Americinn Albert Lea

... of CD and we are enjoying this awesome opportunity.  Tomorrow we are off to Osage Iowa which is only around 45 minutes away. We still have to go through our latest photos but we will post them very soon.  We already miss our family and friends and are thinking of them all the time.  Hope everything is going well and everyone is staying warm!  
 
 Rafi and Tianna

Our first day with sunshine, even at 10am (after excellent free
breakfast included in our $44 room) it was baking hot but cooler as we
got moving. Got some good miles done, then lunch at Subway just after
we crossed the Mississippsiiisiiispiii River (sp?).

Then things
got worse, Bonnie got a bit of turbulent tummy so she overtook me and
directed us off the Interstate just south of Rochester. Eventually we
Albert Lea, Minnesota, United States bonthorn

We didn't get this posted yesterday because Dad doesn't have Internet access out on the farm. This will be a short entry. We had a nice albeit quick visit with Dad. We did get a chance to run into town for a nice dinner with Dad for his birthday. (about a week late). His neighbor lady Edie popped over for a quick chat, it was good to see her again. She brought some fresh off the vine tomatoes for us to ...

... For dinner we served “Vegetable & Spam Skillet Dinner” (squash, potatoes, and tomatoes) as well as “Fried Cabbage, Apples, and Spam”. We rounded dinner out with fresh local watermelon (amazing!) and corn. Our Austin friends had a good laugh because they don't eat as much Spam as you might think. Hey, it helped soldiers get through World War 2!

Our volunteer team was also pretty sad saying good-bye to each ...

Jeriann here……



Last night we had the privilege of being invited to the home of one of our students. The dad so generously answered our questions and helped us to understand a little about life as an undocumented worker. The dangers and challenges you have to go through to cross the border and how incredibly expensive it is. Even after you get settled somewhere and find a job life doesn't seem that good to me ...

... to joke that my best friend's cello would fit the green giant as a violin, but I think that it would be a little small for this one. Well, I suppose they've got to do something for entertainment around here, in the middle of scenic nowhere. We can't figure out what this one plant we see growing on the side of the road is. I think it's soy bean but mom, dad and Lucy don't really have any ideas on what it is.

... was long and uneventful. We broke the monotony by doing a few geocaches. We pass along farms and ranches and by some beautiful fields of sunflowers. We did not get into the Badlands, but passed just to the north of them. We finally ended the day at Albert Lea, Minnesota. Tomorrow we will return to Tinley Park to say a quick hello to the Langes

Minnesota has a distinct honor in my book: state most beloved because of the reputation that proceeds it. How many lovable things have emerged from Minnesota? Some things on my list: Marge Gunderson (the police office in Fargo, who - while being a fictional character - displayed the intelligence of a Minnesotan with that thick northern accent), Jesse Ventura's campaign election (which is funnier: the fact that he ran or the fact ...

Happy Canada Day!! We decided to re-organize the van to make things easier to access and to pack up. However, this led to us getting on the road about 1 ˝ hours late, but who's counting. Our drive today had us leaving Michigan, and traversing Illinois, a small bit of Indiana and Iowa.. This brought around the south end of Lake Michigan through the Chicago suburbs without a whole lot to see. The scenery was quite a bit nicer in Iowa so long as you like to look a "big sky" as Wendi ...