View From a Country Road

Whenever we go anywhere, I mark the trip route on the map with highlighter.  As much as possible, we pick a different route each time.  One thing that doesn't change from one road to the next is the array of abandoned homes and farms, some of which must date to close to the time of the land rush.  I can't help but begin to wonder how it came to pass that one day the family would just walk out the door and never return, leaving decades of backbreaking work to decay, rot, and termites.