Visitors

Hello,

We had visitors stop on their way south. That was so nice. I just really like to talk to someone who has been in my life for a while. It is as good as slipping into a comfortable pair of shoes. Leroy tells me that I looked happy. I certainly felt happy. Even Leroy enjoyed it and he does not know them so very well. We are blessed.

After that great visit we went out and took a walk. I assured Leroy that I wanted to walk longer in the balmy weather so we headed off on one of the trails that leads to a spring coming out of the side of the bluff above the Mississippi. “Are you sure it is dry enough so we won’t slip?” I wondered as we started. Even though it was warm there was some dampness.

For protection on part of the trail there is a single strand of a seriously strong wire strung on two by four sized steel posts that have been cemented into the ground. Seeing one of these posts washed out and the cement bottom dangling in the air, I commented, “It certainly does not inspire confidence that it will hold me up if I should fall.”

In a part of the trail the path is so narrow that the steel presses the waist on one side with the rocks touching on the other.

I did ok going down, but for some reason on the way back, in one place that was trickier to navigate upright, I bent down to use the rock above as a grasping point. Then for a number of feet I found myself too uncomfortable to stand so I foraged on with my hands firmly on the soil and my bottom up. Leroy, who was behind me assured me that it was safe to stand, but I could not bring myself to let go for a few more steps. Guess I am not ready to climb mountains.

At the site of the spring there was a plaque that had been put up the DAR in 1915 stating that this was BlackHawk Spring. BlackHawk was a chief of the Sauk and Fox Indians who used the spring when they were in the area in the early 1800’s.

Paula