Visiting Joyce/Road Trip

   One of the benefits of having the schedule I have right now is that I have more free time. C and I had been working on our "clean the storeroom" project all week. We had taken breaks to go for walks and a bike ride, but mostly we just worked at home. Nothing wrong with that, there is plenty to do.
   Normally at this time of year, we would be boarding a plane and flying to South Carolina to enjoy the beach, the seafood and my in-laws. We had already decided not to make the trip before COVID-19 raised its ugly viral head. Yesterday both C and I felt the need to travel even just a road trip. We changed clothes, grabbed a cooler and headed for Cumberland.
   We brought a cooler along because there are a few places where we like to buy food. There's a good meat market, the Italian restaurant that sells frozen food for carry out and a cheese factory that used to be run by members of my extended family. We might as well do a little shopping.
  The sun shone as we drove along, but there were also some clouds. C worried about the clouds. It was not supposed to rain, but the clouds were worrisome. As we drove there was a smattering of drops in the windshield. I hoped it wouldn't rain. I had one thing I wanted to do.
  I wanted to visit Joyce. Some of you may remember from a column last fall. Joyce is or rather was, my cousin. Like me, she wrote and didn't really fit it anywhere. I knew she was buried in the Catholic cemetary outside of town. I wanted to visit her there. I had wanted to do that since last fall, but there wasn't time. Then winter came. I would have to wait until the snow melted and the ground dried up.
   We drove past farms and fields that were being prepared for spring planting. We drove by pastures where horses and cows were feeding in the warm sunlight. We drove through small towns with quiet main streets due to the state stay at home order. We ignored the GPS and drove the route used when I was younger. There were still many things that I remembered from those long ago trips back to Grandma and Grandpa's farm. There was the A&W restaurant and the park with the windmill in it. We drove past the big casino that went up when I was older. We drove through a small unincorporated town where I had been told the "bad girls" went to dance.
  We went past the cheese factory and past another small town. We came to the edge of Cumberland. Our first  stop would be the cemetery. We parked by it. The first thing I did was walk over to the nearby church. There was a wide set of steps leading to the church door. I have a picture of those steps from a long time ago. My newly wedded grandparents posed on those steps along with all the guests who witnessed their wedding. The first grave I saw when I got out of the car belonged to Andy and Alma. Alma was a cousin from my grandmother's family and they took us to swim at the beach in Cumberland and once to a movie in Rice Lake. They were kind and gentle people. As I wandered through I found other graves. I found my great grandparents, a great aunt and uncle and some cousins. I found friends. Wally and Isabel who took us fishing once. It was the only time I fished. George and Lena, who knew my grandparents. Beverly and Calvin who visited at the farm at least once a week. Calvin was kind of mean and I was a bit scared of him. I found my grandparents'  grave.
   C drove around the old section of the cemetery while I walked through. I found the great aunt that I was named after and her family. Then we walked into the new section. I knew that Joyce was there. As we searched for her we found another great uncle with his wife. They lived on the farm next door to my grandparents. We found another grave of a woman who was my age or would have been had she still been living. Her wedding date was on her stone. She hadn't even been able to celebrate her first anniversary. I wondered what had happened to her.
   C spotted it Joyce's stone first. It looked good. It had her name on it along with the fact that she was a storyteller. Her stone had a set of books and an apple carved into it. Her brother must have picked it out. He did a good job. It warmed my heart to see a nice memorial of her in the cemetery. By the stone were two angels on sticks that said wisdom on them. Very fitting. I placed my hand on the stone for a few minutes. I had planned to apologise for not staying in touch and to thank her for all that she had done. That didn't seem necessary now. Wherever she is, she knows.
  We got back into the car and drove to the Italian restaurant. The only served supper and during the day you could get take out. We got some frozen ravioli and a couple pizzas. I used to eat the pizza when I was a kid. It was a big treat for us. We put the food in our cooler and realised we should have bought a bigger one.
  Then to the meat market. They only had curbside service. It was hard to know what to get without the ability to browse. We got some sliced ham, sausage and brats. We also got a freezer bag.
  The cheese factory was still open and also cubside only. Again the inability to browse was a challenge. We got some muenster, which was the cheese they are known for.
  By this time C was hungry. We got some fast food through a drive through and looked for a place to eat it. We parked on a side street in a small town in the shade. We parked near a bar. it was quiet. Normally a bar in Wisconsin on a Friday night would be very busy. Not this time. Once we finished eating we headed to a gas station. After topping off the tank we headed home.
  It was a perfect day.