A Day in Galena

by Phil Rowe

Prologue --- While visiting my wife's aunt and uncle in Freeport, Illinois, we were treated to a drive to nearby Galena. It was a most interesting day.

Monday, July 15th, was our last day with the relatives at Freeport. We made the most of it by driving to nearby historic Galena, Illinois. That's just across the river from Dubuque, Iowa and the home of President U.S. Grant. It's also a charming old city that was once the largest commercial center on the Mississippi River. The region's lead mines and smelters made it a rich area in the last century, attested by the large homes and collection of shops and long the main street. In its heyday Galena was a prosperous and fancy community. Today it's a tourist meccas that keeps those same shops busy all year long. The old homes are now museums and many are restored to their former glory.

Lunchtime brought us to a very nice main street cafe. We had a fine meal that was served quite nicely. We enjoyed it and plenty of conversation. Then we walked up and town the street browsing in shop windows. Jean's aunt, Eleanor, met one of her former school pupils and a neighbor they'd known for years. Small world, but then that's where they've spent their four score and more.

After getting back to the house in Freeport we played several rounds of contract bridge. It wasn't until dark that we had to bid them a fond farewell and return to our trailer. Tomorrow we hitch up and head west again. Omaha, Nebraska is our last travel destination before heading home.

That drive to Omaha started from Lena, Illinois on U.S.20. Then at Stockton we turned south on state highway #78. That's a back road which takes you through beautiful farm country. The varied scenery, especially the multi-colored fields with corn, soybeans, alfalfa, hay and vegetable gardens, is terrific. Some fields had black cows. Others featured all-white ones. And many had mixed blacks and whites and a few browns. A few pastures held horses, but we saw only one with hogs.

Most farmhouses were in good repair. All but a few barns looked like they'd been cared for over the years. There were, to be sure, two or three barns that had fallen down. Some looked quite comical, those with roofs that sag deeply in the middle. We also liked seeing all those silos. This is very much silo country, though we have been told that few are really used much anymore. Grain and corn bins are more often put to work. The fanciest ones are the dark blue A.O. Smith Harvestore kind. They are deluxe glass-lined silos and were quite expensive. Most others are made of wood or concrete. Many are very tall, some perhaps five or six stories high. Few were less than three.

We didn't see any of the famous old BermaShave signs, those clever signs with whimsical phrases. One set that always amused me said: "If You", "Don't Know", "Whose Signs", "These Are","You Can't Have", "Driven Very Far". Yet it was alongs country roads just like Route 78 they would have been seen in the 1930's, 40's and 50's. I guess they would