Carroll County Barns

Sunday evening and Monday morning I drove the country roads around here in search of barns. Here's a sampling.

Thought the John Deere trailers at either side set this one off nicely.

I espied an oblong barn that was in pretty bad shape, but not far away I saw its sturdier twin. Had to drive about a quarter-mile off the road along the edge of a corn field to get the picture, but this barn's architecture seems pretty unusual.


Most of the 'impressive' barns I saw, in size and style, were showing neglect. Guess they served their purpose so fresh paint and lumber are not being expended on their behalf. Pity. Kind of like retired statisticians. Need to get some of those historic preservationists interested in barns! Get some "bale-out" money and fix them up. I'd volunteer to swing a paintbrush.

Which reminds me of a story I meant to tell you about Butler, MO. I mentioned I painted the Cross family barn to impress Judy's father. I had to pass muster by both of her parents. When Judy said I planned to be a statistician, her mother replied, with a frown, "Well, you know what I think about statistics." No respect. We don't get no respect.

Cheers,

Rob and Susie

Mount Carroll

Quiet day at the Timber Lake Campground today, Monday. All the weekenders left yesterday and the seasonal group also is mostly gone, back to work in Chicago, Dubuque, or wherever. When Matt and family lived in Grand Rapids we often parked at a campground on the outskirts of town. There were quite a few locals who packed the kids, pets, tents, and campers and spent the weekend at essentially their neighborhood campground. Swimming, campfires, etc., just like a real vacation but without the driving hassle. Nobody ever said, "Are we there yet?"

We picked Kaci up at noon and drove into Mount Carroll for lunch (about five miles from Timber Lake). Had a nice visit - she's really enjoying the summer, even though there's NOTHING HERE - in Mount Carroll, pop. 1800. Thirty miles to a Target or Wal-Mart; more seriously, one hour to a hospital. She was up until 2:00 am after yesterday's show, tearing down the Grease set and putting up the set for the next show -- pretty complicated set, I guess. She's on the wardrobe team this week, which means she and others were driving to nearby towns with thrift shops this afternoon in search of appropriate costumes for upcoming shows. That's show biz -- one day you're a star; the next you're doing wardrobe.

After we took Kaci back to Timber Lake we returned to spend some quality time in Mount Carroll. Doing the Chamber of Commerce's bidding, "Come experience Mount Carroll's historic grace, scenic beauty and country charm."

On the south side of town there is a very nice college campus -- red brick buildings, green lawns, lots of trees -- the prototypical small midwest college, at least that's what it appears to be. Turns out that Shimer College was founded here in 1853. It was one of the smallest liberal arts college, enrollment 150, and one with a Great Books curriculum. But, it moved away 30 years ago. Here's the Wikipedia short history:

Shimer was founded in 1853 in Mount Carroll, Illinois, by Frances Wood Shimer and Cinderella Gregory as a non-denominational all girls seminary. In the early 1960s, Shimer gained national attention with a Time magazine article about the school highlighting its reputation as a counterculture mecca. The article cited a survey by the Harvard Educational Review that ranked Shimer as among the top eleven small liberal arts colleges in the United States, along with Carleton College, Reed College, and Swarthmore College. Mounting debts and bankruptcy forced the college to leave its Mount Carroll campus and move to the northern Chicago suburb of Waukegan, Illinois in the winter of 1978-79.

On January 19, 2006, amid controversy, the Board of Trustees announced that it had accepted an invitation to move Shimer College to the Illinois Institute of Technology campus in Chicago. The move was completed August 10, 2006.

I don't know what happened, but I can't imagine this being a counterculture center for very long.

For the last 29 years the campus has been the site of the Campbell Center for historic preservation studies, which sounds interesting. Their clientele is mid-career professionals in the business of collections care and historic preservation. Many campus buildings appeared to us to be not in use, but the campus is neat and well-maintained and must be successfully filling a need.

The town has several brick streets and many elegant houses on leafy lots. Here's a shot of downtown. Brick-making was a key industry in the town's founding.

And here's a Civil War monument on the courthouse square.

I'm sorry, though, the courthouse doesn't compare well with those we've shown you earlier, so no picture. It looks like three buildings stuck together that don't quite match.

After our sightseeing turn we found a tea shoppe and had some very good pie and cobbler, each a dollar and a quarter! What a deal.

