Remembering Laketon

Wilson Family Hike
 Fall, 2006
 (Photo:  Tim Walker)

It has been so hot lately that I'm already looking forward to crisp fall weather.  And our annual family hike.

We hike in late October or early November in the Mississippi River Bottoms near Laketon each year.  We feel like kids again, joking, making puns and laughing as we roam those familiar hills and hollows, looking for lucky rocks and reminiscing about the place we love so well.  Sometimes we tramp deep into the woods, braving snakes and other critters, searching for the tree on which our young Uncle Doyce carved his initials over eighty years ago.  It takes a while, but we always find it.

Later, as the sun sets and the weather turns cool, we gather around a big bonfire for a wiener roast.

We call the whole area Laketon.  But the little town is no longer there; it disappeared years before we were born.  As we were growing up, though, everyone acted as if it were:  "The pears are ripe," Maw Maw Wilson says, "We'll go down to Laketon today and get some." "Where is such-and-such?" someone says.  "On the other side of Laketon," says Daddy.

I hope the next generation of Wilsons keeps up the tradition of family hikes.  And I hope they will always remember Laketon.