Minnesota Pilgrimage 2012 - Days 3 - 7

Superior, Wisconsin - August 8, 2012  How easy it is, when your days get full, to lose track of time and the tasks at hand.  So it has been with the Minnesota Pilgrimage 2012 blog.  Plus, when you have to work with a dial-up Internet access, making headway is hard.  Today I will do some catching-up.

On Day Three we traveled from Deforest, WI to Hayfield, MN, by way of La Crosse, WI. La Crosse is an old Mississippi River town and has a great park next to the levee on the river.  The business of the day, after we got to my brother Leonard's home, was to travel to Red Wing, MN for a meeting of the Rollins Farm LLC (me and my three siblings) who own the family farm.  We had some important decisions to make about a possible sale of a portion of the farm. This particular piece was part of a parcel originally set aside as a railroad right-of-way, and the deed purportedly bears the signature of one Abraham Lincoln.  The decision was reached and we celebrated with my brother-in-law's broiled pork loin.

Day Four was the principle reason for the timing of this year's trip.  My aunt, Mary (Rollins) Johnson, was celebrating her 100th birthday at a party given by her three children, my first cousins.  Aunt Mary was my father's only sibling, who married Arvid Johnson of Plainview, MN, and raised Kathryn, Robert and Janice -- all of whom are married with children and grand-children of their own.  So there were four generations of Johnsons present, along with her four nephews and nieces - me, my brother Leonard, and my sisters, Barbara and Louise.  I should hope to live as well as has Aunt Mary, who thoroughly enjoyed the party.  It would be great to live to that exalted age with all mental faculties as sharp as hers.

Days Five through Seven were spent at our family lodgings on Hammel Lake, near Aitkin, MN, in the company of my brother Leonard, his wife, Jolene, and our sister Louise Smith.  There is a certain sense of peace and contentment that hits me each time when I see the lake and remember the now three generations that have enjoyed our shared times there.  My brother named the place "Nearly Heaven" and that is what it is.

As usual, the fishing was great.  The shared conversations on the boat and over meals was outstanding.  And our pleasure was enhanced by seeing the new cabin that our family is having built -- one that will house up to 8 or 10 at a time, with central heat and air conditioning, and a three-season porch facing the lake.  The cabin will be ready by next summer, and we're making plans already.

Tomorrow, I aspire to bring this blog even closer to being up-to-date.  Please stay tuned...