Thinking ahead

Cliff subscribes to a couple of Oliver tractor magazines; when he asked me yesterday how far it would be to Clarinda, Iowa, I couldn't help but wonder why.  See, I spent the first eight or nine years of my life in Taylor County, Iowa; I was born in a hospital in Clarinda.  
I could think of no reason why Cliff would want to go there.  
"Well, it's north and then west... maybe 150 miles or more from here," I said.
Checking Mapquest just now, I found out it's one hundred sixty-one miles.  Hey, I was pretty close, considering I've only been there once since I was a kid.  
So then Cliff tells me there's some sort of Oliver tractor show or swap-meet up there in March.  
I was excited.  
"Hey, that's great!  We can look up some places from my childhood."
"What are you talking about," Cliff asked me.  "You don't know anybody up there now."  
"Yeah, but I want to drive through Guss, where the telephone office used to be.  I want to see if Hampell's store is still standing, and I want to know if there's anything left of the blacksmith shop that used to be across the road from the switchboard house, the one Alvin Mitchell owned."   
Cliff just shook his head, but I think he's figured out it's a good thing that I want to go; that way it isn't all for him, and nobody has to be convinced.  
He's such an optimist, he thinks there's a possibility we could make it a motorcycle trip.  In March.    
Haaaaa!!  What planet is he living on?  Winter is NEVER going to end. 

This picture was taken in front of the switchboard house in Guss.  I remember that house, and the front porch where we'd sit on a hot summer night listening to the radio:  boxing matches sponsored by Gillette and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.  
You didn't want to sit close to Daddy when he was listening to boxing.  He really got into it.  
I know the house is no longer there, because I went on a trek up there with my nephew, his wife, and my mom several years ago, so we could take pictures for my sister's fiftieth anniversary.  But I just want to see the area one more time.  
Thanks to our GPS, I don't think we'll have trouble finding it.  
I'm excited.