Miles Added To A Short Road Trip

When we learned last week that our friend Becky was going to be in Greenfield this afternoon for a book signing event, I thought we should go. I've only known her since last fall, but Bud has known her many years; her husband was Bud's best friend. She had already given us a copy of her book, which I wrote about in the October Book Report post last fall.
We went a little early in order to visit with her. Her back was to us. She turned and glanced at Bud and started to turn back before looking back at him with a look on her face that was priceless. I really wish I had a picture. I had my camera with me. I had every intention of taking some photos, but we started talking and I totally forgot. It was very good to see her again.

We had not yet seen this year's Freedom Rock, so we planned to go there first then have lunch before going to the book signing. Bubba Sorensen has been painting the large boulder along Highway 25 north of Greenfield since 1999. This year's rendition is his 20th. If you go to the Freedom Rock .com you can see all 20 of his rock paintings honoring Veterans.

There was just one small hiccup in our plans; Highway 25 North of Greenfield was closed for bridge work. Signs were up, "Open to Local Traffic Only", but you could drive around them, which we did and got within a few miles of the rock. No problem, Iowa is mostly laid out in a grid pattern of country square miles. All we had to do was go a mile east, a mile north*, then a mile west. Voila, around the bridge work and back on the highway. The problem was there was more than one bridge being worked on. So we ended up going around another country mile square before getting back to pavement and eventually to the Freedom Rock.

It was worth the drive; it always is. This year's painting is much different than anything he as done before. It features pictures of Veterans from the American Revolution through the present War in Afghanistan, all painted in grayscale. The only color is from the flag on front....

....and the helicopter on back which is the only section of the rock that is never changed. It has the ashes of veterans mixed in with the paint.

And I can never resist taking pictures of the gravel pits near the Freedom Rock. It isn't evident in the photo, but the little 'berries' on the juniper tree are just as blue as the water and the sky.

Even with the detours and extra miles, it was a very satisfying road trip on a beautiful June day in Iowa.

(*The mile north was a lovely dirt road. Too bad, so sad, we didn't have time to stop and hunt rocks.) 😢