to Boise. This is the view they had from the depot... without these 3 "old" guys of course... and without those tall buildings... in fact without most of those buildings... and it was night... Oh well. It still has a view. Just no passenger train service these days.

And since I included in an earlier post a picture of Bing Crosby's childhood home, I thought it only fitting to include John G's childhood home.

Lunch at Moon's (hamburger, fries, milkshake) like in John's youth, except I doubt they had mocha-java milkshakes back then. (KK-Steve Brown says to say Hey). A stroll to the absolutely beautiful capital and tonight to a production of The Fantastics. Tomorrow we're on the road again.

Trivia from yesterday... Roslyn, WA

Trivia for today... John & Judy are sleeping in the study and John & I are sleeping in the bedroom of what famous Idaho Senator's home?