Childhood Memories

I have been back to Rock Valley several times since my childhood and every time I feel like my memories are brought back to life. My cousin Jo spent the morning driving me all over town while Jim went golfing with Roger and Dick.

We found an open door in the church of my young years and I was delighted to find so little had changed in the structure even though it now houses a different denomination. I could clearly see in my minds eye my Dad sitting in a front row with the other Elders in the church.

We saw the house I grew up in, many of the places I played and the river where I would wade and get leeches on my legs. Ugh. We spent quite a while at the cemetery and found my grandparents graves as well as those of most of my Uncles and Aunts.

And once again, we saw cousins. Some of them, like Erwin and Alma, I hadn't seen in years. But again, conversation was never an issue. Clearly my talking ability was genetically transfered to me through the Kempema clan!

Rock Valley is a very prosperous little town with housing starts all over the surrounding area. It is good to see economic growth.

We met with several cousins and their spouses for pizza tonight. It has been a busy, full day! Tomorrow we head into South Dakota and look back at the college years.

Cousins

If I have counted correctly I have 62 first cousins. When I remember my childhood I think of cousins. Often, especially on Sunday evenings, my parents would visit at one set of Uncle and Aunts or another and most of them lived on farms. Tonight we are sleeping in a home on one of those farms.

We left Fred and Glenda's house around noon and arrived in Rock Valley in the early afternoon. We visited with Harlyn for a while and then drove out in the country to Roger and Hilaine's farm where we were joined for dinner by Dick and Jo. How easily I fall into a feeling of familiarity with cousins. There is a connection that roots back to our parents. I am grateful that Jim feels so comfortable with my great extended family.

Tomorrow is exploration day in the old hometown of my childhood.

Lessons

Jim was a happy boy this morning. Fred is a Master Woodworker, and spent the morning teaching Jim how to do lathe work. Jim had so much fun learning this craft and I think if we had just left the guys hang out in the workshop for the duration of the day they would have been totally content. I suspect there will be additional wood working tools in our house when we return.

We spent the afternoon in the Lewis and Clark museum in Sioux City. It was interesting and I was made aware once again that I should have listened better when I was in school! Why is history so fascinating now when it was so boring when I was a kid?

Harlyn and Diane came for dinner and once again our conversation was punctuated with so much laughter. This visit has been pure joy.

Up on a rooftop

Even though I have lived in Michigan for decades, I still tend to impulsively answer "Iowa" when people ask me where I am from. This State of my birth and home of my youth draws me in to a place of contentment and a feeling of belonging every time I return.

My memories of my life here are happy ones, and Glenda is inextricably tied to most of them. She was nearly always willing to participate in the mischievousness that I generally authored. One of my favorite forbidden places to frequent was the roof of the shed at Glenda's house. The feeling of being on top of the world still fills me when I am in Iowa.

Even though we can go years without seeing each other, this first cousin and Soul Sister of mine and I fall right back into that comfortable groove of connectedness. Our husbands just kind of shake their heads as we chatter and laugh the hours away.

Jim and Fred started the day with a bike ride. We both need to get more exercise! We are eating far more calories than we are burning. But it isn't a visit to Le Mars without a visit to the Well's Blue Bunny Ice Cream shop, so we ended our day on a happy note!

Forward and Backward

We crossed the Missouri River headed west on Friday afternoon. This afternoon we crossed it again heading east. I think that is a good representation of this meandering journey.

We had a relaxing, delicious morning breakfast with Rick and Kristi and then drove just a short distance to spend a few hours with my cousin Marion and her husband Terry. We were so glad we could spend time with them. Marion is a beautiful woman inside and out, and we enjoyed getting to know Terry. I was disappointed when I realized I forgot to take a picture of them.

We arrived at Glenda and Fred's house in the late afternoon. Glenda is one of the people in my life that can make me laugh until I cry, and I did just that! It is after midnight and we only stopped talking because we knew we needed sleep so we can start up again tomorrow.

Jim finally filled up the car with gas this afternoon. He burned up 18.3 gallons of gas to travel 850 miles. Mr. Competitive is very happy!

I knew there would be bears!

So now we know more about Omaha NE. It is a beautiful city and Rick and Kristi have been wonderful hosts and guides.

We enjoyed seeing some of the many wonderful Pioneer sculptures through out the downtown area. In spite of a morning rain we enjoyed the tour. The city of Omaha is very clean and it seems prosperous. It was good to see so much construction going on in the housing areas.

Made a stop at Cabelas which made Jim very happy. Ok, so the bear wasn't alive, but it was good practice for when we are in the Northern Rockies!

Learning and Meeting

We stayed off the Interstate for most of our driving time today. It made the drive more interesting and definitely more relaxing.

As we drove through the countryside we were shocked at the evidence of drought in the corn fields. There were acres and acres of dried up corn fields across the entire state and we couldn't help but wonder how the farmers were coping with so much loss. It was disheartening to see.

We also learned that Holland, MI is not the only city with an imported windmill and the Dutch people are not the only people who used windmills. We discovered in Elkhorn, Iowa a charming windmill imported from Denmark, and realized that the American Danes celebrate it as much as the American Dutch celebrate theirs.

We went into the gift shop near the windmill and the first thing I noticed was that the person who signed the guest book just before me was named Marlys. Of course I immediately went on the prowl to find that mystery person! I never did find her, but we did meet a very friendly couple who were traveling from Denmark (although she was raised in the Netherlands). They are also on a two month trip and their itinerary is almost identical to ours. They are also tent camping along the way, but that is where the similarity ends. They had a tiny tent and a couple of backpacks. We have... well, let's just say that we have a lot more than that with us!

I also learned that Marlys is a Dutch name, but it is spelled Marlyes and is pronounced with a rolling "r" and a very sophisticated sounding second syllable. I must remember to tell all of my friends to use this new, much more beautiful pronunciation! I am having Jim practice this frequently. I am quite sure he is very excited to learn this new way of addressing me!

We are happy to have safely arrived at Rick & Kristie's tonight and look forward to a great day with them tomorrow.