Day 9: Peru, NE

Another day of rest.  When you're not really on vacation... you know like in a hotel at a beach, or in a cabin or whatever... when you drive 2000 miles in a week, it is really really nice to have a couple of days off.  When we were planning this trip a few weeks ago, we didn't know how much we would need a break after a week.  Art and Alison provided the best break we could have possibly hoped for.  We had time to relax.  We had nice family time.  We had good meals.  We had amazing conversations.  We had a little music - certainly not as much as Art or I would have liked, but we had some.  We got to stay in a part of Nebraska that is achingly peaceful.  It's country.  I mean that in every sense.  It's just country.  The oak trees, the dirt roads, the ravines, the "cities", the trucks, the storms, the birds, the dogs, the meals, the gardens, the accents, the farm equipment, the abandoned houses, the air that seems to breath history... it's all just so country. We got satellite radio when we got our new car and I could not take it off of Willie Nelson's Roadhouse station, the entire time we were here.

Today we slept in until about 8:30am.  I finished yesterday's blog.  I checked Facebook.  I read some news. All this from bed.  Our bed is in a straw bale house. Art and Alison built this house we are sleeping in, like they did their own, with their hands.  There something exceedingly safe about sleeping in a house that your wife's father fashioned with his own two hands. We finally got showered and out of the house around 10am.  Art made us an amazing breakfast with farm fresh eggs, potatoes, and toast with homemade strawberry-rhubarb jam and blackberry jam.  After breakfast Art, Willow, Daisy, Honey, and I headed on foot off to experience the 80 beautiful acres of Nebraska that Art and Alison own. The land has beautiful trees, deep ravines, song-filled birds of many colors, views of forever, history, and most importantly the root of a Willow.

After about 3 hours of walking to and fro, we returned to the house. We were late! It was time to visit Nebraska City where Alison works for drinks and dinner and a little sight-seeing.

We visited the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center high above the Missouri River. We walked around downtown. We visited the historic courthouse where tales of grand murals are highly exaggerated.   We had an amazing dinner at the beautiful Lied Lodge.  After dinner, Willow and I meandered our way back to the house.  We visited a while.  We said our sad goodbyes to Alison and headed to bed.

Today we drive from Peru, Nebraska to Eldon, Missouri, deep in the Ozarks.  This is where my mom and my sister live.  I haven't seen my mom in 16 years.  It's been almost 12 years since I have seen my sister.   It won't be enough time, but it will certainly be better than no time.

I'll let you know what we see in between here and there tomorrow!