My Life in the Little Brown House, part 31 the last: Train trips

On one occasion my father took Clarice and me to see the Iowa state fair in Des Moines. We went and returned by the M and St L passenger train that operated through Gowrie by in those days. Of what we saw I have no recollection, all I can remember is that I wasn’t feeling well and my father at one point had to find a toilet facility for me. What prompted the excursion I have no idea, maybe my parents thought it would be a good educational opportunity for Clarice and me. It wasn’t until I was traveling to and from school at Iowa City that I was again in Des Moines, only 80 miles distant from Gowrie.

The only other time I was outside the state of Iowa until I left for work in California after completing college was a trip to Minnesota. This occurred one summer when I was perhaps 10 or 11 years of age. Uncle Lawrence and Aunt Dagmar customarily used part of their annual vacation on a trip to Gowrie to visit my grandmother and on this particular trip I rode back with them to Minneapolis. I stayed a few days with them there — I have virtually to recollection of anything we did or of the parsonage they lived in. They then took me to visit Aunt Lillian, Uncle Verner and family who were living in Isanti at the time — maybe Uncle Verner drove in to get me. Again I stayed a few days. I recall attending both of the two services Uncle Verner conducted the Sunday I was there. In addition to the church in Isanti he also conducted services at a small rural church.

During this visit Uncle Carl rode up on the M and St L and I rode back to Gowrie with him in the same way. Aunt Lillian had made a lunch for us to have on the train — it was more or less an all-day trip and there was no meal service on the train. She had made roast beef sandwiches and I believe peanut butter cookies both of which in my sort of “picky” eating habits I sort of demurred from eating until pressed to eat them by my uncle. I recall finding them unexpectedly tasty and pleasing. I believe by the time I made this trip that the passenger service on the M and St L had been converted from a steam locomotive driven train to one powered by some sort of diesel engine. But I can recall earlier days when a steam engine was used. I don’t recall exactly why I made this trip — I don’t believe it was a particular desire or request on my part. I suppose I enjoyed the trip, but my recollection is of a rather noncommittal relation to the whole excursion. My sister Clarice had I think made a similar trip maybe a year or so earlier.