Today it was frosty outside when we got up. But with blue and cloudless sky it quickly warmed up. We left arround 10 am, no rush to freeze and then, what a day! It became almost sommer again, we drove in short troussers and T-shirts. The whole day the road brought us through the same countryside, flat with corn and soyafields. To our surprise we even saw pumpkin fields with thousands of pumpkins. With many forests, hedges and rivers, the landscape never gets boring, always something to see. Not many towns or villages were on our way and the ones we passed seemed nice but rather deserted. One small town, Palestine, was remarkable. It used to be full of live and importance, had even an operahouse, but today on main street two out of three shops are closed. Still it looks nice and tidy, but what happened to all the people? On main street we found a memorial for the US soldiers from Palestine who had fallen in Iraq and Afganistan. So many out of such a small place. Yesterday President Obama announced, that all American troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of the year. Seeing the toll, one of these wars took even on a small community, one can only think, it was long ago time to do so! But finally they come back home.
Today it was frosty outside when we got up. But with blue and cloudless sky it quickly warmed up. We left arround 10 am, no rush to freeze and then, what a day! It became almost sommer again, we drove in short troussers and T-shirts. The whole day the road brought us through the same countryside, flat with corn and soyafields. To our surprise we even saw pumpkin fields with thousands of pumpkins. With many forests, hedges and rivers, the landscape never gets boring, always something to see. Not many towns or villages were on our way and the ones we passed seemed nice but rather deserted. One small town, Palestine, was remarkable. It used to be full of live and importance, had even an operahouse, but today on main street two out of three shops are closed. Still it looks nice and tidy, but what happened to all the people? On main street we found a memorial for the US soldiers from Palestine who had fallen in Iraq and Afganistan. So many out of such a small place. Yesterday President Obama announced, that all American troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of the year. Seeing the toll, one of these wars took even on a small community, one can only think, it was long ago time to do so! But finally they come back home.
We also passed a little shop selling antiques and at the same time its a small restaurant. We stoped and ate fantastic pumpkin pie with donut coffee. The owner once worked for Obama in the Illinois senate. He likes Obama (as we do) and told us, that this part of the US is very conservative, not easy for him as a liberal (or democrate). And like so many here, he has German roots and hopes one day to go again to Europe to see where all his ancestors come from. We could have chatted much longer with him, but it was already late and we still had 50 km to go. It was great to meet so nice people who have time to sit down for a chat! 
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