Michigan - part two

Don and Jode are some way from the nearest shopping. Evart, like so many small places, has seen more prosperous days. Many 'downtown' buildings are vacant.

 But they still serve a fine breakfast at the 'All American Cafė'.

Walking the short main street, I peer through the dusty window of a onetime store. You might have to click on these pictures.

Evart's brief spell in the national spotlight came in the Great War with the death of local boy Joseph Guyton. He was the first killed as U.S. troops advanced into Alsace, then German territory.

Most American casualties were buried in France, but Guyton's body was returned home in 1921, an event attended by President Warren Harding.

Thanks to Don who took this. I didn't have time to find the grave.

Central Michigan (the picture is just up the road from Don and Jode's is farm country.

Farms mean farm fairs, this one in Marne. Marne was once Berlin, but renamed for where the American Army fought in France during 1918. 

Being a city boy, I fret about the goat who'd stuck his head through the railings in hopes of a handout. I needn't have.

For this unhappy goat, no escape.

Displayed by Katie and Matt Horling of the 'Animals and Us 4-H Club', these are 'Pig' and 'Boss Hog'. They are blissfully ignorant of their fate.

However, between hotdogs and fair rides, humans can check on their eventual fate. Just in case we’re enjoying ourselves too much.