Road Trip Pt. 4--My Home Town

Can't go back to Illinois without visiting my home town of Roanoke.  I noticed that the population is up to 2000 from the 1500 of my youth.  Bustling!

What was really odd was distances...  we literally walked miles to school in the snow uphill both ways!  But I drove right past stuff this time...  Everything was now so close!  Drove right past my old house where I grew up...

Of course, it's really almost unrecognizable...  the whole left side was a small garage, now it's a major addition.

And the Pinky Winky (yep!) is now reduced to rubble...

I did drive out in the country (all corn!) to visit a couple cousins.  Not many relatives left, so I'm appreciative of whatever family I can maintain contact with.  Cousin Bob, now in his 90's is still on his farm, still driving back and forth to Texas a couple times a year.  Marge and Brent have a fantastic farm, huge acreage, plus turkeys and now pigs...  What an operation!  Plus they are now experimenting with some organic farming. It's great to get first hand info on farming in America these days, and I miss my 40 acres...

John and I had lunch at a small cafe in Roanoke (used to be the Texaco station!).  Met another woman there who turned out to be another cousin!  She and her sister, now living in Utah, are hopefully coming to SLC this fall.  Can't wait...  I've always been family shy, so any links are so appreciated.  Looks like it's time to update the family tree.