To Wisconsin via Amish country

 After visiting with my brother and wife in Leawood, we headed west on 150, a highway we had never been on.  Less busy than 70!  Look at that road!  Hardly any vehicles!  But from Odessa to Columbia we did do 70, but turned north on 63, another highway we had not traveled before.

 Look at this beautiful Victorian home!!

 Drool!

As we got close to Lancaster, Missouri, we came upon some buggies.  It might have been visiting Sundays and they were headed home from visitation with family/friends.

 Guessing these boys were headed to singing with the other youth.

 When we arrived at Bloomfield, Iowa, I had Al circle the courthouse.   I WISH our county had kept their beautiful, old courthouse!  Ours is so very 1965 ugly!

I love how the courthouse is in the center of town and there is a circle of shops around it,.

The Des Moines river at Ottumwa

 Pelicans

 As we got closer to Kalona where we had reserved a B&B, I double checked for the address and realized that I had booked a place in Iowa City!  It had been advertized under the Kalona B&Bs.  I was bummed.  It meant half an hour north and returning to Kalona the next day.

 It was an ok place, but we had thought we were in an Amish town.

 Instead we were close to the University of Iowa.

 An old Pony Express station was near.

 Early the next morning, after breakfast, we headed back south to Kalona, which is an Amish town. 

 We stopped at the bakery.

One way to get your ditch mowed!

Monday - wash day

 Marshmallows?

 We stopped at this community store and I talked with a young man named Solomon and his father for about 1/2 hour about their purple martin houses.  They showed me how they built them.  And we talked about purple martin migration.  I would have loved to have taken their pictures, but Amish don't want their pictures taken.  They feel it is wrong.

 

 Perhaps some of our distant relatives?  We were Amish back in the 1700's.

There was a gathering and some men were putting up a tent.  The women were putting food out on tables.  Again, I would have loved to have taken pictures but...

 The wheels are not rubber, but metal.

 Then it was time to leave Kalona.  One day, I want to go back and sleep at a B&B there and take the tours they give.  But  we needed to get to Wisconsin before the kids got out of school!  A little 7 year old was expecting Nana and Papa to pick her up!  A 4 1/2 hour drive.

We got to Claire's school with a few minutes to spare.