trip home-day three

Barb at New Salem

I awoke very early on day three. It was still dark outside. Everyone else was asleep and I decided to go out for a walk on the NHM blacktop. I knew I would probably be back before anyone else got up. When I returned Mom and Barb were just waking. Mom still wasn't feeling well and didn't want to participate in our day's outing. Barb and I decided to go to Mason City for breakfast. When we got to MC we found the restaurant we had intended to eat at was completely gutted and no longer in business. But MC has another restaurant...a Mexican restaurant. When we walked in the door, everyone in the busy restaurant stopped talking and eating and looked up at us wondering who these two strangers were in a little town where everyone knows everyone else. I felt on display and actually gave a little wave to the crowd. We had wonderful omelets here and great coffee served up by a friendly waitress. I drove Barb by the swimming pool where I had spent many happy hours splashing and playing while my dad sat and read a book all day outside of the fence. I had intended to drive to Greenview, then Petersburg from here, but remembered that I had forgotten to cash a check at the bank in Mtown before we left. So we drove back to Mtown, I cashed my check and we went out to the Irish Grove Cemetery so Barb could see where my dad and all my relatives on my mom's side are buried. While we we walking around in the cemetery, I got a call from my sister in Arizona letting me know that my mom had called the doctor for an appointment and he had sent her to the emergency room to be checked out. The message that was relayed to me from mom was that Barb and I should go ahead with our plans. My mom's friends were with her and there wasn't much we could do. So we did go ahead with our plans with a little bit of worry all day. You may wonder why my mother called my sister in Arizona instead of calling me. I think maybe she wanted Deb to know and she didn't want to spoil my vacation plans.

So Barb and I drove on to Greenview and then to Petersburg where we shopped at some of the gift shops on the square. Our next stop was New Salem State Park. We walked through the village and looked in all the houses and shops. It was an absolutely perfect weather day. Upon leaving NS we drove back to Petersburg and stopped at the grocery store. Here we bought salads, crackers and grapes which we took with us to have with a bottle of wine at Hill Prairie Winery. A cold front blew in and the weather became very windy and cold. We had planned to eat our lunch on the deck at the winery but had to eat inside. It began to spit rain. Wouldn't you know that after we left the winery the weather began to clear up again? The only bad weather all day was at the precise time that we had wanted to sit outside on the deck.

Now I had been calling mom's phone and Bert's phone all afternoon trying to get an update. No answer. I knew they had my cell phone # but I had received no calls. So Barb and I drove to Lincoln to the hospital. There I found out that she had been treated and released. I told Barb that I was certain that we could find them at Walmart. We walked into Walmart and there they were. Mom rode home with Bert and Ken because she had been with them all day. Mom had been at the hospital all day and was very hungry when she was released. Barb and I had planned to cook dinner at home for the three of us but since mom had just eaten I fixed sandwiches for Barb and I. I think this was the evening that we all sat in the living room and went through the recipe box. Maybe it was the night before. I wrote down a recipe for Eclair Cake that I'm anxious to try. I think I'll make it for the person I have to bake for in our birthday club at work. When I went to bed this evening I tried to read a bit but fell asleep instantly and this night I slept soundly. The next morning we had plans to drive back up to Chicago for the part II of our trip.