Wander On

We did it. We did a wander.

Leo generously offered his car so off we went. We're out of practice…we forgot some of our standard supplies like lemons, nuts and chocolate but we did just fine.

We meandered over to Peoria and then north and west over to Clinton, Iowa. We drove through tiny towns along the way. Some restaurants and bars had tables set up outside, others seemed to be open and operating as normal inside. I had chosen a Hampton Inn because Hilton has been advertising their COVID precautions like crazy. We walked in, the person at the desk had no mask. Not even a mask pulled down like most of the Casey's employees we saw, but no mask whatsoever. Sigh. I complained to Hilton. They apologized and said somebody from the hotel would be reaching out to me. Nothing so far.

We found a bar that had a beer garden so we could sit by ourselves. Inside it was crowded, no masks, no distancing. Although they did have a sign that said, "All are welcome, take your sunglasses off, pull your hoodie down and cover your underwear." So welcoming. And, of course, there were pictures of a topless woman in the men's bathroom along with a diagram of all the different kinds of women's breasts. Ernie took a a picture for me. I was going to share it because it was so depressing but then I figure why give it another venue. Yeah. So we went back to the hotel to order food. I always forget that I live in a college town where there are lots of places that deliver. We eventually got some so so food and curled up. I rarely watch Trump speak but we did for a while. It was the strangest experience. We were on the third floor in the middle of the hotel so right outside our window (I never close curtains if I'm on an upper floor) was a spotlit American flag…just waving away as I watched. 

I never could have imagined what we are living through.

It felt good to out. It's very meditative. We don't even listen to music or the radio. Here are a few stops.

My favorite find of the weekend.

Ernie yelling at me to be careful as I walked into the road to take a picture. You could hear the cows mooing from the farm just down the road.

Not the best picture of this drive-in sign because there was a dog barking and running toward us.

Thanks to my beloved Leo for making our little wander possible.

Onward.