Ol' Man River



Thursday September 24th  and still the same old corn and beans

 ..though along some pretty tracks

From Roseville I was fortunate enough to be passed from one home to the next. Sue Tappe arranged for me to stay in La Harpe with Rod and Laurie Meyers, shown here with one of the golden retrievers they breed..

I was entertained in style, and Laurie made sure I tried a bottle of Illinois wine, rather appropriately called Horselick...

Laurie organised the pupils at La Harpe primary school to meet up with Lady and me on our way out.  The children asked a myriad of questions, and filed past to pat Lady, who acted in a suitably dignified fashion.
And Rod sorted out the next place to stay on Friday September 25th near Niota with the affable Casey Yager and girlfriend Tia ..

..I joined in a cook out with friends Bonnie and Wade in the evening, slept in the gooseneck trailer (on the right) and Casey cooked a mean pork rasher breakfast.
This put me within easy striking distance of the Fort Madison toll bridge over the Mississippi. Also called the Sante Fe Swing Span Bridge, this is an old truss bridge with a swinging section to let boats pass through on the river.  It carries rail traffic on a lower tier and vehicle traffic on an upper tier.  Semi traffic (Large trucks) are not allowed on the bridge, but on enquiry it transpired that horses are - in fact they regularly cross for the annual rodeo in Fort Madison. I had warned the police of my arrival, but it appeared that no escort was necessary as no-one turned up, so before midday on Saturday September 26th Lady and I were making our way across the Old Muddy....

Nearly in Iowa.....

Yay - made it!....

....and we are now officially in what used to be classed as the Wild West - perhaps that does not apply now, though that remains to be seen.

Stopping for a welcome cider slushie at Appleberry farm on the long hot road from Fort Madison, I saw this novel pre Halloween use for an old hay bale....

 ..perhaps I can do this at home, though I don't know what the ponies would make of it!

The horsey network was still doing me proud, as Casey's friend Wade sorted me out with a fabulous place to stay in Donnellson with Marti, Tori and Denver Abolt.  After retiring from his 'proper' job, Marti has achieved his dream of earning a living by owning and driving a big red semi truck.  Here he is with his pride and joy....

.. and the truck is not too bad either.  He actually took me for a spin down the expressway, and it was strange to be experiencing one of these beasts from another vantage point