Day 20 Emmetsburg, IA

It's 7 p.m. and the Emmetsburg library is open until 8 so I will take this opportunity to send a few lines.

The land in Jones County was rolling, but the land in Rockwell City, Iowa, was flat and it is pretty much flat here. I stopped in the shade of some trees in Boxholm to eat lunch. These are very nice trees. They do not grow over 40 ft. tall but they branch every which way about 8 ft. off the ground so that makes for a very dense circle atop a slender trunk. Wonderful shade in this land of vast spaces where the sun beats down.

Around Roslyn there was a sign on the road "Be alert for cross winds". I had been aware of them ever since I left Boone, but 'twas true that right there near Roslyn the NW winds were very gusty. I wondered where the windmills were and figured the farmers thought their land more productive for crops, but about 50 miles further on, there was a line of windmills. Paradoxically, in nearly the same place was a whole line of the old telephone poles, the ones with a crossbar on the top with an insulator on each end and one on the top of the pole. I don't know how many years it's been since I've seen those old poles.

The State Park campsite last night near Boone, IA, was one of the best so far. They had sown wildflowers in the park and across from the park was a 30 acre field they had sown to native prairie grasses, very attractive. And on the access road to the park some wildflower had seeded itself in great patches, about 2 feet tall with lovely white feathery flowers that waved with the wind. They had carefully cut around them when they mowed the roadsides. Very pretty.

Today I spent hours in two different county courthouses, plus one library, and several hours driving. Will sleep well tonight. I usually have no trouble falling to sleep about 10 and waking between 6 and 6:30 This is my last stop in east/central Iowa. Will be going on to Minnesota next, but will visit Iowa again later.

Day 18 Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Got into Cedar Rapids yesterday about 3 pm after spending a rainy morning tramping through cemeteries on back roads in Jones County. Finally found the Clay township cemetery. I knew from the map which Section it was in but no more definitive details. When I thought I must be close I pulled into a farmhouse, knocked on the door, was motioned to come in (I had seen a ramp so suspected the owner was disabled). I opened the door and sitting at the kitchen table were two men who sported full beards and overalls. Not until later did I realize they may have been Mormon, though nothing else except the tidiness of the farmstead would have denoted that. Anyway, they gave me good directions and I set out. Twenty minutes later after traversing this one piece of road a couple times I stopped another place for directions and discovered that when the bearded gentleman had given me directions, starting out with "go to the corner and turn right..." he meant the corner where his not-so-long driveway met the road!

Anyway, my car needs a wash badly and I will see to that this evening. When I got into Cedar Rapids yesterday I went directly to the Genealogy Library and there was no Wi-fi there, so now I am at the public library. It is located in a partially empty Mall. The policeman who gave me final directions added, "they've set up there since the flood." They have Wi-fi here and I have a very nice comfortable chair to sit in.

When I attempted to post a new blog today, I got this error message that something needed to be done to enable Java scripting. The blog had very helpful suggestions, and I was irritated again, because Windows had just done an automatic update and when they do that it always messes with programs. But I followed directions and was able to access the blog site - thank goodness.

In a little bit I will go to visit Ellie Cass. She said if I ever got to Cedar Rapids I had to stop by, but I could find no phone listing for her. I had sent her an email, but I don't think she uses her email much; I never got a reply. Earlier this afternoon I looked up the address. No one was home, but I went next door to be sure I had the right place and I did.