Well, time to relax and catch up a bit. Noi says there's gas in North Carolina again, though limited and about $4.00 per gallon. We got gas in Minnesota at $3.25 and it's $3.59 around here.
There's more humidity here; this morning it was in the form of ice on the windshield!
We started out in search of color, turned back at hearing a noise in the rear right wheel. Fortunately, friends directed us to Brickner's, the Chrysler/Jeep dealer in Merrill, and their service section was able to give us attention immediately. Very nice service at very low cost and, in an hour or so, we were on our way again.
A few observations on returning to where I grew up, 50 years later.
Trees can grow a lot in 50 years! Fields and pastures are now forests. Only a few scenes, actively managed, still look as I remember them.
Old log houses and barns are gone, sometimes replaced with newer structures, more often wilted into the ground. In general, it seemed, the barns and farm structures we saw as we drove across western Wisconsin Thursday and as we drove around Lincoln County Friday were in need of paint and/or repair. Often the homes in the complex were looking pretty good, but the same level of care and repair did not extend to the other buildings. In at least some instances I know about, old farms have been subdivided below agricultural practicality ... you can't do on 40 acres what you used to be able to do on 160 acres. In some cases, two (or more) jobs in town have taken up the time to farm and offered more in the way of income and benefits. In a few instances, folks who are still farming are leasing/renting other folks' fields to augment their overall production, which leaves no incentive to paint barns and sheds that don't belong to them.
We drove the old roads yesterday, going up Hwy. 107 along the Wisconsin River, always a good avenue for color. Generally, the autumn foliage isn't as brilliant and dazzling as it sometimes is. One person we met commented that the birches have turned yet, while the maples (top picture) have often lost most of their leaves. The sumac was colorful in a few places, but it was brighter in Iowa (third pic from the top).
Still, there were many delights to discover. One scene that seemed unchanged was Dotter's sugarbush, the grove of maples near the house where I grew up that was owned by the Dotter family (second from the top). They made maple syrup there every spring, and one of my fondest memories as a boy is of maple syrup-making as the first signs of spring were showing, carrying pails of sap from trees to a barrel on a sled, then enjoying the sweet, warm smells of the cookhouse as the sap was boiled down to maple syrup in an open pan over a wood fire.
The difference in that scene is that there would have been Jersey milk cows grazing in front of the maples 50 years ago, not Angus beef cattle.
A little further along the road, we stopped to look down a color-lined lane and when we got out of the car and looked up, saw a gorgeous tree of color right over us (bottom picture).
Last night was the opening reception for my reunion. Once some name tags were provided, it got easier! Some people grew taller, many grew wider and a few who were big, burly jocks are now tall and skinny. Not my kind of gathering ... too many people for too short conversation for the old introvert ... but it was nice to see some of my classmates and get a chance to catch up a little bit. We didn't stay long ... the free beer has no appeal ... and got back to the hotel room for a good night's rest. The gatherings today will be a little more comfortable for me, I think. tv
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