Last week I took a trip back to Wisconsin to visit my mother. I can’t say the trip was very exciting but one has to keep the family fences somewhat mended.

My mother is living at home with caregivers helping out. The caregivers make meals, do laundry, and generally help Mom with tasks she can no longer do on her own. This arrangement seems to be working well but is expensive. Mom said she will reduce her care from 24 hours to a lower level, probably days only, now that a routine has been established and she knows what she can and cannot do on her own. My sister Sienna lives in the area and also stops in frequently to keep an eye on Mom.

The trip (2,597 miles in total) was just a lot of miles on the road. Good thing the CD player was working! Weather was not bad but was cold and windy the entire trip. There were only a few hours the first day that I did not have heat on inside the car. On the way home I ran into some rain around Des Moines and there was fresh snow in the Denver foothills and eastern slope.

Mom has decided to sell some of the land she still owns. There are two river-front lots (Black River) that are within the Greenwood city limits that have been surveyed and are ready for sale. My brother Jon (whom I visited at his house in Stoddard, Wisconsin this trip) made this sign for the first lot:

Jon’s Lot for Sale sign

Proceeds from the sale of the lot(s) would go toward Mom’s care and ease the settlement of the estate when she passes. We hope the lots sell in the next few months.

Other than driving and family visits the trip did not yield much in the way of entertainment. I did make a quick stop at a museum I had passed many times during previous trips; the Heartland Museum of Military Vehicles in Lexington, Nebraska. I found the museum contains more than vehicles; the museum also has uniforms, munitions, small and large weapons (mortars and howitzers, for example) and would be of interest to anyone interested in WWI and WWII history. They also has a couple Huey helicopters that were used in Vietnam. There is a lot to see as the place is much larger than it appears from I-80. Here are a couple photos:

Part of the munitions collection

Crawler tractor pulled large weapons and supply wagons

The rest of the trip was uneventful with few slow spots due to construction or accidents. The one exception was an accident on the interstate going through Omaha; I had stop-and-go traffic for several miles until a 3-car accident was pulled from traffic lanes.

As this trip began on Monday and I arrived home Friday night there isn’t much of anything else to report. At home there are Fall chores such as raking leaves and cleaning out flower beds. Pam did buy a new lot of tulip bulbs that will be planted later today. Grocery shopping, a routine weekend task, is also on today’s To Do list.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny’s Worth:

In many respects, the past week was actually my vacation for the year.

Happy Trails.