Postcards cross the country; Nebraska makes 50

"Thank you, God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not love it enough."

- Garrison Keillor

Another Labor Day passed and with it another summer of your vacation postcards.

I got worried there for a while, when it looked like we'd get one from every state but Nebraska.

Well, you know what happened. Nebraska cards started flying in, including one from Ruth Orr, of North Augusta; Peggy Findley, of Jackson, S.C.; and Bill and Elaine Deppe, of Aiken. The Benedicts, of Augusta State University, added one, too.

Carl Schutte, of North Augusta, has visited every state. His postcard says it took him 84 years, but he made it to No. 50 last year with a trip to Alaska.

Jearrie and Wade, of North Augusta, send a card from Vermont, where daughter Heather was going to college this summer. The Farmers and the Atkinsons, from Bath, send greetings from Minnesota.

Tim and Polly Lively, of Waynesboro, send a card from one of my favorite places - the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. Speaking of baseball, Lloyd Creech sent one after he attended Ty Cobb Day in Royston, Ga.

Suddenly, Arizona's a hot spot for local travelers. Amber Billings, Mike and Sandra Fowler, and Obed and Louella Rogers sent cards, and the Rogerses also sent one showing Old Faithful.

Sandra and Shirley Johnson were in Idaho, and so was Shirley Butler, of Evans. Helen and Robert Symms are in Minnesota where the cool weather is enjoyable.

Let's let Carl and Ruth Thieme, of Hephzibah, have the last postcard word this summer. They write: "We all like to travel, visit and sight-see, but ... we all like to come back home."

Their postcard, appropriately, shows Hephzibah United Methodist Church, a good place to come back to, and a good place to be this morning.

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TODAY'S JOKE: John Radeck sends this, which he sent in (naturally) on his own personal postcard.

It seems a grasshopper hops into a bar and the bartender says, "You're quite a celebrity around here. We've even got a drink named after you."

And the grasshopper looks at him a moment, then says, "You've got a drink named Steve?"

Reach Bill Kirby at (706) 823-3344 or bill.kirby@augustachronicle.com.