The Final Day in Pipestone!!

The last day, Sept. 20th, was the day of the land auction of 339 acres of prime farmland in Pipestone County.  My aunt, Nora and her husband, Clarence, farmed this acreage for many years.
The auction was held in a wheat field on one of the acreages.  

The auctioneer had a Class C motor home there that he worked out of.  

(That's my sister, Judeen, walking back to the truck).

Everyone else parked in an oval in their "pickups" (very few cars there).  In all, about 45 vehicles were parked.  

The bank was there (in their pickup) handing out water and cookies to everyone (I guess they were trying to sweeten up the bidders!!).

The auctioneer had a microphone and stood in the middle of the oval and auctioned the land off.  There were probably 5 or 6 bidders there and then a few more on the phone that he dealt with.  The bidding took about 2 1/2 hours and then it was over.  Most of us had never been to an auction of land so it was interesting to watch.

After it was over, the relatives all congregated at Pizza Ranch for lunch.

From left to right - my uncle Harold, me, Jerri and John (my cousin), Steve (my cousin Gene's son), Edith (Harold's wife), Karen (Gene's wife), Joanne (my cousin), and Claudia (my cousin).

In this one, Karen took the picture and Judy was included.

This was a great ending to a very enjoyable summer in Pipestone!!  It was bittersweet in that we were anxious to get back on the road but also sad because we will never be able to duplicate the great times we had with family and friends!!