Road Trip

We left home yesterday to drive to Oklahoma for a funeral. John's Uncle Pete passed away on the 14th.

The drive is about 7 hours to Guymon, Oklahoma. We made a few stops on the way out so we were on the road all day. Addy did so well in the truck. She kept herself entertained, I really just turned the movies on for a little peace and quiet. Addy never.stops.talking.

The scenery in eastern Colorado and Oklahoma is flat, flat and flat. I was fascinated with the clouds and wind mills though. There was a ranch south of Lamar, Colorado that had about a hundred windmills spread out. The old fashioned windmills seem homey and rustic to me, these windmills look alien but I like what they do.

We made a stop in Boise City, Oklahoma were John and his brothers were born. The top photo is (was) the house his grandmother lived in. I have never seen such a small house. The second photo is the house that John lived in down the road from his grandmother. The last photo is John and Addy at the grave of John's grandparents.

Boise City is a small town with an interesting history....Boise City was founded in 1908 by developers J.E. Stanley and A.J. Kline, who published and distributed brochures promoting the town as an elegant, tree-lined city with paved streets, numerous businesses, railroad service, and an artesian well. They sold 3,000 lots to buyers who discovered, on their arrival, that none of the information in the brochure was true. Stanley and Kline were convicted of fraud and sent to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary. The town nevertheless took shape and had 250 residents by 1920.

Boise City's prosperity in the 1930s was severely affected by its location at the heart of the Dust Bowl region.

Boise City was the only city in the continental United States to be bombed during World War II. The bombing occurred on July 5, 1943, at approximately 12:30 a.m. by a B-17 Flying Fortress Bomber. This occurred because pilots performing target practice became disoriented and mistook the lights around the town square as their target. No one was killed in the attack (only practice bombs were used and the square was deserted at the time), but the pilots were embarrassed. For the 50th anniversary of the attack, the crew of the bomber was invited back to Boise City, but all members declined. The former radio operator did, however, send an audio tape that was played at the celebration.

The middle picture is of Two Buttes, Colorado. It is the only rise on the horizon for miiiiiles. Addy named it Mountain Butt.