if anyone wonders about what our country is doing about the ethanol crisis, just bike through the states of louisiana, mississippi, tennessee, missouri, illinois, and iowa. you will see corn until you are sick of seeing corn.
one afternoon in tennessee, clark invited me to stop by lucille and peter's farm. they are her cousins. lucille was standing at the end of her road when i pulled up and jumped out of the van.
"where's clark?" she asked. "peter's out in the truck looking for her."
"if we stand here a few minutes, i'm sure they'll be here," i answered.
surely enough, in less than five minutes, up pulled the maroon pick-up with clark and peter in front and clark's bike in back.
they invited us into their ranch-style farmhouse and asked us if we wanted a drink.
"i do," i answered. "that wind today is enough to drive anyone to drink."
we settled into their spacious and well-appointed living room with our merlot. clark proceeded to catch up on the family news with lucille; peter and i started talking farming.
"i was just in my hometown of liberal, kansas, last week, and everyone is growing corn now," i volunteered. "there is even a new ethanol plant on the outskirts of town."
"yes, corn is making millionnaires out of the farmers around here," he replied.
"good. they deserve it," i said.
"we're sticking to our regular crops of cotton, soy beans, and catfish farms," peter said.
"tell me about how you grow and harvest catfish," i inquired.
peter went into a long and detailed description of catfish farming, which was highly interesting.
"are you both ready to go to dinner?" asked lucille.
"let's go," said peter.
we all climbed into the club cab and headed for the nearest town of inverness, where we had an outstanding meal. peter and lucille knew everyone in the place.
after dinner, peter and lucille dropped us off at our motel. they've already become millionaires over other crops. they also are gracious and know how to show southern hospitality. i'm glad to have met them. they enriched my day.
thanks, peter and lucille.
1 comment:
Stephany,
I've just been enjoying your blog of our recent adventure when I came across the Indianola day. Your comments touched me so that I choked up! Thanks for the lovely memory of that day with Peter and Lucille.
As to your blog, it is just delightful - so much fun to remember the trip through your smile and humor. I raced thru each day trying to keep up with someone or just to get to the destination. I admired your ability to take your time, not worry about the day's end, and really enjoy the moment(s). Question: whey did you write the entries? Perhaps you used the motel pcs. . . Thanks for a truly delightful interpretation of our 40 day adventure. Later, Clark
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