Stalking takes a lot of planning

Its interesting how reality and fiction dovetail at times.  (All too often in my life!)  Many moons ago, or so it seems, I was recovering from surgery.  I had to spend endless hours on the sofa and one night I got to thinking about a Bonanza episode I had loved as a kid and wondered if it could find it on YouTube.  I checked and - lo, an behold - there it was, entitled 'A Matter of Circumstance'.  It was what is called an SJS episode (suffering Joe syndrome), and I was propelled back into my childhood when I would just wait for the episodes where Little Joe would get hurt.

We won't go there...LOL

Anyhow, I then looked further and discovered almost all of the 14 seasons of Bonanza were online and available on DVD.  I now own all 14 seasons and admit, yes, I am obsessed.  Mostly with Little Joe, though I enjoy watching him now upright as well as in bed with a bullet wound. <G>

Anyhow, the next step was to rediscover the TV show, Little House on the Prairie.  I watched it as a teen and early twenty-something, but not that faithfully.  I picked up all nine seasons and began to enjoy the stories as an adult in a way I never did as a younger person.  In other words I was not waiting for all the SCS episodes (yes, suffering Charles syndrome LOL).

Then, as I continued to watch, I became curious about the Little House on the Prairie books, which I had never read.  You see, I was weaned on Shakespeare (yes, really!) and skipped kid's literature almost entirely.  That's what comes from having a mother, father, and grandmother who are all teachers.  So I sent for audio books of Laura Ingalls Wilders' Little House books and started listening. (Finding time to read is difficult, but you can always listen while doing something else.)  Next, of course, came a curiosity about the real Laura Ingalls Wilder and I moved on to the non-fiction books.

So here I am, getting more and more intrigued by this woman and her real life and thinking to myself 'I sure would like to go up to Minnesota and see where Laura was born, maybe walk the shore of Lake Pepin, see the dugout...."

This is where YouTube and my 13 1/2 year old granddaughter come in.

For a couple of years I have wanted to take a road trip with Leah.  This year, I decided, was a good one to actually make it happen since by next year (if a boyfriend comes into play), grandma might be chopped liver.  LOL  Anyhow, I asked Leah, 'Where would you like to go?', and she answers - now, get this - Minnesota!

God does work in mysterious ways.

Anyhow, she wanted to visit the hometowns of some of the young men she watches and admires on YouTube.  I said, 'Let me see if any of the Wilder sites are near there.'  They were, and on Friday we will be on our way to stalk both Charles Ingalls (real and fictional) and a bevy of YouTube boys including Luke Korns and Connor Franta.  Of course, we aren't really stalking them, but we are going to go eat in Connor's hometown pizza parlor, drive past his school and hope we maybe run into a member of his family among other things.  (The town has 4000 people in it, so its a possibility.)

We decided to drive, so there will be lots of time to bond and listen to head-pounding music and take breaks and discover things like cheese factories on the way there and back.  Once there, we are going to visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder sites including Walnut Grove and Pepin.  We will be in Wisconsin and Minnesota and I, for one, am just looking forward to the scenery.  Leah is a little nervous about the lack of civilization, but I told her take heart - there is a Starbucks outside of Walnut Grove.  <G>  Also, to give her her fill, we will be going to the....God help me...Mall of America.

Anyhow, once we hit the road, I will document it each night here.  If you are interested, be sure to subscribe to the blog so you get updates, or follow on my Facebook page where I will be posting as well.

And we're off...well...will be in three days.