Thurs. July 3, 2014 - Winterset - Council Bluffs 120 miles

This morning we were treated to Dave's family breakfast tradition of pancakes, hamburger gravy and fried egg stack.  Delicious!

 Then we got to see the sport and skill of horse cutting with cattle in action.   First step, Mike and I get to meet the horses

and get a comfortable lawn chair to watch, but stay out of the arena!

Next step, Dave and grandson Casey herd in the 40 head of cattle to practice / train with

Next step, Grandson Casey gets some last minute instruction from Dave, a well renowned horse trainer. 

Next step, horse and rider cut a cow out of the pack and keep it away just to prove they can.  

The goal in a 2/5 minute competition is to keep the cow away from the pack until it gives up trying - 

a skill useful to cowboys when herding cattle.

Finally, put the saddles away and feed the horses

Then give them a shower since it is a hot day

After all the fun and work were done, I got a chance to pretend I'm a farm girl climbing a ladder in the barn

Then we headed off the farm to get lunch at the local Peru Bar and Grill and said good-bye for now.

Until we meet again......... it has been a fun spontaneous reunion with the Borness family in Iowa. We spent more time in Iowa than we expected, but visited with a group of people who were genuinly happy to see us and share the common bond of family with us.  It was good.

But leave we must - it is July. Ee need to be in Truckee by July 15, and we still have 1,600 miles to go!

So we drove our first the 100 miles of the trip on I-80 from Winterset to Council Bluffs, IA past an impressive windmill farm, and learned at another rest area about the wind power generated here

Council Bluffs is on the Missouri river crossing into Omaha Nebraska.  We found a very comfortable parking spot in the Harrah's Casino parking lot,

and were treated to fireworks over the river after dark.