While just googling around the other day, looking for my German roots, I made a fascinating and sad discovery. It seems that some Kantizes in Germany and Czechoslovakia were of Jewish descent. Some of them converted to Christianity in the 18th and 19th centuries. Many others practiced their Jewish faith. Several of their descendants were sent to concentration camps during World War II, and many, many died there. Their stories are heart-wrenching. The Kanitz holocaust survivors are haunte... Read Full Story

Things have been very quiet out here on the river since we got back from our road trip. Dick has been super busy winterizing everything - our bushes are covered, our wood is stacked, deer fences are up, leaves are blown and bagged, and our machinery has been attended to. It's been very nice of Mother Nature to hold off on the snowing and blowing this far into November, very nice indeed. Yes indeed. It's been cold and frosty, but that's all.I've been very busy spending money - buying prese... Read Full Story

Lovely day for a drive. Bright sunshine and blue skies all day long. Stopped along the way in Iowa to get some caches in Durant and Wilton. It's always fun to crossover the mighty Mississippi River. Then came Illinois. We stopped for lunch at Mindy's in Merkona. I loved the picture on the outside wall by the front door. It shows an old fashioned outdoor family picnic - it was interesting to look at the faces and imagine the relationships.I-80 was busy, but traffic was only moderate until... Read Full Story

Said goodbye to Belleville Kansas - mailed Tom's cards at the Belleville P.O., found the Belleville High Banks Race Track, and headed north to Nebraska. We found one cache at the High Banks, and two more along I-80 in Nebraska. Today is college game day, and when we stopped at a rest area just west of Lincoln, everybody walking past was wearing Nebraska red. Those folks were all on the way to their game, and they were in for a bad day. Texas Tech beat them badly.Spent most of the afternoon... Read Full Story

Our motel in Bartlesville:The Bartlesville water department has a sense of humor!Nuvi took us on some less-traveled roads north out of Bartlesville and into Kansas. Our day was spent driving through Kansas.I was expecting flat land and waving fields of wheat, but it's not like that at all. We saw tons of pasture land filled with contented herds of cattle, and even some feed lots jammed with much less contented cattle. It makes no sense to me to pen them up in feed lots when there is pastur... Read Full Story

We delayed leaving Texarkana for about an hour because of a storm warning. We drove in rain for a little bit, but the rain was going south and we were going north, so eventually we got away from it.This part of Texas is very down-at-heel. The homes and yards are not kept up, and the small towns are depressing. Driving through small villages such as Hooks, New Boston, DeKalb, Detroit and Blossom I felt so sorry for them and so very lucky to live where we do. As we were passing through one ... Read Full Story

Left the motel during rush hour in Memphis. Back over the Mississippi into Arkansas. Luckily, the only weather issue we had this morning was a dense fog - thankfully no rain. We drove south through Arkansas, heading for Louisiana to add that state to our total. Stopped for lunch at a truck stop, "Country Fare" in Prescott, Arkansas.It seemed so fitting to me that, as we drove south through this southern state, Diane Rehm was interviewing Ralph Stanley on NPR. He has been singing Old Time... Read Full Story

Memories of today: road construction of all sorts -closed ramps to the interstate right where you need to go,cold rain,torn up bridges,two lane traffic on a six lane highway because the other side was all torn up,huge piles of dirt,heavy splashing and mist,piles of broken concrete,deluge of rain so loud we couldn't hear the CD,a truck stopped dead in the left lane with no flares, cones, or orange triangles,more kinds of construction equipment than you can shake a stick at,more rain, hard rai... Read Full Story

Uneventful drive through Michigan. Stopped in Niles for lunch at a very interesting place called the Riverfront Cafe.Then on into Indiana. One of the places we drove through is Kokomo...so I spent the rest of the afternoon with this song in my head:Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take you toBermuda, Bahama come on pretty mamaKey Largo, Montego baby why dont we goOff the Florida keysTheres a place called KokomoThats where you wanna go to get away from it allOf course our Kokomo was not THAT Kokom... Read Full Story

Minor's Two Scores Not Enough in U-M Loss at No. 12 Iowa Oct. 10, 2009 Site: Iowa City, Iowa (Kinnick Stadium)Score: #12 Iowa 30, Michigan 28Record: Michigan (4-2, 1-2 Big Ten), Iowa (6-0, 2-0 Big Ten)Attendance: 70,585 (sellout)Next U-M Game: Saturday, Oct. 17 -- vs. Delaware State (Michigan Stadium), 12:01 p.m.IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Iowa (No. 12 AP/No. 14 USA Today) remained unbeaten and eked out a 30-28 victory over the University of Michigan football team on Saturday night (Oct. 10) at ... Read Full Story