Iowa!

On Friday, after driving east a little further, we left South Dakota and headed into Minnesota, turning south on I-35 at Albert Lea, MN.

We got to see what I-35 looks like without construction - never seen it like this in the Dallas area! (I-35E through Dallas seems to be in a constant state of construction!)

When I was looking at the map to see the route we would be taking, I noticed that Nashua, Iowa had "The Little Brown Church in the Vale". I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see it!

I think that when we were in Itasca State Park in Minnesota last August, we met a couple from Nashua, Iowa, and they told me that they were from the town with "The Little Brown Church in the Vale". I didn't know that there was a real church by that name.

I was humming the song, "The Little Brown Church in the Vale" all the way along the drive on Friday. I remember that, when I was a kid, our youth choir learned it (except we changed the words to the "Little White Church in the Vale") to sing it at Olivet Homecoming (the small white frame church where we had all-day meeting in May each year (pictures from our visit in 2016 here: http://trekincartwrights.blogspot.com/2016/05/homecoming-at-olivet-church.html)). In case you want to remember the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io6vlgHg4Ps  We probably didn't sound quite that good! Fun memories.