Spring Break-Iowa Edition-2025-Day 2

There were two main events for this sunny Sunday in Iowa; Yessa flying off to Phoenix for a spring break trip with K,P,K, and B, and Uncle Gary and Aunt Shelia stopping by as they drove home from their winter in Texas.

We rented a house in Altoona that's about a 3 minute drive from Mom. With 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a fenced in backyard, it's more bathroom than we have at home, with none of the character. Yessa was up early in a dedicated attempt to complete a research paper so that she would not have to carry her laptop along on her Phoenix trip.

Buds and I had a lovely, long morning walk through the subdivision and onto a walking path, tucked behind the houses next to a stream. One of the homes had a "Rocks of Kindness" display set up, and we picked some rocks for Yessa to take to Betty and Kate.

We discovered the unexpected stage coach history of Altoona as we walked on the path.

Buddie settled in on the L-shaped couch to work while I drove Yessa to the airport.

My brother David is buried at Sunset Memorial Chapel, not far from the airport, so after I waved off my youngest child, I stopped to visit my eldest sibling. I had stopped to visit him before, but had not been able to find his plot for several years. Dad and I would stop up and visit, but that's been a long time ago. (I should have called Mom and asked her since she always visited him when she was driving, but I didn't think of that.)

I thought I knew the general area where I needed to look, and unlike previous stops, this time I had not deadline looming, so I decided I would take as much time as it took to find him. I walked up and down the rows for a long time, then sat down on someone's memorial bench to see if the internet could provide any help.

I discovered a website called "Find A Grave" and someone had taken a picture of his marker and posted it. Even though the picture gave no indication of location, it gave me the encouragement I needed to keep hunting. Shortly after, I found his spot. As you can see, it's no wonder it was a little tough to find it.

I cleaned it up as well as I could with my bare hands, and determined to hunt up some better tools to come back on a different day.

That good work complete, I headed back to the rental house to pick up Buds so we could drive over to Mom's for an expected visit from Aunt Sheila and Uncle Gary. These snow birds were on their long drive home from Texas and were making time to stop to see all of us. That meant so much to me since I am sure they were so looking forward to getting home after days on the road.

After Buds went back to get his shoes, we made it to Mom's and had a delightful couple hour visit with the family.

They told us tales of their time in Texas, and shared stories of Uncle Gary's time in the service, Aunt Sheila's many hobbies and volunteer roles, and the funny time they got to present the annual turkey to the President at the White House. You can watch the video here, and you'll notice Uncle Gary holding tightly to the turkey because that dang thing kept trying to take off.

After they left to finish their last hours of driving, Buds and I handled a couple home projects Babs had waiting for us, then scooped up Monkey and went out to eat at Culver's, a chain with the delightfully named "Butter Burger" as their speciality.

Yessa made it to Phoenix and finished up her research paper surrounded by loving friends.

A good day for all of us.