The kids should remember this, I think.
After we left Benton Harbor, we struck out across Iowa, stopping overnight outside Iowa City with author friend Sarah Prineas and her family. Their wonderful hospitality included roasting marshmallows over a fire, helping to bring in goats, and canoeing on a pond. This was followed by a trip to Weeping Water, Nebraska, which I’m sure most of you haven’t heard of. We rented a farm house off of AirBNB and stayed for three nights somewhere at least two miles from a paved road, and with soybeans growing as far as the eye could see.
There was horseback riding in the Platte River State Park, a picnic on the river, and a rendition of the Wizard of Oz at a very decent community playhouse near Manley. Vivian may well have acquired a dream of becoming a farm girl. Her grandma Rosemarie is thinking about having her walk a half row of beans at Big Poppa Howard’s place in Vermillion, South Dakota, to see if the desire sticks. I avoided the horseback riding due to allergies, but I have to admit that the chance to hear country noise (you can’t really call it silence) was good for the soul.
We also met up with grandpa Wendell and grandma Judy for a day in Omaha, checking out the Zoo, eating at a Mexican restaurant, and attending an Omaha Storm Chaser’s game, which was greatly enjoyed, even if the Storm Chasers lived up to their name and brought the rain with them. This triple-A ball club has a rallying cry of “stir up the storm!” and, I swear, every time they did that, it would start to rain. We all figured the audience was stirring up the wrong storm.
Two more nights to go in Vermillion, and then we start back, stopping for two nights in Chicago before heading home. All in all, a successful journey, and it’s not over yet.
Click here for more photos of our visit to Omaha, and click here for pictures of our trip to Platte River State Park.
