Between no wifi access and spending all weekend with Kate’s new-found family, I couldn’t post here.
From Lincoln we continued east through a.corner of Iowa, adding another state to our list for this trip. Then we crossed the Missouri River into Missouri, and we waved at Kansas across the river as we drove on. Back and forth we crossed the Missouri a number of times, reviving our joke from the last few years of traveling through Montana to Wisconsin. There we crossed the Clark Fork of the Platt River at least 14 or 15 times, so many that we’d rush to beat the other one to calling out “Clark Fork” every time we crossed. We started that again with the Missouri.
We are in flat agriculture country there, and brown and gold fields, big farms with 7 or 8 wind turbines instead of the wind farms we saw out west. Quite a change in landscape, cows and a few antelope against a backdrop of blue sky and fluffy white clouds.
Outside of St. Joseph, MO, I saw a sign that said Freedom’s Frontier National Historic Area, and I wondered whose freedom? Near St Louis, we stayed at a quiet state park where we saw our first fireflies, heard crickets in the evening, and met a nice couple from further south, retired pastor Jeff and his wife Linda. She and Kate bonded over teaching univesity courses online. They were intrigued by our journey to meet Kate’s new family and Jeff had some kind words of support for Kate. He talked about how people say God created man and woman and night and day, but dusk and dawn are also God’s creations and they are just as important. He offered that thought to take with us on the rest of our journey.
In Sylva we stayed at a private RV resort in the mountains and our site backed right on a stream. I briefly worried about the bank collapsing with all the rain but it was all good. Quite a few seasonal folks staying there, some with more permanent structures built around their trailers to look like cabins. What a lovely view we had of the misty mountains!
More about Sylva and the family reunion. On to meet another first cousin in Watertown, NY.
Kate and her new half-sister, Joanne.
Pop-Up Family 
Thanks for the update on this wonderful odyssey! Lovely to see how Kate and Joanna mirror each other’s pose and expressions, even though their faces dissolve into pixel collage when I try to see close up! Cool Sylva mural though! Much love to all. Nancy E
Thanks for the update! Does Kate see any family resemblance? I can’t tell from that picture.
I think there are family resemblances between her and her half sister, and I think she looks like her new cousin Susan. I am waiting for Kate to post pictures. Her cousin on the father’s side re ognized her as a Dyer, the family of her father.
It’s time for you two to Pop Up again! Bets