Sunday, August 18

Yesterday was a day of leisure with Paul, Kim and Brigid. We did a lot of nothing all day, and watched Spielberg’s film “Lincoln” last night. At least, some of us did; others saw bits and parts in between their snoozes. I hadn’t seen the film yet. It was an appropriate end to our studies of Lincoln and the Civil War. I may have to re-read “Team of Rivals” after seeing this movie.

We left Sycamore this morning, and stopped in Clinton, Iowa to visit with a cousin on my mother’s side (2nd or 3rd cousin of mine, named John Perion. He and his wife, Betty, served up lunch and good conversation. They also had a few photos for us to add to the family genealogy.

From there, we went to Waterloo to visit Ed’s first cousins on this mother’s side: Betty, Barb and Mary Frances Gavigan. We had dinner and pie and more good conversation with them.

Traveling through Illinois and Iowa, we saw corn that was easily as high as Mr. Ed’s Elephant’s eye, and soybean fields thick enough for Br’er Rabbit to hide out forever. Barring bad weather, these farmers should do very well this year.

We’ve traveled over 3000 miles so far, and will be heading home tomorrow. It’s been a great trip, but it will be nice to be back home.