Ramona

In Ramona, we saw a half-demolished house, an old abandoned store filled with junk, and some other decrepit buildings. But we also saw some pretty memorial benches, a few really nice homes, and a park with horseshoes and basketball. 

There was also a city hall, a post office, and an old school that had been transformed into someone's house, or possibly a garage or shop. 

Ramona was very welcoming. So much so, in fact, that it had two welcome signs! Magen had her picture taken near the nicer one, while I stood near the more timeworn one, which is pretty on-brand for us.

It's clearly a town that values its past; there are several history pages on the town's website, with lots of interesting details about its founding and the people who've lived here over the years. There's also been a strong sense of civic involvement within the past several decades, from the town's centennial in 1987 to the starting of the "Redneck Run" to the restoration of Rosebank Church.

We're finding that we can't trust the GPS around here. Twice now, it's tried to send us down muddy, unmaintained roads.

While driving through the countryside, we saw a couple of cemeteries: Lewis Cemetery, where you can get four burial plots for $50, and the one across from Rosebank Church, which is now purple.

We also saw a sign for the Cow Camp Feedyard. "Oh, that's fun! The cows get to go to camp!" Madelynne remarked. 

"Yep, until they're fat enough to slaughter," I said, whereupon we had a long and edifying conversation about the ethics of meat-eating.

Tampa

The sign on the main road advertises this as "The Other Tampa" and touts the fact that it's on the Santa Fe Trail.

It's a charming little community where lots of people have taken pains to make the town appealing and well-maintained.

There are many well-preserved homes, with a few going to disrepair, as is common in rural communities here. 

The park is located near a sign commemorating Tampa Rural High School, which was demolished in 2003. The kids were delighted that the basketball hoops were adjustable. 

Downtown, there's the Santa Fe Trail Café, a library, a strip mall with some cute shops, a senior center, a vintage gas station, and Tampa State Bank.

There's also a grain elevator, as well as a cemetery about a mile out of town.

Durham

Durham was the first place where we noticed that the town sign said "Urban Boundary." Kind of a highfalutin way to say "city limit," and as far as urban areas go, we've seen bigger, but you do you, Durham.

The town has a church, a grain elevator, an old church building that now seems to be a home, and many older houses, some really nicely updated.

We rolled through about breakfast time, so there were lots of cars in front of Main Street Café and Bakery. Near the café, we saw a community center and a silhouette of a bull, apparently a Durham (the town's namesake). 

Farm implements are big business around here -- Donahue Trailers is located on the edge of town.

One of our favorite parts of town was a yard just down the street from the bull silhouette that had yard art made of found objects. Pretty fun and creative!

Lincolnville

One thing you notice right away about Lincolnville is that they LOVE yard decorations.

We discovered this when we were greeted by a family of Bigfoot silhouettes on a fence at the edge of town. 

Later, we found a backyard castle -- too small for children; is it for cats? Hamsters? -- along with a tree stump adapted as a gnome-home,  and yet another Bigfoot silhouette, presumably searching for his missing family.

Some other things we saw in Lincolnville: A rock quarry, a post office, a park, a few churches, homes in various states of repair, and a single-pump gas station.

A train was stopped on the tracks on the railroad crossing we intended to use to leave town, so we got a picture in front of it and sought out an alternate route.

Lost Springs

 Lost Springs, a stop on the Santa Fe trail, is a town of about 70 people today.

The Lost Spring is so named because it's not there in dry weather, but is when there's been enough rain. It's about 16 miles from Diamond Springs, so it made a good stop a day out from there on the Santa Fe trail. Later, a station for mail-carriers was built there, and still later, a railroad came through.

On the approach to town, we saw an oil derrick in a field. When we asked the kids what they thought it was, Madelynne guessed, "A honey mill?"

It's a town full of small, modest houses. Like many in this area, some are in good condition and others are in advanced states of decay. We saw a post office, as well as some ruins, a decrepit church, and a closed grade school that had been established in 1910. 

One yard was full of cars -- possibly a salvage yard. I said to Magen, "Must be someone who likes cars."

"Or doesn't," she responded.

It felt like a town on its way out, but I hope I'm wrong. After all, it's lasted just fine for the past 150 years. Maybe it will keep holding on somehow.

Marion

Marion is a small town with a lovely downtown area and a great park. Our friend Ruth was directing the high school musical, so we came to cheer her on. The musical was a great success, and there were great performances by many students, including several who had never done a play before!

 Since we were focused on visiting Ruth, we didn't get to enjoy the historic courthouse, downtown area, or nearby reservoir, so we definitely need to check those out next time we're in town.