We’re home! It was about 12 hours door-to-door today — a lovely day for a drive.

That’s the view from an interesting rest area in Iowa — somewhere between Des Moines & Dubuque.

We visited the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art today. They’re celebrating their 30th anniversary. We saw some amazing art, most of which I will share later…

We almost always enjoy stopping at a museum cafe (and gift shop), and Oil on Linen at the Kemper did not disappoint. The cafe staff & service were great (we enjoyed a cocktail, eggplant dip, smoked fish rillette, and a frittata (half of which we’ll be enjoying for breakfast tomorrow). And we each found a little something at the gift shop.

For most of the work exhibited in the museum, there were cards indicating the artist, title, medium, etc.

This work, in the cafe, didn’t have obvious information. Fine, I thought, I’ll just use Google Image Search (as I’ve been doing for a number of things lately, including the IOOF gravesite markers) to find out what it’s called & who the artist is.

But this piece, about the size of an actual rug (8×10 of so) turned up nothing but actual rugs! It’s really incredible. I’ll track it down & share it again when I post the rest.

Meanwhile, we’re packing up and departing for home early tomorrow morning — after a lovely frittata breakfast.

We did some shopping today, but the real highlight was barbecue for lunch! Jack Stack Barbecue was amazing… we could tell it was going to be good just watching the steady stream of people arriving. We started with burnt ends (pork & beef), I carried on with chicken, and Kate had baby back ribs. We didn’t need it, of course, but we shared some carrot cake for dessert — we’re on a little vacation, after all.

I didn’t take any photos today, so here are a few from yesterday’s cemetery visits.

I am familiar with the GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) marker, found at the grave of Isaac Wall Graham (though I’m not certain it’s his).

There were a couple of markers at the grave of C.B. & Mary E. (Graham) Sutton that were unfamiliar to me.

F.L.T. = Freedom, Love, and Truth, which is what the three links stand for at the top of the marker. It denotes association with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF).

I thought this one was quite lovely. It denotes a member of The Rebekahs — an organization that began as the women’s auxiliary of the IOOF. I believe that both men & women can now be Odd Fellows.

Kate (and Kai) & I began began our journey to Kansas City when she picked me up from work yesterday. I’d packed everything in advance (except for the MDK Atlas that I know is around but I could not locate) (which is so aggravating because I know I’ll run into it within 5 seconds of returning home), but off we went (plenty of projects in tow)…

We stopped in Madison for drive-thru/in-the-car dinner at Culver’s, reminiscent (always) of picking her up from O’Hare after a stint in Scotland… it’s so Wisconsin! If you’ve been to Culver’s (they’re at almost every exit*) and then been without for any period of time, you’ll know. And then straight through to the outskirts of Iowa City where we stayed overnight.

Check-in at our Airbnb in Overland Park (KS!) wasn’t until 4, so we had some time… and we weren’t too far from some places in Iowa that have been on my list. I did a quick check of Ancestry, and we made a bee-line for Oak Hill Cemetery in Belle Plaine, IA, to search for Charles Brice & Mary Elizabeth (Graham) Sutton, my great great grandparents.

I have a wonderful photo of them in Montana, where they thought they might make a go of it, holding my 1yo grandmother (ca. 1913), before they moved back to Iowa. (I’ll have to share that photo at another time because I am on the road & even getting a post off with pictures is SOMETHING!)

From there, we made our way 15 miles west to Haven Cemetery in Tama, IA, where Mary’s parents, Isaac Wall & Margaret (Leonard) Graham are buried.

There’s a lot more information available about all of these people since last I checked, and I’m excited to explore.

We’re settled into our Airbnb now for the next few days. Kai has been absolutely amazing… once she learns more about her physical limitations (can I jump from this bed to that without getting stuck in between?), she’ll be PERFECT.

I hope this posts OK. 😉