Dan, Paul and Jim Bolin heading into the wild (circa 1966)  

Jim mowing, Paul painting and Dan supervising.

Paul, Warren and Jim Bolin at the Missouri River

There are things about long road trips that I really enjoy – seeing the country up close, extended talks, stopping on my schedule, and knowing that if my luggage is lost it is my own fault.

But there are a few things that bother me as well.  My Subaru is too small for my long legs.  Even though I can stop, I don’t.  Not having the option to walk around is rather confining.  I can’t understand why I am unable to put my hand on the map, sunglasses, cold drinks, or sunscreen I'm sure I put conveniently behind me in the back seat.

Any way you look at it 15.5 hours of driving is plenty for one day.

Younger brother Paul and I left Tyler, Texas at 5:45 on Thursday morning and drove to Canton, South Dakota.  We rolled through Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, and after dinner with our nephew Ben and his new bride Season, in Council Bluff, we made our way into South Dakota.

My dad, older brother, Jim, and his wife Ruth waited up for us and gave us a royal welcome when we arrived at about 9:30.  I think the Twins were still playing.

Over the next four days we cleaned gutters, mowed the grass, put up a bird feeder, cut limbs, tore down some lattice work, and put up a new, short fence – paint and all.  We did some damage at the Royal Fork, Subway, and Dairy Queen; and ate some of my sister-in-law Ruth’s wonderful cooking as well.

One afternoon we drove an hour to the Gavin Point Dam on the Missouri River.  The Missouri is running high and fast swollen by rain and snow melt.  Sandbagging and evacuations are underway in several cities along its banks.  Brother Jim is a South Dakota State Representative who watched the rising water with more than passing interest.  The Missouri is overflowing along the Dakota Dunes in the southern portion of his district and in Pierre the state capital. 

My dad, a lifelong Baptist, has found a good home among the Lutherans since moving to Canton three years ago.  It was a challenge to find a new church home at 87.  The music is good, the preaching is better, and the fellowship is warm and friendly. 

That evening, a few bowls of popcorn, a slide projector (that amazingly still worked) and a carousel of ancient slides provided entertainment that could only be enjoyed if you lived through the moments captures by the lens.

Memorial Day we visited two community programs in Brother Jim’s district.  We planned to shake hands at a third event but ran out of steam for the final one of the day – opted for a run to Dairy Queen instead. It is my opinion that towns of two-thousand or three-thousand take Memorial Day much more seriously than do cities of two-million or three-million. 

The drive home with Brother Paul was enlightening.  Paul, a professor at the University of Texas, helped me pass the time on the drive home explaining to me – as best he could – Ernst Haeckel’s theory: ‘Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny’; and Victor Turner’s views of Liminality.  I just wish I could pronounce some of the words he uses and understands!    

Mom passed away a little over seven years ago.  Dad moved to South Dakota three years ago to live across the street from Jim and Ruth.  Our older sister lives in China.  It was great for the four Bolin men to play, and work, and laugh, and pray together.