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!

The Little Brown Church in the Vale

I was so excited to be able to go to a Sunday morning service at the Little Brown Church in the Vale!  After breakfast at the hotel, I loaded up my car.  I was thankful that I didn't have any flat tires after yesterday's travels on gravel roads!  I doubt I could have found a place to repair a tire in this small town on a Sunday morning!

It was a 15 minute drive to Nashua where I pulled up to that famous little church.  The church was located on Iowa Highway 346 just outside of town.

I was there in time for a sing-a-long that they have before church starts.  We were given a booklet with hymns/choruses that they sang from and they asked for requests.  One of the songs was "In the Garden" and I asked if we could sing that.  It was one of my mother's favorites!  Mine too!!  It makes me a little weepy with joy!

In the Garden

I come to the garden alone,

While the dew is still on the roses,

And the voice I hear falling on my ear,

The Son of God discloses...

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,

And He tells me I am His own,

And the joy we share as we tarry there,

None other, has ever, known!

He speaks and the sound of His voice,

Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,

And the melody that he gave to me,

Within my heart is ringing . . .

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,

And He tells me I am His own,

And the joy we share as we tarry there,

None other, has ever, known!

And the joy we share as we tarry there,

None other, has ever, known!

As we sang, people continued to come.  There was a welcome and call to worship given by the pastor, Drew McHolm, who is Scottish.  He had quite the brogue!   How I enjoyed him!

There was a greet one another time and the people moved about the room for about 10 minutes talking with one another.  I met a couple who were also visiting.  They were celebrating their 29th anniversary and had come here because they were married in this church.  I had read that this church has had over 10,000 weddings.  I asked them if this was true.  "Oh, yes!"  "How can that be?"  The lady I spoke with said that just this past Valentines, they had 18 weddings!  They had 2 pastors that took turns and got them all done!  If you click the link to the Little Brown Church above, you can see a photo gallery of some of the weddings.  And read about the history of this sweet church.

There was a time of sharing prayer requests.  In a small church like this, you can just raise your hand and ask for prayer.  Much harder to do in a church of 500!  The pastor gave a passionate prayer, calling on our Father for the needs, some which were so heavy.  One family going to the hospital with their 3 year old child who was not expected to live.

The sermon was "The Great Exchange".  Adam and Eve exchanged fellowship with God for a piece of fruit.  The disciples exchanged their fishing boat to follow Jesus.  We can make good choices or bad ones.  Jesus Himself kept the Mosaic law perfectly, but "He who had no sin became sin for us."  When we give our lives to follow Jesus, we exchange a sinful life for righteousness.  Not by what we do, but by what Jesus has done for us!  I loved the pastor's sermon!  He did not water down the gospel.

Afterwards, I was invited to the basement to enjoy a fellowship dinner.  I decided to do that before heading back to Kansas.  What wonderful people!

I shared with the pastor that our congregation in Japan often sang this song "The Little Brown Church in the Vale" in our services.  I have fond memories of that!  I played it for him* and he had others come and listen.  He had never heard it in Japanese.  A few weeks prior, an Amish church had come to sing the song there in the church.  I wonder if they sang it in English or Pennsylvania Dutch?

*A friend of mine found a Japanese congregation who sings this and you can play it to hear it in Japanese!  (Our Japanese church never had a choir; we were too small.  And we didn't wear robes either.)

Good-bye Little Brown Church in the Vale!

I had about 9 hours to get to Kansas so I bid them adieu, or I should say, sayonara!

An old cemetery, a military hospital and a Governor's mansion

As I continued on Highway 60, I saw a cut off to see Boydtown Cemetery, overlooking the Wisconsin River.

Young children - Their parents must have grieved so!

I arrived in Prairie du Chien located at the crossroads (or cross rivers) of the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers.  "Prairie du Chien is a French phrase that can be translated as “Prairie of the Dog.” While many people mistakenly think that this must refer to prairie dogs (which we have a lot of in Kansas!), most historians believe that it refers to a Native American chief who lived in the area whose name translated into French means “dog.”  Click THIS if you are interested in the history of this town.

I noticed an old fort hospital by the road and pulled off the road to see it.

 Another reference to Black Hawk.

A young boy and his dog were walking by and he showed me some tricks his dog could do.

St. Mary's Academy, which is being converted into 40 apartments.

 I noticed a sign for Villa Louis and was going to visit, but it was closed, due to flooding.  This Victorian-era estate was developed on an island on the Mississippi River between Wisconsin and Iowa in the 1840's by fur trader Hercules Dousman.

It definitely is a must see for me and I will have to visit on another trip to Wisconsin!

After crossing the Mississippi, I was in Iowa.

 "Tom" took me on a 3 mile dirt road.  I am not sure why.  It is time for "Tom" to retire.

I worried about getting a flat tire on this particular road.

There was still left over snow in the ditches.  Glad I didn't make the trip to Wisconsin a week earlier!

This might be interesting...

There were tours, but again, too early in the season for this.

No one about except for these chickens that followed me around.

I would have loved to have a tour, but oh well.   I continued on 18.

I had booked a room at Charles City but I got off 18 to check out for sure where the Little Brown Church in the Vale in Nashua was because I was planning to attend there in the morning for services!

So excited to attend here!

Leaving Nashua, there is a military park.

 Dam in Nashua

I made it to the hotel in Charles City where I spent the night.

 I'd been in the car most of the day so I decided to get some walking in.  Taking a picture to send to my walking partner.  The pool water was too cold, or I'd have done laps!

Then I relaxed with watching HGTV!

And hoping I didn't wake up to a flat tire from the roads I took!