Day 39 - You Might Be In Montana When...

Friday, 30 September

 They sell ammo at the gas station minute mart...

 There are stuffed pheasant on top of the Coke machine...

And you feel right at home!

Today was a long driving day... over 13 hours start to finish...  We left Minnesota...

And entered North Dakota at Fargo...

 A little ways down Highway 94, we passed through Jamestown, which is where my "brother" Bob is from...

Is this how you became "Uncle Bob"?

 Probably the most interesting thing that we saw in ND (sad isn't it), is this gianormous Holstein up on this hill... this is not an optical illusion... it was huge!

 Somewhere on I-94 we turned over 100,000 miles on "Lil" (over 40k on road trips)...

 The painted canyons in Teddy Roosevelt Park were beautiful...

 Now you know where it is...

 We entered Montana a little while before dark... and we had a long way to go to get to Lewistown for the night...  From the time we left Circle, MT until we drove into Lewistown 200 miles later, we passed over 30 deer, two mice, and a badger on the side of the highway... Deb was terrified the whole trip after dark... I never drove faster than 50 MPH even though the speed limit was 70 MPH... but every pickup truck that passed me was doing at least 80 MPH... I guess they don't worry about hitting a deer!

 I can't remember when I was so happy to see a road sign...

What thing in this photo doesn't belong?  I think ours was the only rig that wasn't a mondo truck... I was wishing I had a big belt buckle and a cowboy shirt right about now...

Day 38 - "Who Do You Think You Are?" Part 2

Thursday, 29 September

This morning we awoke to clear skies and sunshine... by the time we reached our car to leave our hotel, it had clouded over and the wind was blowing fiercely.  Trees were blowing over and limbs falling everywhere. Last night, I did some research online and found that many of the ancestors that I have on my mother's side of the family were buried in cemeteries within a few miles of where we slept last night in South St Paul.  So, we charted a route that took us to Hillside Cemetery in Minneapolis, then SE to Ft Snelling National Cemetery, and finally back about 60 miles SE to Potsdam, MN to Emmanuel Lutheran Cemetery, which we passed last night.  After visiting the cemeteries, we circled back to St Paul via the Great River Road on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River just inside the border of Wisconsin (two states to go). When we crossed the river at Wabasha, MN, the oldest city in MN.  Then we came back into MN at St Paul.  Then we turned north and then east as we headed towards Fargo, ND to eventually reach Lewistown, MT.  Along the way, we passed through Red Wing, MN and visited Red Wings Shoes Museum, where we saw the worlds biggest leather boot! 

 Fall is here in MN...

 I found the grave sites of my Great Grandparents Tradup... and many of his brothers and sisters...

 A beautiful view of the city from the cemetery...

 This is the grave site of my grandfather's brother, August Tradup, in the National Cemetery...

 Back in corn country, we found Emmanuel Lutheran Cemetery...

 Next to the old church (still in use today)...

 This is the grave site of my great-great-grandfather Ludwig Tradup...

... and this is the grave site of the man who started it all in the US, my great-great-great-grandfather Ludwig Tradup.  Ludwig is the only Tradup that ever migrated from Germany to the United States and every Tradup in the USA is one of my ancestors or relatives!

 This is a view from across the highway of the church and cemetery...

 These are some big pumpkins!

 A very nice monument and tribute in Wabasha...

 Ask Deb?

No explanation needed...

Tonight we stopped in Fergus Falls, MN and will head through ND tomorrow and hopefully make it to Lewistown, MT... the birthplace of my father.



Day 37 - Who Do You Think You Are?

Wednesday, 28 September

Today we spent most of the day searching for clues to Deb's ancestors in Colfax Cemetery in Colfax Township, IA.  When we entered, it quickly became apparent that almost every headstone was connected to her in some way... I photographed over 450 headstones today!  Here are just a few of the 522 photos taken today:

 Deb is standing next to the headstone for her great-great-grandfather Abel... he is the one who came over from Germany in 1867 starting the entire (USA) Abel generations...

 Later, we went to the courthouse in Clarion, IA, the county seat for Wright County, to get a copy of Deb's fathers birth certificate... the certificate showed his middle name spelled differently than her father spelled it all of his life... hmmm.

 Across the street there was this restaurant... I have to say it was some of the best Chinese food I have had in a long time... why they are here in this very small town in middle America is a mystery?

 As we were taking a back road to our destination for the night (South St Paul, MN), we came across a place called Forest City, IA, where there was a place called Heritage Park.  Here there was a small community of preserved buildings that were originally built by Scandinavian immigrants...

 This is an art structure built from many, many old iron things...

 This weather vane was made from railroad ties by an immigrant man...

 I liked the home made furniture in many of the buildings...

 This the old school house with the Lutheran Church in the background...

 We thought the note on the board was interesting...

 Our daughter Joy, who is a second grade teacher would have liked this school... especially this old heat stove... (just kidding)

 Cool two-story house with a balcony and fire escape...

 This old service station was cool...

 Looking west up "Main Street USA"

 Beaver Lutheran Church is still used today...

 We entered Minnesota through Emmons...

We watched a beautiful sunset over one of the lakes we passed.

Tonight we are in South Saint Paul (my mother was born here)... tomorrow we are going to hop over a few miles into Wisconsin, then we will turn west and head to Lewistown, Montana where my dad was born and many of my ancestors are buried.