On my way home from my ND, SD, WY, ID, MT trip I stopped at our farm in NW North Dakota. It hasn’t changed much. The house has settled a little more. It won’t be long before the house falls down. The garage is the best building there and it has holes in it so it will go also.
It brings up interesting emotions. As a kid I spent my entire summers there. I had friends and relatives there, still do. It felt like a big part of my life. Now it is all disappearing, all falling down, only a memory. Even the memories will disappear when my siblings and I are gone. Our kids do not have the same attachment to the place as we do. Kinda sad.
It was fun seeing the place and the neighboring farms that I knew so well. I drove to Thorstads farm with their half mile long driveway. The weeds were three feet high, the whole half mile! I talked with Vaughn and he said he mowed the driveway this spring!
Zahl and Hanks are towns seven miles from the farm. Both are almost empty; a couple houses, a couple ag businesses, and that is it. But they are both on the map.
I drove about seven miles north of the farm (maybe 15 miles from Canada) to Writing Rock. A couple of rocks 3 to 5 feet in diameter with Indian carvings on them. It is a state historic sight now. This is out in the middle of nowhere; wheat fields all around is all you can see. There is a picnic shelter and pit toilets, that’s all. In the shelter covering the rocks there is a guest book. I signed it. The person that signed it before me, signed it earlier the same day! People had signed it each of the previous four days! From WI, GA, MT, ND. As I was driving out a car from Colorado was driving in! How do these people hear about these rocks?
I went to the rural cemetery where the church used to be that I attended as a kid. My Johnson grandparents are buried there. Many relatives and many neighbors. I knew almost all the names. This cemetery is very well kept. It looks like someone’s lawn. I was told Ellis maintains it. The old church bell is mounted very nice. You can even ring it. Something I found interesting, the oldest person I found was born 1829; I do not know the name.
I met with Alvin (nickname Alvie) and his wife Jane. Alvie was a very good friend as a kid. We got into a lot of mischief as kids. It was so much fun visiting with him and reminiscing old times, and we laughed at all the good times we had.
On my way home I stopped in Fargo to see my second cousin Vaughn and his with Leslie. Vaughn’s mother Hulda, my father’s first cousin, lives with them. Hulda is 103. She did not recognized me. Vaughn says maybe tomorrow she will. It was so much fun visiting with them. Vaughn and I talked non stop about old times, relatives, old neighbors, oil. It was a fun couple days.
Go to my North Dakota Pictures page to see the sights.