Cheers,

Susie and Rob

Grease!

Susie here.

When I was a star struck girl in college and singing in a couple of musicals, I dreamed of performing on Broadway some day. Well, I soon became a college graduate who fulfilled every girl’s (in the 50’s) dream and received her Mrs. degree and married the man of my dreams. Thus, began the development of the Manny and Susie Hinkle family tree. The grandchildren came along and filled in the family tree. Each family brought great pride and provided wonderful memories for us. Each grandchild developed his/her own special talent, which brings us to the memorable experiences we had yesterday at Timber Lake Resort.

Our granddaughter, Kaci Hinkle, (who has chosen Kaci Scott as her stage name) is employed by this resort for the summer. She was “Sandy” in the musical “Grease” that has had a 10 day run in the theatre at this resort. All these college students who have come from all over the United States were so outstanding and the sold out audiences have been enchanted. As we watched, clapped and, yes, shed a tear or two, we were so proud of Kaci as well as each cast member.

Kaci is not only blessed with a wonderful talent and amazing singing voice, but she is blessed with a family who adores her and has supported her throughout high school and college as she as set her sights on her musical career. None have been more supportive than her parents, Suzy and Matt, who have provided help with high school productions, provided emotional support and, yes, mucho dollars for her singing and dancing lessons and her college education at Baldwin Wallace Music Conservatory in Berea, Ohio, (suburb of Cleveland). Her parents, maternal grandparents and brother came from New Mexico and Texas for her “Grease” performance, as did we. This is such a wonderful opportunity for Kaci as she is majoring in musical theatre and, yes, hopes to perform on Broadway after graduation in two years. We will return in July to watch her performance in “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”.

As I have watched these gifted performers I realize that God has a plan for each of us. He saved me from absolute rejection and embarrassment if I ever thought that I had any semblance of talent needed to be on Broadway. But—isn’t that what life is about—receiving the God-given talent that is ours and going with it? My talent was obviously not on the stage, but is it O.K. if I dream a little as I watch my beautiful granddaughter fulfill the dream for both of us? We know that God is watching over our Kaci and will direct her in the right path to pursue her dream.

Now, Rob. I'm ba-a-a-ck:

We got to Timber Lake late Sunday morning, got set up, then found Kaci for a short visit.

The Sunday matinee was the last show of the run. Most of you probably know the Grease plot, but just in case:

Good girl Sandy and greaser Danny fell in love over the summer. But when they unexpectedly discover they're now in the same high school, will they be able to rekindle their romance?

Lots of teen-age emotions and fun music and dancing.

The movie starred Olivia Newton-John as Sandy and John Travolta as Danny.

Here, the Timber Lake Danny and Sandy sign autographs.

And here is Timber Lake itself.

The campground is on one side of this little lake. The theatre on the other side.

Getting here was interesting. We trusted Garmin GPS all the way. We drove through lots of gorgeous corn and dairy country like this, no hints of timber or lakes, the road dwindling in size and apparent traffic, no signs giving any indication that we were in a theatre district.

Then, we came to a wooded intersection and there it was! A real oasis. The campground has about 200 camping spots, well-shaded and separated. There are lots of seasonal sites for people who come year after year and stay all summer, plus sites for short-term RVers like us. We'll be here two nights, then start heading west and north.

Cheers,

Susie and Rob

Mississippi Bridges

Saturday, we decide to wind our way from Hannibal, MO to Davenport, IA, by crossing the Mississippi at each bridge along the way. Sort of like lacing up a shoe. Because typically there are not places to pull over for a photo opportunity, Susie is the photographer today, shooting on the fly. So, here we go. Bridges are identified by the larger town on either end.


1. Hannibal, MO. (Update. In summarizing our Mark Twain activities yesterday I forgot to say that we stayed at the Mark Twain Campground adjacent to the Mark Twain Cave.)



You can see that it's another cloudy day. No rain, though, and temperatures still cool, low 70s at the max. Also, they managed to make this bridge's superstructure look squat rather than soaring.

