Remembering my father's land-Miller Bucket List Item #7

There's a little tiny spot in the world, about 820 miles due north of my home in south central Kansas that became the seasonal home of my father for  nearly 25 years in a row.  Drake, North Dakota (population, not so many) was always the final stop in my father's yearly trek through the Great Plains as a custom wheat cutter.  


Daddy loved that place and I'm positive that had it not been for the grueling North Dakota winters, he would have moved his family, "lock, stock and barrel" there.  Daddy particularly loved the people of North Dakota and they always seemed to love and respect him as well.  


Next week, after our family reunion is over and folks are safely on their way home, I am going to honor  my father's memory and make another journey back to see the part of the country that he so dearly loved.  It will be a fast trip but I intend to pack as many memories into the journey as I can.


I sit here, writing these words, knowing full well that my father died at an age that I will myself see in only 3 more very short years.  I didn't realize how YOUNG he was until I myself reached this 50 something milestone.  His last 18 months were spent battling lung cancer to no avail and the fight was lost in 1982 when he was only 59 years old.  


I'm anxious to head there and meet up with old friends that still call that part of the country their home.  Although I'll be traveling on my own, I'm pretty sure that John Scott, Jr. will go along for the ride!  No need to worry about me-I'll be in the best of hands....His hands and my daddy's.

The harvest crew at Haven, KS  June of 1976

 Daddy, in the field at Balfour, ND  August 1977