A New Perspective
Nov 17 2008
We picked up my dad at the Omaha airport last week and drove him up to his aunt’s house in Sioux Falls, S.D., for a family visit. My dad is 86 and my aunt is 79, so it was good to get them together. The visit was also fun because I haven’t had the chance to sit with my aunt and chat for many years. However, the pinnacle of the visit was a trip to their childhood home in Larchwood, Iowa — and to see my kids’ reaction to what their great aunt and grandpa had versus what they have.
My dad grew up on a farm in a very rural area. I have heard many stories and was curious about the area (especially about how the route to school could be uphill both ways). We found the house, pulled into the drive, and knocked on the door of a new house obviously being built to replace the old one. The current owner drove up at that time, and I explained who my dad was, how he left the house in 1943 to go to war, and how he attended the school in town three miles away (the owner’s friend’s response was “was it uphill both ways?” How did he know?).
We were happily invited to go inside the old home. It turns out that visiting the house at this date was great timing, because the current owner is set to demolish the place when harvesting is done. The new owner’s parents bought the house from my grandparent’s landlord in 1948, and the guy remembered my dad’s family.
At the time my dad left the house for the war, it had no electricity, heating, or indoor plumbing. My dad told me the house was slated to have plumbing and the attic was set up for piping, but his dad (my grandfather) decided to store grain up there. The current owner told us he took over the house from his parents, and indoor plumbing was installed in 1963, because his daughter was going to marry someone “from back East,” and they thought his family wouldn’t want to stay in a house without plumbing for the wedding.
It was fascinating to show the kids this house that was not much bigger than our RV and housed a family of six without heating, plumbing, or electricity. The kids liked seeing the second-story window my dad talked about using as a nightly alternative to the outhouse on cold winter nights. They also heard how the ice man would deliver a block of ice each week and how the house had manure put around the outside base of the house in the winter for insulation — and this really was not that long ago. What we couldn’t find, though, was the route to school that went uphill to and fro.
Howdy
I have enjoyed reading your blog. I retired from the USAF in 1986 shortly after returning from my second tour in Okinawa. With kids in college and high school I started another career. Eventually when I retired in 2002 my wife and I seriously considered going full time in an RV after having RVs over the years on a smaller scale. Then we made the big mistake of going from San Francisco to visit my daughter in KY. Suddenly my wife saw the grandkids and found a house she liked and there went the full time RV jaunt. Anyway we ended up in a good central location to travel, get 4 seasons with lots of snow or humidity and you have no state tax if you are retired military. So once you decide to come off the road then you have to decide what do we do with the rest of our lives which is another decision point. Keep on trucking as long as you enjoy it. It is an adventure your kids and you will never forget. I look forward to more of your blogs.
Don: Wow, no state tax on retired military. I think we’ll check out KY.
Two tours in Okinawa, you were lucky!
Cheers,
Tom
Tom -
We also live in Kentucky (Richmond, south of Lexington). After 17 moves (9 major) and 7 houses, Linda told me that she no longer felt she had a place to call home. I changed career goals (civil servant with Corps of Engineers & retired USAR) so that we could get to one place, take a “final” 18th move, and stay there through and after retirement. We chose Kentucky for a few reasons: 4 seasons, none too severe; topography; centrally located (well, at least east of the Mississippi!); somewhat in between relatives north and south; close friends close by (if you count 100 miles to be close! LOL). And, though I’m dissatisfied with the job, Linda has literally given me the memo: We aren’t moving! I was not aware of the no state tax (don’t get my pension until 60), but that’s just another reason to stay. Richmond has a small town feel and Lexington is close enough to get the rest of the urban amenities that Richmond might lack. People here are friendly and outgoing, amenities in the urban areas sufficient, etc. With our friends in L’ville, we make it over to the PX/commissary about once every two months.
God bless.
Pat
@Pat K.: Thanks for the info, we’ll put KY on our map of places to see. Good luck with the job though!