2. Quincy, IL. Now, here's soaring.







3. Keokuk, IA. The adjacent RR bridge, which you can barely see, is more interesting than the highway bridge.



4. Fort Mason, IA



A bit of a story here. As you approach this bridge a sign says, Limit 8 tons; No semis. We're considerably over 8 tons. Fortunately, there's a large graveled area at the side of the road, so we pull off, turn around, and stop. As I'm studying the map and deciding where-now, a man in a pick-up who has been parked in this area drives alongside. He says, Do you need to cross here? We say, Not really; besides, we weigh more than 8 tons. He says, You can do it. I just saw two Greyhounds go across. They do it all the time. So, we decide to do it. (Who you gonna believe at a time like this?)



It becomes clear that the bridge is plenty sturdy (you wouldn't be reading this if it wasn't). BUT, there are two little zigzag areas that require a long vehicle, like a semi or a big RV, to go out of their lane in order to make the Z without scraping the side. We get extremely lucky and in both cases there is no oncoming traffic. Whew!


5. Burlington, IA


As you can see, this picture is taken as we are heading down an off-ramp. I was headed for an Iowa Visitor's Center and possibly lunch. The Visitor's Center was advertized as Major, or Full-Service, or some such characterization to let you know it's pretty special. We're going to be crossing IA next week, so this looks like a good time for brochure harvesting.


This exit is right down town and as I follow the VC signs, I soon make a left turn toward the river front. Oops. Should have looked before committing myself to the turn. The street is blocked about a half-block down. Burlington is preparing for their riverboat festival this coming week, so there are barricades all along the river front. The only way to get out of this dead-end is to unhitch the PT (oh, the shame of it all) and execute a turn-around -- there is room for that.


I have abandoned thought of the Visitor's Center or lunch and just want to escape, but as we're preparing to re-hitch, a guy comes out of a restaurant and says you can park where you are if you'd like, for a while, and go to the Visitor's Center. We opt to go to the restaurant for lunch. That provided a welcome opportunity to relax. After lunch, I get this picture of the graceful Burlington bridge. Iowa brochures will have to wait. Of course, with the internet, brochures are not such an essential research tool any more.




After Burlington, the route up the Illinois side of the river is the one I'm most concerned about. The roads are shaded on the map to indicate they are paved, but they're pretty dim, apparently county roads, not red or blue highways. But they do have little green dots indicating they are scenic roads, so I figure they might be tourist-friendly. These roads turn out just fine, and the route is marked by Great River Road signs, so it's easy to follow. (I hadn't tried to program the GPS, either from bridge to bridge or for the whole itinerary. We're roughing it.)


6. Muscatine, IA

We cross for the last time at Muscatine and then it's just a short drive to Davenport where we find a very nice RV park for the night. Only trouble is we're in trees and can't get satellite TV; there's no cable; and I can't get the TV antenna/digital converter connection to work like it did at home. So, a quiet evening for reading and blogging.

Cheers,

Susie and Rob

Mark Twain Today!

This (June 12) was Mark Twain day, starting with the museum and boyhood home, then a cruise on the Mark Twain Riverboat, a hike to the Mark Twain memorial lighthouse, then a one-man show, Mark Twain Himself, topped off with dinner at the Mark Twain Dinette.

I'll spare you Twain's bio or a literary retrospective, under the assumption that everybody basically knows his story and his work. Google away if you'd like. For the sake of the Last Thursday Book Club and in memory of the late Don Benoist, who picked at least two Twain books for us to read, I give you this quote:

"Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life."

Put that on the LTBC website, Mike.

Some pictures:

Boyhood home and Tom Sawyer's picket fence.

Oh, look! A riverboat.

Two bridges just north of Hannibal. The first is the US36 highway bridge, completed in 2003, I believe our guide said. Behind that is a RR bridge. It has a section that elevates to let boat traffic through. Boat traffic has the right of way over rail traffic.

While we were on the river a "towboat" pushing 15 barges down the river came by. The total length of boat and barges was about a quarter mile. Our guide told us that to transport the same volume of material by "legally-spaced" 18-wheelers would take a caravan 35 miles long. Don't you just love statistics. Cost of river barge shipping is about half of that of truck shipping, where barge shipping is possible.

All this got me to thinking about what I found to be a fascinating book by John McPhee that I read a couple of years ago. Title was "Uncommon Carriers," and it's about the heavy shipping industry: trains, trucks, and boats. McPhee traveled with them all and had some interesting stories to tell.

Here's a statue of Tom and Huck.

