I grew up at a time when there were lots of wild spaces, unused areas that maybe four or five adults would venture into over the course of a year.

Possibly local government folks or state or federal environmental professionals,

maybe a rancher or farmer or fisherman or a hunter, but by and large these areas saw a few humans.

If you are from that era, you know exactly what I mean. In many ways, at least for kids and teens, it was a simpler

time, even though there were wars going on. The civil rights movement was beginning to grow full

steam. There were riots and the sort of mayhem that we still see on TV and phones today. But being country kids without social

media permeating every aspect of our lives, we were essentially free from much of society's

troubles and free just to be kids. This place is in the far Midwest. Some would call it the near west. I grew up here in a small

town and had many friends whose parents owned farms or ranches. This was a time when even as 8 to 12

year olds, we would ride our bikes miles and miles from home to places that were interesting in our young minds,

and we had no fear of anything bad happening to us.

In fact, most of our parents would think we were sick or ill if we were hanging out inside the house for more than an hour or two,

even when the weather was bad.

We were always out and about, and we would explore, build, forks, play hide, and seek,

as well as fish, and eventually hunt together in these locations.

One place in particular that was a favorite because it backed up against my friends,

Terry and Dale's ranch, was on Blueberry Lane. Blueberry Lane was about three and a half miles long and teed off

the local county highway. Blueberry Lane crossed Silver Creek at about the two-mile mark and it extended for another

mile before dead ending in a mix of pine and post oak, an open grassland, and that eventually

led into another large ranch in state and federal land that was all forested.

Near the county highway and the first mile of blueberry lane, my friend's folks would pasture

cattle and had a few alfalfa fields on their ranch.

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