I have been home since September 22nd and I needed to tell about the last leg of my trip. I left Boulder early on the 20th and was taking a road due east straight into the rising sun of course. I pull into Boulder with the setting sun and pull out of it with the rising sun. Again I could only see about 4 inches below my visor for awhile. I was glad to get on the interstate to start heading a bit north east. I am now heading toward Nebraska and look in my rear view mirror and think “boy that sky looks dark”, I don’t remember hearing about impending rain. Then I realized it was the mountains fading off out of site. I stopped at a fairly decent rest area and I liked their Colorado flag, even though it is a bit tattered on the ends.

They had some pretty flowering bushes that needed some pictures taken of them. Everything is looked at as a possible carving of a stamp now. This butterfly bush would be difficult, but the leaves are really good.

Was not sure what kind of bush this was, but I thought the color was stunning.

This bush with the berries on it was a definite possibility for carving. So I finally make my way into Nebraska and I am looking forward to this since it is all new to me. I have no pictures of anything in Nebraska but I have many observations to tell about. This also was in Colorado but it perplexes me. There is a chain of gas stations named Kum and Go. I can understand why it is called the Kum and Go….it makes sense but why does it need to be spelled this way….why not Come? I just think it looks bad….maybe it is just supposed to be memorable…of which I do remember it. Another observation with the gas, the super costs less than the regular. That was just all backwards for me. There was no explanation on the pump. I asked a clerk why this was so and he just said it was due to the Ethanol. Now Nebraska is a big corn state and maybe it is some kind of state law but this Hoosier was confused. I was be bopping along I-80 and came across this business that had more cattle in one spot than I have ever seen in my life. I did research and found it. This place smelled miles down the road……it was all amazing! There was a lot of cow poop there. It was called the Darr Feedlot, Inc. Watch the pictures, there is a good one of all the cows. Nebraska was more interesting to look at than Kansas, there were hills and lakes and the Platte River. It looked very shallow and had many offshoots of it. I 80-went all along it and it was neat. I was talking with my sister in Nebraska and we kept losing signal, Verizon must need more towers in Nebraska. I worked my way to Omaha and Mutual of Omaha song kept going through my head. Then I am in Iowa and it is probably around 6:00 and still sunny and pretty but I see it is getting cloudy in the distance and this cloud wall was getting closer. I turn on the radio to catch a weather report and they don’t talk about rain. I am talking with Tom on the phone and ask him to look at the radar. He doesn’t see any. Let me tell you in Indiana, if we have that wall cloud coming toward you there is going to be some weather. But there was nothing, it was just dreary and cloudy.

I just had to get this picture to show of the sun setting. I had a heck of a time capturing it. I tried the rear view mirror, then the side mirror. Then I turned it around and pushed the button while I was looking forward. The top was that wall cloud and then I was on a hill and the sun was so bright and intense right then. My destination was Des Moines and I was glad to get to the hotel, it was a long driving day. Two signs I noticed along the way…John Waynes Birthplace is in Winterset, Iowa and The Bridges of Madison County in Winterset, Iowa.

I again got started early and was headed toward Davenport Iowa and I-80 was quite busy out of Des Moines. It was time to stop for a break and I hit pay dirt when I found this one. Pulling up to it and seeing the quilt blocks on the side of the building was just wonderful! It looks like a train station and notice the lanterns on the light poles.

This was a tile wall inside the lobby! Isn’t it beautiful?

These next six pictures were a few of the tiles on the floor and it corresponded with the wall quilt.

These beautiful constellation wall was equally as impressive. This was a big underground railroad area. It was depicting how the quilt blocks were used to send messages.

The train tiles on the mens bathroom side.

This floor was in the entrance way.

These tiles went all the way around the building representing needles and knots.

A better look at the beautiful front quilt blocks.

The other side of the building.

Informational plaque explaining about the blocks.

The other side of the plaque explaining about the underground railroad in Cedar County, Iowa. Observations in Iowa, I passed a sign for the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library.  I crossed into Illinois at Moline and crossed the Mississippi River.  I have since researched this but John Deere World Headquarters are there.  What tipped me off was the John Deere Way sign.

So I didn’t want to drive around Chicago. It is so busy, so expensive and I decided to go down through Illinois to go to the Dick Blick Art supply store in Galesburg outside of Peoria. It was enjoyable and picked up items that I needed. I I finally was making my way around and up to US 24 to take straight into Fort Wayne I did pass a sign that said that Ronald Reagan went to college at Eureka College in Illinois, I hadn’t known that. My husband kept getting more excited as I was getting closer to home. I got back around 8:30 p.m. Glad to be home but it was a wonderful trip and it’s something that I can cross off my list. I drove 2600 miles on my own and got along just fine. As always…Thanks for stopping and reading my blog.