May 30th to June 4th, 2022
Monica's mom moved from Las Vegas, Nevada to Muscatine, Iowa in late 2021 (they came to see us on the big road trip when we were in New Mexico). She didn't have a house in Muscatine at first, so she stayed with her friend Janet in Prophetstown, Illinois while she searched for the house she has now. Prophetstown isn't very far from Muscatine, so we took a day to go out to visit Janet and a lot of other people.
First, we went to Janet's son's farm near Janet's house -- David and Casey. David had to get some work done on the fields in the morning, so Casey showed us all of her animals. In addition to doing pet grooming, she has a big outbuilding full of birds and other exotic pets that she rescues or sells. She had a few big birds, chinchillas, and lizards. Lacey was with us, and she behaved herself. It was cool to see so many animals, and Margot enjoyed holding a few of them.
When David came back from the fields, he took us on a tour of the buildings to show us all of the huge farming equipment. He patiently explained what everything did and what it was like to farm with all of it. For two city girls, it was a very cool tour and experience. Margot even climbed up into the cab of one of the biggest ones.
Janet's family also has a building specifically to house old, restored tractors. She had one or two that she remembered her dad using when she was a little girl. Everything was shiny, and it was cool to see how things have changed.
Before we left Iowa, we had a great dinner with Dave, Glenda, Rob, and their family. We had a great afternoon with Monica's cousin Ron and his wife Cindy right on the banks of the river. And we had another dinner with Dave, Mike and Tammy at a restaurant right on the river that was pretty close to where we were staying. It was a great time visiting family and making new friends. But all good things must come to an end, and we left Iowa for a stay in Wisconsin. We loved staying at mom's house, and really loved Shady Creek Recreation Area. The Midwest was turning out to be a major highlight of our summer.
