A Road Trip

I walked away from everything today. I gassed up the truck, shoved in an old Willie (Don’t Fence Me In, Sioux City Sue, etc.) and headed up Highway 71 to meet my friend. Despite dry fields, the corn was a lush green. Wheat in shades of saffron grew up to the ditches lined with orange tiger lilies and white Queen Anne’s Lace. Skies were a faded blue denim; it was a beautiful day.
Tracy lived two doors down from me for over a decade. Now it has been fifteen years since she moved away.  We met fairly often, but it has been almost three years since we had a girls' lunch without the men. We declared today ours. The years fell away and we slipped into conversation like we still lived on the same street and were out for tea. She had the lion’s share of driving because we wanted to meet in Nevada, a small town suffering fading in economic pinch like many small Midwestern towns.

But we found a delightful place to eat on the town square. The décor of Jenny’s California Café was simple but comfortable. No clutter, wide spaces and crisp cushions on the chairs! The food was very good. Many choices of sandwiches and salads. Some unusual things on the menu were a hummus sandwich and fresh mozzarella salad. We did the salad with our choices of other sandwiches. Known for gourmet cupcakes the size of hub caps, the day’s choice was German Chocolate cupcakes and raspberry cream cheese coffee cake muffins.  Yum.

After eating we meandered around side streets and found a most lovely yarn and fiber shop. The gals there sell stock yarns but also dye their own yarns. There were alpacas, wools, synthetics…colors of a rainbow! I brought home one hank of a hand-dyed yarn…beautiful just to see and feel. The shop is owned by partners Leslie and Janet. One being the weaver and the other is the knitter.  Something here for everyone.

My friend brought me Teavana tea…so fragrant! So tonight the day ends with thoughts of good food, a good friend, wonderful tea, a hank of yarn, and memories made…a good day for sure!