Grand Tour - Missouri, Kansas, Illinois - Day Eight

Monastery at Dawn

We spent the night at the Clyde Mother House in some very commodious guest quarters.  I was up early as is my custom and went out in search of some pictures.  It turned cloudy over night and the sun rise was almost without any light or color.  Nonetheless, I found some subjects that caught my eye.  You can see them at the updated photo album on our stay in Clyde.  There is a wind turbine just off the property, clearly visible from the chapel.  there was a continuous noise from the blades rushing through the air.  It is probably the price we have to pay for our use of energy but there will never again be a soundless night at Clyde.

Of course, the morning is not quiet anyway.  The magnificent bells of the chapel pealed out around 7:30 as you see and hear in the video below.

We spent some time with Sr. Paula before heading out and getting on the road to Aurora, Illinois, our next stop.  It had turned cool and it was raining steadily for the first time during our trip.  This would be nothing to the freezing weather that finally caught up with us in Aurora.  Along the way, we stopped at one of Marilyn's favorite places:  an outlet mall.  This one was the Tanger Mall along I-80.  Marilyn spent time in several stores but ended up getting an Eddie Bauer light fleece top.  I got a similar item along with a wind proof jacket.  the weather was getting decidedly cooler and we kept seeing forecasts for freeze warnings in the days ahead.  While Marilyn visited her last store--Tower--I took my camera to the field behind and got this picture of one of the huge corn fields in this area which had just been harvested.

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A Iowa corn field after harvesting

We got to Brendan and Eileen's a little after 9:00.  The kids had been waiting up for us...or maybe it was the brownie with ice cream that would only be served once we arrived.  In any case, we all enjoyed the delicious brownies and ice cream before getting to bed for what would be a busy day Friday.