Up on the hill behind the statue is a lighthouse, built in 1935 as a memorial to Twain on the 100th anniversary of his birth. (Incidentally, Twain (Clemens) was born and died (1910) in years in which Halley's Comet came by.) I plodded up the 226 steps to get there and was rewarded with this view.

I don't know if it was the climb, or the ice cream afterwards, or the Mark Twain Himself show itself, but I kept nearly falling asleep during the show. Susie had to keep jabbing me. Since there were only about a dozen of us in a small theatre, I knew Mark had his eye on me. Oh, well. I remember seeing Hal Holbrook himself do Mark Twain Tonight in Tonkawa, OK when I was in high school, and that was really something.

Back on the road tomorrow. Plan to criss-cross a half-dozen Mississippi bridges from here to Davenport, Iowa.

Cheers,

Susie and Rob

Day 3 Butler or Bust

Wednesday, we leave Eldorado and continue across Kansas, headed for Butler, MO, just across the line. Another comfortable, unseasonably cool day. No forecast of severe weather. We're headed en route for Fort Scott, KS, where I think our friends, Ken and Elsie Ray, from Abilene, hail from (probably shouldn't say 'hail' lest you think I mean weather). We call them and find out that they really come from a bit north, from family farms near Mound City and Blue Mound. We alter our route to go through these burgs. Real nice grass- and farmlands along the way.

Here's the majestic county courthouse in Mound City. We call the Rays again while parked on the adjacent street. There's a bandstand on a corner of the courthouse square and I imagine young(er) Elsie and Ken spooning on the courthouse lawn while listening to Sousa marches. We ask if they ever did that. Nope (they say - maybe not Sousa?), but they did get their marriage license at this courthouse. They went to HS in Blue Mound, which we just drove through/by, but they went to the bigger town of Mound City for shopping and entertainment. We had trouble keeping our Mounds straight or we would have checked out Blue Mound, too.

Here's the downtown opera house.

Anyhow, it's fun to see where our friends are from - we've done it before. Gives you a connection with their roots. Now we know what makes them like that! Just kidding.

Our route from Butler is to cross MO to Hannibal, then go north to Mount Carroll, IL, then NW to Aberdeen, SD, then follow the MO River through ND and into Montana. We'll spend some time in Idaho, then work our way home. If anybody has suggestions for must-sees along the way, including home towns, just let us know.

In early afternoon we arrive at Jan and Aubrey's farm west of Butler. (Jan, Judy's sister, is the wife, Aubrey is the husband. Aubrey bemoans his parents giving him a girl's name - a la Johnny Cash's Boy Named Sue. Says he was worried about what the neighbors might think when they put up a mailbox saying Jan and Aubrey live here. I note that Jan can be a boy's name, so all permutations and combinations are possible. Not that it matters, of course.)

Jan and Aubrey always have projects going and over the last two years they've transformed a badly neglected and abused house into something that's charming and comfortable. For example, they showed us pictures showing the outside of the house to be black with mold. Some Clorox and power spraying and re-sealing recovered the siding.

This place is on 15 acres. About 4 miles away they have another 170 acres that they bought a few years ago and where they have spent a lot of time cleaning up and shaping up - the farm, not themselves. It's got a creek running through it, a nice pond, and is a prime location for hunting deer and wild turkeys.

Here's the pasture adjacent to the Tatros' house - similar to the pasture between their house and the road, but this morning view got my attention.

Of course, Judy and I and the boys made many trips to Butler over the years, so there was a lot of nostalgia for me in returning. I used to take my bicycle when I was doing a lot of riding and I'd ride the streets and county roads around there. Aubrey drove us on a tour of the town and the farms - down several memory lanes.

Butler is the birthplace (1907) of Robert Heinlein, a noted science fiction author (actually called "the dean of science fiction writers"). I've never been much on sci-fi and have not read any of Heinlein, that I recall, but to fill that void I recently picked one of his books for an upcoming reading by my esteemed book club. We followed signs pointing to the Heinlein birthplace, but ran into a dead end. None of the houses down that street were denoted as Heinlein's. How soon they forget.

Another important Butler fact is that it was the first town west of the Mississippi to get electric power, even before St. Louis.

Butler has another majestic county courthouse (Bates Co., Mo), recently emerged from an extensive restoration.


The original statues had been lost to lightning and neglect long ago. I like that touch of color near the top, too.

