Life After Cows...Part Eight...

On to Chicago!

It's hard to believe it's been over three months since we're back from our trip, and I still have two posts to go!!

We spent the day after visiting Rock Creek Park, travelling across Iowa and spent the night just west of the Illinois state line.  This was the day that I think we would both say was the least exciting, and the day that we got really tired of being in the car!  We had hoped to make a couple of stops that would have been fun, but they didn't work out.  We did stop at the world's largest truck stop for supper!

Early Thursday morning, we crossed the Mississippi River, and here is where we saw the most evidence of the flooding that affected the midwest...

We don't know what it looks like normally, but this certainly has to be much, much more water than usual!  Powerlines with water covering the bottom few feet?  I can't imagine how devastating the flooding must have been to so many people...

We had planned to stay close enough to the city, so that we would easily be able to reach my sister's house before rush hour.  We made it by mid afternoon...

Jim and I had been here for Marge and Hermann's wedding, and I had visited with our kids and my Mom when the kids were 6 and 3!  We were so happy to finally be in Evanston, to see family, and to relax for a couple of days!

My sister's family lives about a ten minute bike ride from Lake Michigan.  There's a nice bike path along the lake, and Jim and I enjoyed several hours on Friday, riding around and seeing the sights from a different perspective...

One of my nephews participates in a sailing club, and I rode along to pick him up after.  Marge and I took a stroll on the beach...in the wind...

Such a different kind of beach than we are used to!

At the sailing club.  All the boats have been put up for the night...

That evening, Marge, Jim and I took the El downtown,

...where Hermann met us after work.  While we waited to connect with him, we visited Millenium Park, and "the bean"...

After Hermann arrived downtown, we found a coffee shop and enjoyed catching up some more. This is one of my most favorite pictures from the whole trip...unhurried and relaxed...

We began walking...just to see what there was to see.  The Chicago River at night was beautiful, with all the lights reflecting on the water.  There was just something fun about being in a large city on a Friday night...

Try as we might, we couldn't get a good selfie, so we traded favors with another group...

On the way home on the El...almost an hour's ride...

Jim was the only one who wasn't on his phone doing something...surfing, reading, or taking a picture! (my self included...see my reflection in the window?!)

We are so glad that we were able to spend time with family on this trip...it was definitely one of the highlights!  Thanks, Marge and Hermann, for welcoming us and taking time out of your already busy schedules to show  us around your neck of the woods!!

Next stop...Lancaster PA...with a few pit stops along the way!

Life After Cows...Part Seven...

Eastward we go!

We were hoping to avoid big interstates as much as we could today, since we had a window of several days to get to our next set destination.  After all, part of the fun of this trip was seeing unexpected sights along the way!  We angled northeast on Route 40, and then farther north to Route 36, which runs pretty much directly east along the northern edge of Kansas. 

A little over an hour into our travels, we came across our first unexpected sight for the day.  McCarty Family Farms, in Rexford KS.  We stopped in and got a personal tour of their facility.  In total, between their three farms, they milk over 7000 cows, and have a direct contract with Dannon.  We were not allowed to take any photos, but I will say, it was a state of the art facilty!

Back in the car we went, and enjoyed the trip along the "super 2", as Stan referred to Rt 36.  We were rolling along, minding our own business, when out of the blue we saw one of the "historical marker" signs that we were keeping our eyes out for...

Hmmm...sounded kind of interesting to us!  We followed the directions for x amount of miles north and x amount of miles west, which is so common in the midwest, and found the small park which is at the geographical center of the lower 48 states!

This is the kind of thing that we enjoyed finding.  It didn't have to be fancy, just interesting, and in this case, something that I would imagine most people would have no idea existed!

Lebanon, Kansas...

By this time, the afternoon was quickly passing, and we began to wonder if we would get to Fairbury  before dark.  There is a park there where you can still see the ruts in the ground from the wagon train as it crossed the prairie heading towards Oregon, and we really didn't want to miss it!

Just before dusk, we got to Rock Creek Station, a park outside of Fairbury Nebraska.  The visitor center was closed, but we walked around for about an hour, by which time it was getting pretty dark.

Rock Creek Station was a stage and Pony Express station, and some of the buildings have been reconstructed so we could see what it may have looked like in the mid 1800's...

This particular section has been relatively undisturbed, and if you look closely, you can see the wagon ruts in the weeds, going up the hill, heading west...

Down at the creek bottom, there was a sign explaining where the wagon trains originally had to ford the creek...

It explains how difficult the crossing was, and the reason for the bridge that was built...

This picture is taken from a distance, and if you look closely, you can see the toll bridge in the distance...

In the summer time, wagon rides are given at the park, so this section of the trail is definitely well defined... 

Of course there were also grave markers...

By the time we were finished exploring, it was dark and time to move on.  We were so glad to have been able to visit the park.  I would say this got crossed off of our bucket list...except there is a place in Wyoming that you can see the ruts worn into the rock from the wagon wheels, and grooves from oxen's feet and from people walking.  When we were at my Aunt's house in Colorado, we had no idea how close we were!  We'll have to catch that the next time!

On to Lincoln Nebraska for the night, and then our trek towards Chicago.