Nebo, IL

Yesterday at about 8:30 we left the Amana Colonies headed east on I-80 as we had a 10AM appointment at Moscow IA to get the leveling jacks worked on. We arrived about 9:30 and got right in and were back on the road headed south on US 61 for Branson, MO in about an hour. I looked at the GPS scheduled route and saw that we would be within 50 miles of our Illinois relatives I told Nancy we can't not stop and she agreed. At Fort Madison we crossed the Miss. River on a narrow toll bridge and then drove IL 96 with the Miss. river on our left and the bluffs on our right. The bluffs had many houses that overlooked the river it was a very beautiful drive. Continuing on south we moved away from the river passing field after field of ripe soybeans and corn. Mid afternoon we arrived at Pittsfield, IL were we stopped to visit my Aunt Inez in the rest home. She is the only living sibling of my dads. For a lady going on 102 she is amazingly agile and sharp. After about an hour visit we headed west on US54 and then south on IL96 for an over night stop at cousin Gail & Chis Ball's. Most of the Humming birds that were here in the spring have gone but there are still a few around. They told us that hey had used 260 lbs of sugar this summer mixing the water for the feeders. About 1/2 of the corn is picked in this area and an occasional soybean field has been harvested.