Three Possible Routes

Once across the Mississippi River and in the state of Minnesota, there were three possible routes we could take, depending on where we were headed. We could go northwest to Rochester where my father’s mother lived until she retired and moved back to Burr Oak, IA where my father had grown up. My father’s sister Carol also lived in Rochester, up high on the bluff above the town on an estate owned by her husband’s family. We could go “due west” to Lanesboro where Aunt Norma and Uncle Ray lived. Her mother, my father’s father’s mother, lived across the street in a sort of nursing home until I was around twelve. Or we could go southwest to Albert Lea where the farm was where my mother’s parents lived. Her brothers also lived in or near Albert Lea.

The way to Rochester looked much like the rolling farm country of Wisconsin, with the addition of vegetable crops to the corn, other grains, alfalfa and dairy cows. We knew we were getting close to Rochester when we passed the water towers that were painted to look like tomatoes and ears of corn. These were for Green Giant factories where they canned various vegetables grown in the area. Different ones were packed at different times of the year. Sometimes we drove by when they were canning peas. Peas were “picked” commercially by pulling up the stems and all and then the peas were separated out at the factory. The stems, leaves and pods would be piled up two or three stories high outside the factory and stank to high heaven! I think they were collected and used to make fertilizer or something, but in the meantime, even driving past with the windows closed was an ordeal. It took several minutes to pass all the buildings with the piles outside and it was not possible to hold one’s breath the whole time. But we tried. Rochester itself had about the same population as Appleton, but it had a lot more tall buildings which we could see for many miles before we actually arrived. They were all hospitals. The downtown was full of hospitals, and the Mayo Clinic, which were the major industry of the town. The Mayo doctors would diagnose patients’ ailments and then the hospitals in town would try to cure them. My grandmother worked in the kitchen of the Worrell Methodist Hospital for many years. She was in charge of the kitchen before she retired. (3/18/09 I just discovered that if you Google Rochester, MN you can find photos of the corn water tower and of Lanesboro.)

The road to Lanesboro was the most winding for the longest distance of any road I have ever been on. It seemed like it was going one direction and then it would sort of shake itself and go the other way! The west side of the Mississippi Valley was filled with steep hills with little valleys between cut through by streams. Lanesboro was located on the Root River which was small and very twisting. We girls would try to count how many times the highway crossed over the river, but the number was so high that we always lost count. Lanesboro was a charming little village with a downtown about two blocks long. Uncle Ray’s dental office was located over a store across the street from the lawyer’s office which was located over another store. Their names and professions were painted on the windows in black with gold highlights. They were both the only one of their professions in the town. There were only two churches, the Methodist where Aunt Norma played the organ and the Lutheran one. (3/18/09 The downtown looks just the same in the Google photos as it did then.)

The highway to Albert Lea ran through more excellent farmland. We arrived at the town from the northeast, drove right on through the downtown, and out again on the highway heading south. Then we turned off onto a gravel road with a few curves and corners and when we saw the little one-room schoolhouse, we turned east onto the driveway right beside it.