Leaving Madison convenient for Cathy and us, I am first in the driving seat.
Conversations overtake Cathy’s-Mom’s goings, through Wisconsin and Iowa;
ultimately conversations collide with cat-naps.
Darkness has overcome Iowa, Northern Missouri; passengers sleep, driver sleepy.
Venus windows in the upper left corner; exhausted, centerline won’t stay put.
Second driver, Lydia, challenges the Kansas City urban traffic as she always will.
K. C. viewed from the Missouri river bridge is all lit-up, alive, an all night venue.
No traffic challenges at this midnight meeting hour; destination Union Station.
Doug and Amtrak arrive punctually; all relieved and joyous with hugs.
Third driver Cathy mines Doug for all of his Germany abroad experiences.
Mom and I sleep some before Emporia; later seeing a cold slow Eastern sky awake,
Missed the first oil pumps, but not Flint Hills cattle feeding fat on prairie grasses.
Grandma and Grandpa are awake with warm loving; Olga notes how we’ve changed.
As always she is eager to show us everything new since our last visit!
My Christmas morning jog traces ten trips around Grandma’s fifteen-acre perimeter path.
White signal rag is out of the box, I retrieve the Wichita Eagle; not much news.
Harry’s suspended living room Christmas tree; a centerpiece of grandpa ingenuity.
Resting, loafing and being hosted, gifted; prods us North toward home.
Weather forecasts our return will ultimately slice into a storm. Grandma worries.
Accumulating snow before Dubuque; Wisconsin visibility decreasing after the river.
We, and leading Iowa County snowplow man call it a night at Mineral Point.
Happily, I register for the only remaining, very cozy, Pointer Motel room.
palmer haynes
january 2004
