Iowa Bound

It was time for our annual trip to Iowa to visit the relatives!  Only this time I decided I wanted to do a road trip with Patty to see the covered bridges in Madison County so we have been planning it the last couple of weeks and I was really excited to do this!!  But first - we had to get there!

Originally we were going to drive the truck and pull a trailer to pick up the siding for Glenn's new shop (as it was cheaper through this auction place in NE.) BUT he wasn't the high bidder so didn't need to drive the truck - I decided then that we would just fly to save wear and tear on our bodies!

Our flight out of Denver was at 3:00 so we left 4 hours early, just to be on the safe side!  But right outside of Monument, traffic came to a halt on the interstate - I found out there was an accident way up ahead and after barely moving for 45 minutes, Glenn said he had to try another way or we wouldn't make the flight!  So we went around traffic to a gravel road and FINALLY got around the accident, raced to the place to leave our car (a new place and it was MUCH faster than our normal place to park and shuttle) and took the shuttle to the airport!  Our luggage made it with 5 min. to spare and we chose to do the "bridge" security vs. the regular security and got through in time to board - no time for lunch of course!

As we pulled out, I noticed debris and trash were flying by the plane and it was rocking like crazy - soon the pilot came on and said no one was allowed to fly yet due to the wind.  We sat about 10 min and then he came back on and said it would be another 1/2 hour!  Finally got to take off!!  And yes, it was a bumpy take off with all that wind!

I always make it a point to book a car which has vehicles right at the airport so we don't have to take a shuttle - but no luck with that as the airport is under construction and ALL rental cars were at a different location....................but we weren't happy when we got to the Budget Rental booth to get our keys as the car we booked wasn't there!!  The ONLY car they had for us was a Ford Fiesta (which wasn't a problem) but it was a stick shift!!!!!  Glenn of course doesn't mind driving those but I do!  I haven't driven one in 30 years!  So knew I wouldn't be driving!

We FINALLY got to Patty and Leonard's place where she had made us a delicious dinner and we were so hungry by that time that it sure tasted great!!!

But a couple of issues:  Patty was having back and leg pain (sciatic problems) and THEIR car had a strange noise that had to be looked at - Patty was hoping I could drive the rental car but I just wasn't comfortable with that darn stick shift....................

We all went to Moorhead to eat breakfast the next morning which was really good!!  And then Glenn and Leonard took their car to get it checked out while Patty and I took their pickup to see Don and Nadine!

We had a wonderful visit!!  Brent joined us for a while and filled us in on some on our ancestors and Nadine had made cherry soup with dumplings  - neither of us had ever had it and it was wonderful!!

Jill's were also in Iowa so they came up late afternoon - they had a nice visit with Patty's and after heading to the book store and getting books, we went to the bar for steak night!!  Yummy huge steaks!!

Oh and the car situation - there was a bad wheel bearing and it actually got fixed that afternoon so Patty and I were good to go the next morning (with hopes that Patty was feeling a little better!!)