The cattle farm to the south was a little further away from Matt's house than the crop farm and was built on the east side of the road. Further down from the cattle farm was a dirt crossroad that led to town if you traveled east on it, and if you were traveling west it led to a small area where a row of homes stood, and a butcher (meat packing plant) a bit further on where the crossroad came to an end with no outlet. The owner of the meat packing plant lived in one of the homes near the intersection and he was also the school bus driver for Matt's neighborhood and the surrounding areas.
There was a small airport servicing propeller aircraft for regional flights just southeast of the crossroad intersection. The airport was located outside the city limits, but there had been an annexation debate going on for decades regarding the airport property that was still the talk of the neighborhood. While the notion of losing their properties to progress was frustraiting, the neighborhood supported the county run airport. The boys all had model airplanes and model cars and everybody loved to go watch the airplanes take off and land at the crossroad.
