The Weekend!

Hope you all enjoyed the holiday weekend! We did! Mom, Dad, Nikki, Adrian, and myself ended up staying in a motel for the entire weekend, starting Thursday and ending today. We had a couple of rooms and while it wasn't a lot of room, it was great for them to feel like they had their own space and just relax. We stayed right in Burlington, so we didn't travel, but it felt like a getaway, and was a much needed refresher!

On the 4th, we took the boat out on Mississippi. It was still technically closed for recreational boating (oops!), but we went to check out our cabin. (More on the cabin later!). On a typical 4th of July, we'd probably go out on a boat ride and either take the boat to Oquawka, IL to eat, or else we'd dock at the cabin and cookout. This year, we took the boat to see the damage. We went up several miles on the river, and it was really an odd feeling. Here we were doing something we all loved and enjoyed, yet it was the exact thing that destroyed our farm. Weird.

The water is still continuing to go down. In fact, it's quite amazing how much it's gone down. We went to the area where the Mississippi levee had been cut to drain the flooded part. The water is still roaring out and into the Mississippi. We stopped the boat on one part of the levee to get out and explore just a bit. It was interesting to see the farm from that angle. On our farm, we have a dirt lane that runs from the house to the Mississippi levee. We have a landing, and we were able to cross over the levee and put the boat in there. A lot of that levee has now washed away, but there was still sand to walk around on.

When we were kids, we would do all kinds things on the levee. Walk up and down on it, ride the four-wheelers all over it, sit in the back of the truck and ride down. A couple of winters we even sledded down it. Now when you stand on top of what is left of it, all you see is water, and trash. There was lots of stuff that had floated there and stopped. Even the roof to something. We saw probably 10 - 15 propane tanks that had floated and gotten caught in the trees. But the weirdest find of the day.....

Our deck. Yep. Somehow, it come loose from the ground and house, floated a mile (pretty much intact) and rested here:


A few feet away - the steps to the deck (our farm is behind the steps in the distance):


More pictures on my Shutterfly account.

Tomorrow (Monday), I am going to Cedar Rapids to volunteer. Cedar Rapids is about an hour and a half's drive north from where we are. If you remember, it was one of the hardest hit areas, with about 25,000 displaced from their homes. The Salvation Army has opened a warehouse in an old grocery store. Flood victims come and can get groceries and other household items they need, free of charge. I'm going to spend the day helping those people pick out items. I'm looking forward to it. It should be a good opportunity to help out and just hear people's stories from that part of the state. I'll blog about the day tomorrow night!

Have a great week!!