Chronicle of a Summer Road Trip: The Final Installment

The school year just about upon us, I thought it best to wrap up the memoirs of Summer Road Trip '06. In Part V, we had just concluded our lovely week long stay with my in-laws and were heading to the west.

First stop: Deep Valley, Minnesota. That is Mankato, Minnesota to those who are geographically curious and have not read the Betsy-Tacy Series by Maud Hart Lovelace. The Betsy-Tacy books portray a fairly autobiographical tale of the author and her real life best friend. The Professor had read one of the series as a child and remembered it fondly, so he wanted to stop in to see what could be seen in Mankato. We dropped by the downtown library where there is a small Betsy-Tacy exhibit as well as copies of the books for sale. From there we followed a charming (read: not particularly precise) map over to Mrs. Lovelace's/Betsy's house. Though the children and I had not read any of the books yet, we enjoyed seeing the houses of Betsy...

and Tacy:
Following our excursion into Deep Valley we headed on toward Walnut Grove. Along the way we rolled through a Hardee's for some car cuisine in Sleepy Eye, MN. There was statue across the street in front of the library that piqued my curiosity. It was a full color likeness of Linus. Yes, Linus, as in Charlie Brown and Snoopy. Then I vaguely recalled seeing a Schultz Cafe a few blocks back and I just had to know more. We circled around and I got out of the car to read the plaque. Not what I had expected, but interestingly, it turns out that the original Linus is from Sleepy Eye. The real life Linus had been a colleague of the famous Charles Schultz in Minneapolis; inspired by this man, Schultz had gone on to create the now acclaimed Linus character. Unfortunately, my digital camera battery had stopped working at this point, so the Linus photo remains on film in Ye Olde Fashioned Camera.

Moving on, we finally arrived at our major Laura Ingalls Wilder destination for the day: Walnut Grove, Minnesota. There we took in the museum-mostly period artifacts and replicas of buildings, as well as a substantial tribute to the television series. Then we headed out to Plum Creek and enjoyed a most peaceful hike around the premises, noting the depression in the hill that marks the spot where the dugout once was. Before leaving we took time to sit silently so we could enjoy the same sounds that Laura and her family heard so long ago...wind in the tall grasses, birds singing their evening blessings on the day and insects buzzing about for a final meal.

Next day: DeSmet, South Dakota! This was the setting for the last of Laura's childhood stories. We spent the day learning about life on the prairie. Firstborn made a rope and drove a team of horses:

The girls really looked the part of pioneer pupils in this one room school house. And, here, on the right, they are using a pioneer machine to remove the kernels from dried corn cobs. The cob was next transformed into a simple doll.

That night, we had the unique opportunity to enjoy our first real camping. Previously, we had camped in our own backyard and in that of Granny and Grandpa; but this was to be a real adventure. We pitched a tent right on the Ingalls' DeSmet homestead land. Pitching the tent proved to be a challenge with the gusty winds, but God blessed with a friendly neighbor who offered a lot of time and patience in assisting us.

We ate a late dinner and got everyone ready for bed. It soon became quite evident that the strong winds we had battled all afternoon were not going to be blowing away for the night. The tent was extremely noisy and the gusts must have topped out somewhere between 40 and 50 mph. It was incredible. The Prof and I were both awake most of the night but each assumed that the other was asleep, so we never spoke.

My eyes widened as the top of our eight man DOME tent, scooped down and touched us on the air mattress on four separate occasions. I lay awake conceiving a Plan B in anticipation of the inevitable collapse. Our Guardian Angels, however, must have stayed up all night with us, because, quite amazingly, only one pole snapped and the tent stayed up. The Professor and I arose with the sun around 5am only to notice a major thunderstorm over town a short five miles away. Not wanting to panic the children, we quickly emptied the contents of the tent into the car and gently encouraged each child to dress as he/she awakened.

Again, the Guardian Angels. By the time we had the tent and all of its contents packed into the van, we realized the storm had blown a different direction and we were in the clear. We walked around the premises, catching a few early morning photos before heading into to town. In DeSmet, we saw the Loftus store, toured Ma and Pa's final home, and visited the cemetery where most of the family and several other characters from the Laura's stories are buried. Before our final departure, I captured a couple of photos of the cottonwoods Pa planted:

The only other notable stop en route to home was in Lindsborg, Kansas, a delightful Swedish settlement with tremendous civic pride. We enjoyed lunch at a local eatery (in unashamed tourist fashion, we ordered Swedish pancakes and Swedish meatballs) and browsed some quaint little shops. The main street was dotted with traditional and whimsical dala horses. After that, it was onward, home. The faster, the better. It had been a wonderful trip full of incredible experiences and blessed reunions, but as Pa used to sing:

'Mid pleasures and palaces,
though we may roam,
be it ever so humble,
there's no place like home.