On their first farm, Aubrey has built several deer stands, one tucked back in the woods here.

Here's the barn on the old Cross family place (where Judy and Jan grew up - probably 10 miles from where Jan and Aubrey live now). I painted that sucker one time to show Judy's dad what a go-getter I was.

We searched for a couple of old high-arching bridges that I remembered from years past, but they have been replaced by cement slabs. Next morning, though, Aubrey took me down to see this long-abandoned old bridge he had discovered near his farm.

It's just about to disappear.

Here's the lane leading out from the Tatro house to the road. Really gives the place a welcoming feeling.

From Butler, on Thursday, we worked our way north, skirting the KC metro area, then picked up US 24 across MO. For a ways it follows the MO River and the Lewis and Clark Trail. A preview for us. We'll be back on the L&C Trail in Dakota Territory and Montana.

Got to Hannibal in late afternoon, found an RV park, had dinner on Main Street, and drove around town a while. Steep hills and old, massive houses and commercial buildings. We'll spend Friday steeping ourselves in Mark Twainiana, then leave Saturday.

Cheers,

Susie and Rob

Sneak Prevue

Our destination this weekend is the Timber Lake Playhouse near Mt. Carroll, IL, where granddaughter Kaci is starring in Grease! Here's a review. They liked it! Kaci Hinkle's stage name is Kaci Scott.

Cheers,

Susie and Rob

Day 2 - We ARE in Kansas!

The times I've driven across SW Kansas over the years have left one main impression: Hwy 54 and the adjacent RR track are like the strings in a necklace. The beads, or baubles, on this necklace are the wheat elevators. You pass one, and its accompanying town, and there in the distance is another one, and after that another one, and another ... . How long can this last? you think. Finally, you come to the big knot - Wichita!

Hwy. 54 is big in Susie's history -- 'twas the route her family took on summer trips back home to Indiana.

I had one destination in mind along this stretch: Greensburg. Two years ago it was nearly wiped out by a tornado -- it was in all the papers. Video here. And here's a picture a few days after the tornado, from the Wikipedia website:

But, resolutely, the good citizens are rebuilding. Better, stronger, greener! is their motto. Also, son, Jeff, tells me, they're incorporating state-of-the-art tornado-resistant architecture, too.

And none too soon: As I'm writing this Susie is watching the 10 o'clock news. A tornado touched down tonight 4 miles from Greensburg. Wonder what was going through the townspeople's minds. When we were in town the noon siren went off and we nervously checked the clouds.

Prior to this, Greensburg was known to me as the site of the world's largest hand-dug well. So, I wanted to see the town and the well again.

First pass through town, looking mostly at tornado-cleared lots, boarded up buildings, temp buildings, and newly built residences and businesses, we didn't see the sign for the well. On east side of town, went into the John Deere dealership and got directions. The sign was blown away and has not been replaced yet. The well is at the base of the water tower. It's a new water tower, though, 'cause the tornado got the old one. This picture shows the storm-demolished water tank and somewhere under the debris is the World's Largest Hand-Dug Well.

Here's tornado sculpture at the well today.

And, here's looking down into the well.

Some well statistics: 109 ft. deep. 32 ft. diameter. Well, well, well, you say. Susie asks why they built one that big. I, smart-aleckly say, What else was there to do in Greensburg in 1887?

Real estate is cheap in Greensburg.

Build here. Basement free.

The county courthouse was damaged, not demolished, and is being refurbished.

Somewhere along the way today, Susie espied a cornfield. Starting to feel midwesternly.

Got to Eldorado, KS, for the night. Butler, MO tomorrow!

Cheers,

Susie and Rob

Day 1 Not much happened

Day 1. Got everything loaded and the house all closed up Monday morning and departed bright and early at 11:15. Got to Guymon, OK - 329 miles - for the night. Comfortably cool and cloudy weather, for June, all the way.


US 54, which angles NE from Tucumcari to Wichita (and on east), is a variable experience. Some pretty poor pavement; some pretty good, such as 4-lanes from TX state line to Guymon, and future promise - construction west of Wichita. The TX/OK portions are wide open land, some would say featureless, but that's one type of feature - but there is a lot of it.


