Frolf and Fall Colors

The next two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, were pretty similar to each other: get up and work through the morning to the mid-afternoon, take a break to go on a walk at the park with my mom and Faith, then get a bit more work done before having dinner and hanging out. We caught up with them and talked about the past few weeks on the road over some drinks and board games. It was great to be close to family and have easy access to showers and other such modern luxuries. Thursday morning came quickly, and we packed up our things to hit the road again, this time for only a short loop through Sioux Center, Kansas City, Texas, and back through St. Louis. As the end of morning came, we bid my parents farewell and hit the road to northwest Iowa where Faith’s second cousin was to be married. We left the hills, trees, and fields of eastern Iowa and traded them for the hills and fields of western Iowa as the miles went by. We got to Sioux Center early in the evening and spent the rest of the night catching up with Sheryl, Faith’s grandma, whom we hadn’t seen since April. Additionally, we had the opportunity to talk to and get to know some of Faith’s other extended relatives who were in town for the wedding. Dinner was a trip to our favorite Mexican restaurant in town that we frequented during college; as always, it was very good. The rest of the night was engaged in conversation before we all parted ways to get some sleep before the next day’s activities.

The next day, we had breakfast with Faith’s relatives until I had to take off to get some work done. Faith dropped me off at a local coffee shop that had opened since I was in college (big improvement over the previous cafe) where I got some solid work done and was joined by my sister, J(eralyn), for a bit before Faith came back to pick me up. She had spent the day getting quality time with her grandma and doing some shopping in town. The rehearsal dinner was in a few hours and the two of them had to go pick up family arriving from Kentucky, so she dropped me off to get ready on my own and headed to the airport in Sioux Falls. I spent the next while at J’s apartment hanging out with her and Gideon, her husband, before I had to head out. The rehearsal dinner was enjoyable, and we got more time conversing with Faith’s relatives. It was a bit somber as the groom was unable to attend: he was in the hospital for some very unexpected health issues. He was doing okay and was projected to make it to the wedding, but it was nonetheless a very unfortunate situation. After the dinner, we spent the rest of the evening at J and Gideon’s apartment. They had other obligations, so Faith and I looked for a movie to watch and stumbled upon Grizzly Man. The movie is fascinating, following a, in my opinion, lunatic as he lives amongst grizzly bears and (spoilers) eventually gets eaten by them along with the lady accompanying him. I would recommend the movie to anyone interested in documentaries and getting a peek into the minds those whose lives and beliefs are so different from ours.

The sun rose, and we got up ready for another day. We hung out with J and Gideon for a while before taking a jaunt to the park to play a round of disc golf where both girls (barely) managed to not hit any private property on the edge of the park. Way to go! It was a beautiful fall day with trees in peak color and just a light breeze to keep the air moving; you could hardly ask for anything better. Afternoon arrived, and we put on our nice clothes before heading with Sheryl to the venue, a rather tiny, rural church that somehow managed to fit all the guests. Thankfully, the groom was doing well enough to be discharged and stand for his wedding despite still not being anywhere close to feeling normal. The ceremony went off without a hitch, and we joined a long train of cars heading back to town for the reception. The reception was good: we talked with family a lot, heard some good speeches, did some dancing, and finally escaped being the first off the floor for the anniversary dance! The hours passed quickly, and we soon found ourselves closing the place down with a few of Faith’s family. We parted ways and went to J and Gideon’s to hang out with them for the rest of the night until bedtime had long since passed.

The next morning, we accompanied Sheryl and Faith’s aunt and uncle to visit the grave of Faith’s grandfather. Although somber, graveyards always hold interest in the variety of graves, names, and dates etched on monuments to someone you’ll never know. After a few minutes of conversation, we turned about and went back to Sioux Center and had brunch with all of Faith’s family followed by a lot more chatting. One by one, people started to leave back to their respective homes or to see other people in the area. We went back to J and Gideon’s and again spent the afternoon throwing some plastic plates in the general direction of metal chain buckets. It was again a beautiful day but with a few more leaves on the ground that J couldn’t resist. We buried her in a shallow pile before feasting on some excellent tacos from a sketchy-looking Mexican restaurant Faith and I introduced J and Gideon to. The rest of the evening was spent hanging out a little too late into the evening: J ended up skipping her 8AM class the next day. Oops!

Stats

• ~300 miles of driving
• 2 stops at Mexican
• 2 games of disc golf
• 1 wedding
• Many hours seeing family

Animals Seen

• Crows
• Bald Eagle
• Turkey vulture
• Deer
• Chipmunk
• Squirrel