The Way We Were Wednesday - The Air and the Land

I have mentioned before that I grew up around airports and small airplanes, my father's hobby.  I know this was taken in Michigan, probably in Lapeer County, but I am not sure what town it is.  The wing tip in the bottom right, I was probably in the back seat, a low wing aircraft, most likely a Piper, it might have been a Mooney - the two that were most available at the time and place.  

Michigan was surveyed in straight lines, main road ran north-south, east-west, most often at one-mile intervals.  There are corrections for the curvature of the earth every few miles. Some variation based on trails before the survey, or to skirt around natural obstacles. Each square mile is 640 acres - divided in quarters - then divided in half for 80 acre standard farms. One-half mile, by one-quarter of a mile is 80 acres.  Most the land descriptions start with section, township and range, then quarter, then half quarter.  There are 43,560 sq. ft. in an acre - I learned that for an exam in 1978 and it has stuck with me. 

The farm I was raised on had an anomaly, one border was a creek bed.  A factor that was important when my father sold the last of the farm.  He was paid a premium by the adjoining land owner who feared a fight over the property line. 

My growing up is firmly rooted the land, in the layout of the countryside, and in seeing it from the air.