I got to wondering how come there is an Oklahoma panhandle -- something a boy from OK should know and maybe did once upon a time. It looks like it would have made geographical (and graphical) sense to attach that land to Texas. Well, here's a summary of that history:


The "Missouri Compromise" established the current north boundary of TX when TX was created. To the east of the TX panhandle was Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory. To the north was "Unorganized Territory." When Kansas was carved out of the Unorganized Territory, its southern boundary was to be the TX boundary extended eastward. But, that would have taken too much of the Cherokee Nation and given it to KS. So, the KS southern border was moved northward 34 miles in 1854.


The OK panhandle became no man's land - you couldn't buy it if you wanted it. It was "seasonal home to nomadic American Indians of the High Plains and was controlled by Comanche bands and allied groups from 1850 to 1875." Settlers did move in and finally, in 1890 it was included in the newly created Oklahoma Territory, ultimately the state of OK. Haven't found any mention of whether TX , or KS, or NM (why not?) made a pitch for this 34 by 167 mile strip. Maybe they drew straws and OK lost (HA!).


Found this picture on the internet (flickr.net):

The caption read: for miles and miles and miles through the oklahoma panhandle, the highway doesn't turn... and the only signs you see periodically are these signs for "cemetery".

Our campground book didn't list any RV parks in Guymon, but a roadside sign advertized one. We found it, a serve yourself park - pick a spot, put your money in an envelope and drop it in the container. Had several eating establishments within walking distance; we picked Mexican and had some good tacos - beef (S), fish(R). Turned out, also, that campground was close enough to hear the trains whistling and rumbling through town on a nearby track. Ah, the sound of the road.

Cheers,

Susie and Rob

On The Road Again - Updated

Dear Family and Friends:

When last we left you, I was planning to fly to Vancouver for a conference while Susie went to Las Vegas to be with Heidi through and after her nose surgery. The last part worked, but I didn't make it to Vancouver.

An embarrassing tale: In early planning for Tuzigoot trip to Vancouver I laid out our passports where I would be sure to get them in -- not forget them. Well, got home from our May flying trip and I can't find the passports. Can't find them in my office and I know I didn't take them out. Could I have knocked them into the trash can? By the time we both give up looking, it's nearly too late to get replacements, unless we go the high-priced express route. Went to the post office and the lady there told me that as long as I return before June 1, I can enter and exit Canada using my birth certificate. So, that would work and I carefully packed that with my papers. We flew to Vegas on Monday (5/25). Tuesday I go to the airport. Nyet! Turns out you can drive or walk in to Canada using a birth cert., but you can't fly there. So, I stayed a couple more days in Vegas. That was good, 'cause I was there to drive Heidi to and from the hospital. Attending the conference would have been nice, but I wasn't on the program, so not a tragedy. Then I came home to start prepping Tuzigoot for the trip.

We've had a gorgeous spring here in Cedar Crest. Maybe it happens every year, but we've been away traveling or teaching several recent springs, so I didn't remember the sensation. Lots of wild flowers (for this part of the country - it ain't easy being a wild flower here), green grass, new growth on the trees, mild days, invigorating mornings, mountain showers. Here are a few pix:

We also have some semi-wild flowers, maybe I should call them feral. They were planted by the previous owners and have survived the neglect we've given them. When we're home I occasionally dump a bucket of shower pre-water (collected while waiting for the shower water to get hot) on them, but, hey, can't cover many flowers and shrubs with only one bucket a week.

There's daisies:

and we have a couple of real nice columbines in the yard:

and some of these:

We're headed first for Butler, MO, where Judy's sister, Jan, and husband Aubrey, live on a farm not far from the Cross family farm where Judy, Jan, and third sister, Mary, grew up. You can take the girl off the farm, but ... (Jan and Aubrey just recently moved back to Butler). Then it's on to Mt. Carroll, IL where granddaughter, Kaci, is playing the female lead in Grease! in summer theatre. We'll get there for the Sunday matinee.

From there it's on to SD, ND, MT, ID then work our way home from there. We have a a visit to Glacier NP planned, but pretty loose other than that. Want to take our time, sit a while in one spot, see the sights, not drive to another campground every day. If anybody has any must-see recommendations for that part of the good ole US of A, we'd love to hear from you.

Cheers,

Susie and Rob

Updated: June 8, 4:30 am. FOUND OUR PASSPORTS! Tucked away in briefcase I use to carry papers and books when we travel. Mighta known.