I don’t think I have ever seen as much corn as I have in the last two days. All of Nebraska and all of Iowa were vast expanses of corn fields broken by occasional little towns and villages along the way. I think I love the I-80 corridor drive much more than I-70. The cities you go through are not nearly as congested as St. Louis and Kansas City.
We left York, Nebraska yesterday morning at around 10:15 and pulled into Morton, Illinois at around 8:00 last night. I have family history here. Morton, Pekin, and Peoria are clustered nearby. Grandma and Pop-Pop came here when my mama was around two years old. Pop-Pop had to go where the work was. He and his two brothers’ families worked in this area as well. My uncle was born in Pekin. I have distant cousins in this area, but no time to look them up this trip.
As we were driving through Iowa yesterday, it was about lunch time when I saw a sign for the town of Walnut. They are known as the “antique city” of Iowa. I asked Mr. FixIt if he was ready to stretch his legs and maybe browse a couple of antique shops and grab some lunch. He’s always game for a good time so I put on my turn signal and exited the hustle-bustle of the interstate and stepped back into time.
When you drive down the wide avenue into the antique district of the bucolic little village of Walnut, you can’t help but notice the amazing Victorian style homes lining each side of the street. The town was neat as a pin…each yard was well groomed with magnificent trees and landscaping. We parked in front of the post office and strolled across the herringbone brick street and wandered through a handful of shops. It was everything I could do to not strap a couple of beautiful finds to the top of my truck as there is absolutely no room inside for one more thing.
I glanced at the time, and as much as I hated to, I told Mr. FixIt we’d better get on the road. As we walked back up the street hand in hand, he smiled at me and asked me that question every woman wants to hear.
“Do you want to get ice cream for lunch?”
Back off girls…I found him first!
Who doesn’t want ice cream for lunch, right? We crossed over to The Banana Split where Sarah greeted us warmly. We shared the usual pleasantries and asked a bit about the town. Then we got down to the business at hand. There are about eight or nine flavors of hard ice cream as well as soft serve, candy, chips, and the usual soda fountain fare of banana splits and sundaes. Their special yesterday was banana bread pudding with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce and a sprinkling of pecans to finish it off. I demurred and told Sarah that was WAY out of my calorie limit for a whole month!
I selected cherry nut ice cream in a waffle cone. My dad’s favorite ice cream was cherry nut so consequently that was the one we had most often in our house. I didn’t catch where they get their ice cream or if they make it themselves, but it was the best cherry nut I’ve ever had. Rich and smooth and not cloyingly sweet. Mr. FixIt followed my lead and had the same, but in a cup.
If you ever find yourself crossing Iowa on I-80 and you want to enjoy a couple of hours at a slow and sweet pace, drop into Walnut, check out the antiques and go see Sarah at The Banana Split. Tell her Ginny McKinney sent you!
❤️
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:”
Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV