I was loaded up and out the door by 9:30 Sunday morning, heading for Amana Colonies, IA to meet up with Bob and Penny coming from Kansas City and my cousins Jonnie and Mary who came from Stoughton. The reason for the meetup was that Jonnie made these great Chiefs yard signs for Bob and since they were really heavy, she didn’t want to ship them. She called a few weeks ago to see if I wanted to go on a road trip to KC with her and we came up with the plan to meet in the middle instead.
Once our cars were parked, that’s where they stayed until it was time to go back home. Bob, Penny, and I headed out for a walk on the nearby trail - Bob did an out and back and Penny and I continued on for the 3.2 mile loop. After showering, we met Mary and Jonnie for breakfast at the Hotel. And then we walked the streets of the little historic woolen mill town and went into most of the little shops: woolens, bakery, toys, ice cream, florals, local made arts, furniture, etc.
After our shopping, my brother Ray’s foster sister Joanie who lives in Cedar Rapids came to meet up with us, have a drink, and talk for a couple of hours. She and Mary and gone to elementary school together for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades and then Ray’s family moved out of town. It was great to see her again, it had been since 2015 when Ray died that I had seen her.
