But I had to make some adjustments. As in taking out the visitation and apocalypse connections (not even sure what those mean) and just hit the road, take some pictures and write about it. So here we are.
Some recurring very early childhood memories were the inspiration for my location selection. I lived in several very small remote towns in North Dakota as a very young child and have been wanting to go back for a visit. So, that's what I did. I thought it would be interesting to see what's left. As it turns out...not much. Conveniently, the locations I was most interested in are all in a row along Highway 12 in the southwest corner of the state. What follows is a photographic exhibition of what I saw. But before you take a look at the photos, I want to point out that there are some very nice, well kept, clean houses and businesses in these small towns. But that's not where my current interest lies. It's the broken down, weathered, abandoned places, and emptiness that are my subjects for this essay. That's what you see here. I do hope you will find some of them as intriguing or as interesting as I do. And, I hope you'll wonder, as I do, about the stories surrounding these places. Who lived or worked there? Why did they leave? Where did they go? Are they ever coming back?
(Click on the photo to see a larger version)
This last one reminds me how much I also like the retro signs of those old non-franchise motels still in business. Maybe that's next. That...or Wyoming Highway 16. That might have some good possibilities. We'll see. No reason to stop now.
Roger O'Dea 5/7/2020
