all roads lead to Little House

Published September 12, 2015

First ‘chapter books’ I read as a boy were the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. My 3^rd grade teacher read a chapter aloud from Little House in the Big Woods everyday after lunch. I was hooked. Re-read that book, then the next 8. The family dreamed, struggled & endured. Followed their saga from Wisconsin to Independence Kansas, from Walnut Grove (Minnesota) to De Smet, South Dakota.

The Ingalls lived in the unsettled West – an American West still inhabited by Native Americans, a land teaming with wildlife, a time full of opportunity. Later these books were adapted into my favourite childhood television series. I cheered the Ingalls ‘country girls’, admired Caroline’s quiet inner strength, despised the show’s bully Nellie Olsen, rooted against her mother, Harriet. I loved Miss Beadle, crusty Mr. Edwards and of course – Michael Landon (Pa/Charles Ingalls). Every Monday evening their family was my family.

Fast forward to 2015.

From the time my spot in the Sioux Falls Marathon was booked, my intention was to visit Little House – to go ‘home’.

Friday after work:

Boulder to Denver (via RTD bus)
Denver to Omaha (overnight train)
taxi to Eppley Airfield (Omaha airport), rental car pick-up
Sioux City, Iowa
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
then an hour half of corn – miles & miles of cornfields

All roads lead to ‘Little House’ in De Smet SD, population 1,089 – where 15% of the population still identify as Native American.

Walking thru Ingalls Homestead was more about recalling MY childhood. I walked the grounds; rode a covered wagon to the school house. Thanks Laura Ingalls Wilder for retelling your childhood & introducing us to your family.

Travelled to the town cemetery where Charles (Pa), Caroline (Ma), Mary & Carrie are all buried. Crazy, yes – but needed to know my Monday night fantasy family existed. In some whacked way, guess I needed closure.