Thank you so much for the encouragement Sandra, Leadfingers, SRS, Ebbie and All. I was afraid it was getting a bit long. I'm about to send in some photos. Here's the next bit:

Day 13 Cameron, Missouri to Oberlin Kansas

Back across the mighty Mississippi. We are traveling the road Hildebrand and a friend rode 40 years ago on bikes. Not a Harleys. He always wanted one of them. Kansas is well into Spring. Trees are leafy. The road is a gentle roller coaster ride, with low peaks and valleys. More cow feed lots. In these ones the poor animals are up to their ankles in mud instead of dust. In one, I notice a big mound of cow poo that seems firm and maybe is still frozen. It's quite steep and not very wide. Lying near the top I see a big black cow with her legs spread in a pose of gay abandon. She looks like a happy sunbather and I could swear she is smiling in a regal sort of way. There is room for only one of her kind on this warm island out of reach of the mud sea. I christen her
The DUNGHILL QUEEN.
We drive through the tiny town of Homer City. It looks neat and attractive. McDonalds again for lunch. We stay away from them at home but there's not too much choice when you're on the road and you can't tolerate cigarette smoke. A fun surprise in this one. A picture-book Granny fusses around the tables in a Grandmotherly way. She wears the usual uniform but has "Grandma" embroidered on her apron. She seems to be there just for atmosphere. She is busy favoring the truckers and lone diners so we don't get to talk to her. We have each other.
We turn off to Prairie Dog Town in the late afternoon. The town covers a large area and we walk around getting scolded and jeered at by the cute inhabitants. They stand at their doorways and wring their paws and shriek until you get about 2 feet off then they disappear inside and a neighbor pops up next door. A continual popping up and down and a scurrying about. We don't want to upset them too much so we go for a walk around the park. A brownish bird runs along beside us for a bit calling, "Kill deer! Kill deer!" Unsurprisingly it's called a Killdeer. From a clump of bushes I hear a bird or animal calling. I copy the call and we have a conversation of sorts until a Pheasant looses it's cool and makes a dash out of the bushes. Didn't know I could talk Pheasant.
Our motel for tonight is in Oberlin. There's a tableau of animals outside our room heading for Noah's ark and a rainbow. Next door a garden has even more cement animals. They wander across every available piece of lawn and sit in every tree and on the roof. It's a "Peaceable Kingdom" motif where the bears and cougars and eagles are all happy friends together with the plump and edible ducks and chickens and lambs. The room next door but one has a sign on the door saying, "TORNADO SHELTER". Of course we're in Kansas.
We eat in the attached restaurant. It's called "The Frontier Cafe" and is decorated with all sorts of hunting, settling memorabilia. On the far wall there's a picture I can't quite make out. I fear that it might be a bear and her cub trapped in a bear pit. I tell myself I don't want to know but I do. Hildebrand goes over for a better look. He comes back and sits opposite me. He says, "It's alright. The Mamma Bear and the Little Bitty Bear have found a stringer of fish beside the river. They are going to eat them for supper".   "And the fisherman?" I ask fearfully. "He went home hours ago. He's not going to disturb the bears". Hildebrand says. I see the little boy in the eyes of this man I love so much.