Grandpa Alvin Jacobson

I have recently been visiting my grandparents with my dad and scanning in old photos. I am amazed and thrilled at the stories that my grandpa Alvin and grandma Lorraine have been telling. I guess I never thought to ask as a youth, and now I can't get enough of the stories about their younger years! So, I thought maybe some people in my family might be as interested as I am.. so I will post once in a while a few of the pictures and stories that I get to hear. Here are some pictures from Alvin's childhood.
Alvin was born in 1915 in North Dakota near Kenmare. Grandpa said this barn is still standing, or was a few years ago when he visited. (not sure when that was!)
This is a family portrait. But this picture was taken before he and his younger sibling were born.
Alvin is the baby.
This is Carrie and Pete - Alvin's parents. They were both originally from Denmark. I asked Grandpa why they came to America. He said they came for land, the American dream. They had a walnut farm, and they tried raising turkeys, but Grandpa said that didn't last long. They were very religious, especially his mother. They belonged to the Danish Lutheran Church.
Grandpa said he was a scout. Can you believe those uniforms? He said that back when he was a scout they sure didn't do what scouts do today and badges weren't as big a thing as they are now. But he sure looked handsome!
Here are all of Grandpa's sisters.
Here is Grandpa with his first Harley Davidson. He belonged to a Harley club. They rode and did contests and had lots of crazy adventures. I'm sure he hasn't told us much of what he did there, it sounded like he had a lot of fun though.
During the depression grandpa drove a truck and delivered goods. He said he delivered hay, produce, wood and anything else that needed to be delivered. There were two drivers, and they took turns driving straight for about 2 weeks, then they took a weekend off to recover. He said he made 250 dollars a month, which was really good pay during that time. He said they had to load and unload this hay in the middle of the day in California. It was up to 126 degrees doing this. He said they would drink about 5 gallons of water a day to rehydrate. And they would jump in the canal to cool off before heading out onto the road. He said they had to load during the day because there were so many rattlesnakes, scorpions and black widows that it was dangerous to do it at dusk or dawn when they would crawl out. SCARY!!!
Grandpa talks about his Harley's and cars like they were babies of his. And it sure looks like he had the cream of the crop with both!
Here is Grandpa's pride and joy - his new 1936 Harley Davidson. He paid 520 dollars for this baby. I think he misses this baby a lot! He spoke of the many adventures he had on it fondly. I love my Grandpa, and I'm so glad that I am FINALLY taking the chance to get to know him as a real person, not just grandpa Jacobson. He is living an amazing story and I hope I can capture that in the stories he tells me.