Sarah Walker Gorrell, Author

I had seen the beautiful church steeple, on our way to Rochester, but we were running behind schedule (and Mike was taking a nap while I drove), so there was no stopping for pictures. On our way back home, once we crossed into Iowa, I started watching the skyline. Once I spied the steeple, Mike began to look for the road to get to the church. He turned on Lourdes Road, in Lourdes, Iowa, to get down to 'Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.' It was late Saturday afternoon and the cars in the parking spaces indicated that Mass was in progress. Our Lady of Lourdes is in the Holy Rosary Cluster, with churches from four other towns, and they are all under the direction of the Archdiocese of Dubuque. The Gothic Brick church was built in 1901, and at one time there was a Convent and School. Sisters of Saint Francis from Clinton, Iowa served the Parish until the school closed in 1969. Originally, the church was named "The Immaculate Conception," and that is ...

We left Readlyn, Iowa headed to Rochester, MN behind schedule, but I figured that Mike's "pedal to the metal" would get us there "almost" on time. We were on our third day of "road trips" and this one would take us to see one of his twin granddaughters, Morgan, who is in the Finance Department at IBM.                                             As we stopp ed, at a light, on the south edge of Rochester we noticed that their Water Tower was shaped like an Ear of Corn! Mike did some research (Iowa is the Corn State, why does Rochester have an Ear of Corn for their Water Tower?), and we learned that the town is either going to "paint it or take it down" because, at night, kids are enticed to try and climb it. It has become a dangerous situation. Ever thought about putting a locked fence, with barbed wire, around it? We never learned why it's an Ear of Corn! We f...

Ever since my sidetrip in November, 2014, I had wanted to return to the  town of Louisiana, Missouri. It was deemed Historic by one of the brown, Historical markers on Hwy 61, which is also called the "Avenue of the Saints."  I suppose I was intrigued by the name. Why is a town, in one state, named for another state? We left our Cozy C campground on Hwy 54 with the address of Bowling Green, and headed east to Louisiana. I assured Mike that he just "had" to see this quaint little town, on the banks of the Mississippi. We stopped at a Convenience Store and upon asking the young 18-19 year old clerk (why did I think he would know?) "How did Louisiana get it's name?" His reply was, "I don't know, but many years ago we had lots of people coming here because "Bigfoot" was sighted."  Bigfoot? Really? So, to Google I went. And yes, in 1971-1972 there was a sighting of a "Bigfoot-like-creature."  It apparently was one of ...

My youngest great-grandson turned one year of age, this past week, on April 17th a couple of days after "Tax Day." His mommy, my youngest granddaughter, (we've got a trend going, here) has been planning his big First Birthday Party for months.  She took after her own mommy, my oldest daughter, who is very creative and talented in the creativity department. Now, that daughter DID NOT take after her mommy (me). I've decided she inherited her creative talents from her dad. Anyway, having said that, there's going to be a party centered around the farm and farm implements and farm animals. Why? They don't live, on a farm, so I don't know. This First Birthday isn't going to be just a birthday, it's going to be an event.....with food.  And, I said, "what can I do, to help?" You know, that's what grandmothers or, in my case this time, great-grandmothers do. She (the granddaughter) gave me the menu, which included stuffed eggs, ...

Yesterday, on our trip 'cross the MS River Bridge to check out Helena, AR we had a wonderful unplanned experience. We were looking for food - fast food, any food. We never saw a McDonald's, Burger King, Popeyes, nothing but I did manage to encourage Mike to continue in a direction that he really didn't want to go. (The River Bridge, back to MS, was the "other" way.) Suddenly, around a curve, sat a small local restaurant. I convinced Mike that we should stop. It said, "Rosie's Diner" and "Soul Food." (I had to 'splain to MIke what Soul Food was - and after my explanation, he had a strange look on his "I don't know if I want to stop or not," face. We did.) We ordered what Mike said was the best Pulled Pork Sandwich he had ever had. They were cooking it, right there, in the little wooden shed out to the side.....where black smoke was just rolling from the roof and windows. OMGosh, I'm hungry for another one....

I had just taken over driving (Mike usually does the driving, but the sun had made him sleepy) when I saw the Exit sign for Kahoka, MO. I said to him (who had already dozed off), "I really want to see this place." Mike is "easy"......so he said, "I don't care, go ahead."  It was a good thing, because I had already gotten off at the exit! Now, the reason I wanted to see this little town, which was about 10 miles off our route was because, in 1932, his parents had come here to get married. I had always wondered "why?" We drove the 10 or so miles to Kahoka, which is the county seat of Clark County. It's the first courthouse in northeastern Missouri, just south of the Iowa border. Back in 1932, there was no waiting period, no doctor's exam, nothing needed to get a Marriage License. This was the "Marriage Capital" of the Midwest. People came from Iowa, from Illinois, from wherever to get married in Kahoka, MO. It was the ...

On the floor, to the right of me, is a young woman and her son from Chesnut Ridge, NY.  (Her name is Hannah and his is Maxwell.) They were on their way to Dallas. Farther down, a young man sleeps, on the floor, with his head on his backpack. Across the way, a young couple sits.....eating a sandwich. To my left, stretched along the wall.....anywhere there's an outlet, so that a cell phone can be plugged in, there are people. We're all stranded, for the night, in the Shreveport airport. No hotel rooms available, because of the 9 flights that were diverted from Dallas due to the terrible storms. Our flight was one of the last to disembark. There are people here from everywhere......trying to get anywhere......everywhere. I wonder what happened to the flight, from Mexico. There is no Customs Agent, here, so they were unable to get off the plane. We sat, on the plane on the tarmac, for 5 hours. The pilot gave updates, every hour, and the horrible weather attacking Dallas, cont...