Trip home!

I left the Little Brown Church in the Vale at noon and headed home toward Kansas.  I knew it would be at least a 9 hour drive.  I was going to take highway 218 down to highway 3, but "Tom" had me turn before Waverly and I took some rural roads, but they were all paved.

That's ok.  That's part of the adventure! 

Open roads - open skies!

 We probably need to retire "Tom" (our tom-tom) but he has been good for the most part.  As Allen's mother used to say "We got the goodie out of it."  And I got to see some neat countryside too!

I suppose this junk car man must have done well.  His house looks nice.  But I don't think I'd like to have to look out of my back porch and see junky old cars!  Although, maybe he sees $$$ signs.

I pulled over at Hampton, Iowa to look at this grand courthouse!

This old Franklin County court house was built in 1891 at a cost of $60,000.

Civil War Museum across the street from the court house.  It was closed.

 At 35, I turned south at Latimer.  I found out later that week that friends of ours have moved to Clarion, only 16 miles from that turn off!!  So sad!!  I wished I'd known that ahead of time.  Boo hoo!  We will have to stop to see you another time, Greg and Donna!

Traffic was smooth all the way south on 35.  I pulled off at Cameron, MO to fill up with gas.   It was looking like it might storm.  I looked on my weather map and saw that I would probably drive out of it soon since I was heading west and not south.

I filled up with gas and continued west on 36 to St. Joseph so I wouldn't have to drive through Kansas City.  I DO NOT like heavy traffic!  No thank you!  .

Do you know what I could smell along that road?  Dead stuff.  I think maybe from all the dead cattle from the flooding!  There is a certain fragrance that death has.

Reminds me of a Bible verse:
"Now He uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume."  2 Corinthians 2:15,16

The flooding was so tragic for the Iowa and Nebraska farmers!!  I heard that over 1 million cattle died.  1 MILLION!!  I have a feeling that beef prices will sky rocket!  Would you pray with me for these ranchers and farmers who have lost so much?

At St. Joseph I took 29 south to 435.  Look at this irrigation system in flooded fields!  The Missouri River had overflowed!

At Highway 70 I called my sister-in-law, Julie.  She had just left Lawrence so she was just in front of me by 1/2 hour.  I should have called her earlier so we could have seen each other.  We talked and laughed for quite awhile.  I love my sister-in-law!  Neither of us has a real sister, so we call each other "sisters".

I turned south at Topeka and into Flint Hill country.

There is a scenic bridge turn off just past Emporia and I got there just as the sun was setting.  You could see that the ranchers were burning pasture, as they do each spring.

 At Cassoday, I turned onto 1st street.  No traffic until I got close to Elbing.  I pulled over to take a last picture before it turned dark.

I made it home shortly after 9 p.m.  What a wonderful trip I had to Wisconsin and back!