We say goodbye to Iowa. And goodbye to Jim and Lois. Next is hello to Nebraska. Then hello to Texas, our home sweet home

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Adi is posing with her aunt and uncle for a goodbye picture. We enjoyed staying with Lois and Jim (my sister and bro-in-law). You have seen most of our local tours.

I missed getting a picture for the Jim Bunch Eating again the night before we left. Jim grilled hamburgers and brats. I had one of each. Lois had made some nice cherry bars for dessert. Of course we had all the other goodies, like potato salad, beans, cottage cheese, and chips and pickles of all sorts.

You have already seen the Tekamah, Nebraska, evening. The Jim Bunch did eat there, all four "J" cousins. (link)
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Was Lois afraid Adi would fall off this rock? Both these pictures are taken with a partial view of their new home in Center Point, Iowa.

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On our last full day in Iowa, we visited the Amana Colonies again, at Amana, Iowa. We all voted (the three that got to vote, Adi couldn't, and Jim was nice and would go wherever we wanted) to do some antiquing.

The antique place would be Smokehouse Square Antiques showroom and sales. I enjoyed that almost as much as the ladies. No money was left at the store that day, but there were some desirables for each of us.

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After the antique shopping, we got an early start on lunch. Here are three of the four Jim Bunch Eats guys. The Ox Yoke Inn is Jim and Lois' fav. Lois and I had a plate of delicious ribs, Mrs. Jim had veal, and Jim (bro-in-law)had steak.

Our first course was cottage cheese and sauerkraut, complete with freshly baked bread. The entree was served with mashed potatoes with brown gravy and fresh corn, both served family style as was the previous cheese and kraut offering.

Dessert was pie, each of us had a different selection. Mrs. Jim had rhubarb, Jim (bro-in-law) had banana creme, Lois had lemon, and I had coconut creme. They were all excellent.

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After lunch, I went to the visitor center. It wasn't very exciting, but the climb to the top of the cupola had me puffing. The building had formerly been a granary.

The climb was well worth it, here is one of the pictures of the Amana Colonies I took from the windows up there. It wasn't raining, the picture was taken through a glass window its screen for the effects you see here.

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I was glad once more that I had gotten my worn-out foot toughened by walking around Europe this spring. The blocks were long and the temp was warm, in the mid 80s. This was taken from the corner across from the visitor center. The Ox Yoke is up the street on the left, beyond what you see.

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Now most guys get a little tired, emotionally, not physically, of all that shopping. Pretty soon one handicraft looks like another handicraft and we can't tell rhubarb wine from grape or gingham from suede.

There is a relief at Amana though. I don't remember this shop's name, its top floor, the attic, was turned into a farm room. They had sold out of John Deere "Bs" which was our first farm tractor in 1942. I have been looking for one; they show up on eBay, I just haven't bought one yet. (My last eBay purchase was a 1948 Ford Convertible, 1:18 scale.)

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You might think this was in the farm room but these toys are at Dad's nursing home. We stopped in to tell him goodbye. Lois had brought him some chocolate stars and we all indulged. Big Jim and Little Jim Bunch here eating another time, how about that?

Aren't those nice trucks? The Red Hat ladies and the Construction Guys (they gave Dad his hard hat)(July 24 posting) made toys for a fundraiser.

The residents helped too. The day before we had watched one of the men residents painting the trucks and the benches. He was doing a good job, I didn't know they would turn out this nice.

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Do you think Adi is sad because she is leaving Iowa?

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And now this from last night's Boston Legal:

"I have to represent him, I gave him my word."

"Oh please, we're lawyers" said Denny Crane to Alan Shore .

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