Wildflower

Driving from Keokuk to St. Paul with a stop in Des Moines completed the final day of our three day trek from Oviedo to the Twin Cities.

Linda enjoyed being reminded that Iowa isn’t always the cold gray state that she remembers, and was elated to see the county highways lined by wildflowers and to have a chance to see varieties of plants and wildlife that are rare (if present at all) in Florida, like the red winged blackbird.

While we stopped to look around, we were passed by truck hauling an enourmous windmill blade.

Our route passed the American Gothic House, which we had seen on a previous road trip. It is closed on Mondays, so, we just posed for some pictures outside and admired the wildflower gardens in the surrounding area.

In Des Moines, we picked up a rental car and left my car at Linda’s sister’s house so we’d have a ride back to Oviedo when our travels to the west on Amtrak conclude in Osceola IA in a few weeks. We had Brueggar’s Bagels sandwiches for lunch with Camilla’s Uncle Russ and Aunt Lori while Camilla got to see their two cats.

On the way up 35N to St. Paul, Linda showed Camilla cattails at the Iowa Welcome Center near the border with Minnesota. We also saw many windmills with blades like the one we saw on the flatbead earlier in the day.

Once we arrived at Aunt Christine’s place in West St. Paul, Camilla went right back to work drawing while we enjoyed being outside listening to the birds without the Florida heat and humidity.

Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a purpose.

• Garrison Keillor

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