The blog will be sporadic through the rest of July as I’ll be on the road, driving through the Midwest. Call me crazy, but the endpoint of the trip is De Smet, South Dakota, the town and area where Laura Ingalls Wilder—of “Little House on the Prairie” fame—spent her teen years and early married life. I’ve always wanted to see the town for myself, since those books were so important to me growing up.
“That isn’t all, Caroline!” Pa announced. “I’ve got some news. I’ve found our homestead!”“Oh, where, Pa! What’s it like? How far is it?” Mary and Laura and Carrie asked, excited. Ma said, “That’s good, Charles.”Pa pushed back his plate, drank his tea, wiped his mustache, and said, “It is just right in every way. It lies south of where the lake joins Big Slough, and the slough curves around to the west of it. There’s a rise in the prairie to the south of the slough, that will make a nice place to build. A little hill just west of it crowds the slough back on that side. On the quarter section there’s upland hay and plow land lying to the south; and good grazing on all of it, everything a farmer could ask for. And it’s near the townsite, so the girls can go to school.”~from By the Shores of Silver Lake
And I’ll see that homestead for myself…me and 1000 little girls wearing bonnets. I can’t wait!
