Day 126: Is this Heaven? No, it’s Iowa.

Field of Dreams. What a movie. Yes, we are in Iowa, and though it may not be heaven to most people, I’m sure those who live here think it is. We spent our second day here and have moved ever further from Nebraska. We currently are about 7 miles east of Shenandoah, IA on Hwy 2. The road has so far been concrete with gravel shoulders. The shoulders are about 8-10′ wide mostly, but the gravel is coarse and hard to walk on for any long period of time.

Rick Hammersley walking in Iowa with cousin Jim & Debbie Barnard

I told you on yesterday’s blog that today would be special. My cousin, Jim Barnard and wife Debbie of Central Oklahoma drove up on Monday and walked with me on Monday evening and then again this morning till about noon. Jim is a land developer in OK and pretty much sets his own hours and they decided to come up and join in the fun. And it was fun. We walked about 10 miles together and had fun teasing each other about our particular families. Of course Deb has been in the Barnard family for over 40 years and she knows exactly what all the teasing is about. After a morning of walking, they checked out of their motel and came and found Valda & me and bought our lunch. I was mildly surprised at this, but was really amazed when Jim opened his billfold and no moths flew out. 🤑 Thanks also for buying us some gasoline today. It is really appreciated.

Debbie is the ‘planner’ in the family according to Jim and I saw what he meant first hand. She had a camera with her and was constantly stopping and taking pictures. She was so fussy about this one barn with a windmill that by the time she got the shot, the sun had gone down and Jim and I were about a half mile down the road from her.

I hope they had fun walking with me because I had a ball. It was fun catching up on family and what has been going on with them. They’ve got an invite to Indianapolis and NYC and hopefully they’ll make it to one place or both.

The terrain is rolling and the weather today was absolutely great. It was in the low 80’s today with a nice breeze and low humidity. After the last three days, it was a welcome relief.

A little follow up info on the DX gasoline station like the one in Kenesaw, Nebraska. Sun Oil Co. and Sunray-DX merged in the 60’s and expanded their business to the Midwest. Sun Oil was from Texas and Sunray was from Oklahoma. They marketed their products through Sunoco and DX gas stations and that is probably why their signs are similar. Of course Sunoco is still around, but DX bit the dust in the sixties or seventies. Just thought you’d like to know. Thanks to Debbie Barnard for that little tidbit.