During the period the de Jong family lived in Vlagtwedde (appr. 1928-1934), Hinne continued to roam around to supervise various NHM projects. Sometimes these travels took him to isolated areas, such as the peat bogs in Westerwolde. This was dangerous country. One could just disappear here. Hinne would discover paths that led through the bog to the German border. These were used by shady men to smuggle things like Dutch gin, cows and horses. Hinne would hear many stories from Dutch customs officers.

As it turned out, there was not enough for him to do in this part of Groningen. So, he was asked to temporarily transfer his base to Meppel, a rather large town in the Province of Drenthe. Wine, Cees and Truus stayed behind in Vlagtwedde. Hinne found a boarding place in Meppel near a bridge lock in the “Drenthse Hoofdvaart,” the main waterway in Drenthe. Soon he became lonely and Hinne shopped around in Meppel to see what home or apartment he could rent for his family. He found one, but he never checked it out with Wine. Big mistake!

A dangerous journey

What followed was the traumatic move from Vlagtwedde to Meppel. A moving truck arrived from Meppel. The driver was a chain smoker. He lit one cigarette after another, even when packing the truck. Wine’s sister, Dina, had come over to help. The moment of departure came. Hinne and the driver sat in the cabin, up front, while Wine and Dina and the two kids sat in the back with the furniture.

The trip went via Assen, where they stopped for coffee and refreshments, etc. They then continued south along the road next to the canal. Meanwhile, the driver kept on smoking, flicking butts out of the window....

Approaching the town of Smilde, the driver and Hinne noticed something funny was going on. They saw people behaving oddly beside the road . They gesticulated with their arms, pointing at something they saw. Weird people, they thought. What was going on?

They finally stopped and the two rushed out to have a look. They saw Dina running like mad behind the truck towards them. She had jumped onto the road from the back of the truck because smoke was engulfing the load of furniture and the passengers sitting there. Wine and the kids were really “benauwd” (scared) and crying. They were at the point of suffocation! They had knocked and knocked on the partition separating them from the cabin, but those dumb guys up front hadn’t heard a flippin’ thing!

The driver immediately sensed where the problem was. He tore the cargo-hold from under the truck bed and threw it straight into the canal. He had seen the smouldering spare tires. Once exposed to the outside air they burst into flames. But he also knew that inside that cargo-hold were three spare containers full of gasoline!

Fortunately, everyone was safe. Hinne wrote somewhat wryly that the furniture and the truck were still intact, too. At first, Wine refused to go back into the truck, but the driver finally persuaded her. Later, they wondered what had happened. Was it a cigarette butt the driver had tossed outside while driving? They realized they had narrowly escaped from a disaster. They thanked the Lord.

As they continued on their way, another drama was about to unfold. On arrival in Meppel a horse and a wagon approached them from the rear. Suddenly, the horse bolted. It hurled itself forward toward the truck, and at great speed thundered past the vehicle, narrowly missing it.
Completely out of control, the horse, driver and wagon approached a bridge over a small river, but they never made it. The whole affair ended up in the water. Hinne did not write about what happened then, so we are left wondering.... They just kept going.

They soon arrived at the second-floor apartment Hinne had rented in Meppel. But first Wine went upstairs to have a look. She didn’t like what she saw. Building up some steam, she came down the stairs and declared: “We’re not going to live in that joint. Leave everything on the truck!.” But, after a lot of hemming and hawing, she finally relented and they moved in. Hinne wrote that the people downstairs were elderly people, but had two kids living with them. Later they found out that these kids were carriers of the hated fleas.

Hinne got an earful or two about renting such a place. To make matters worse, Hinne had made a deal with two NHM employees from Vlagtwedde to board with the de Jong family. More pressure on Wine. But, once settled, Wine made the best out of it. On nice days, she took the kids out in the baby-carriage, exploring the beauty of the area.

Herman and Sense arrive

Eventually, the family returned to Vlagtwedde. There, on January 11, 1932, Herman was born, and on July 18, 1934, Sense arrived. During that time, Wine’s Dad (Opa Sense Blokzijl) lived in with the family. Opa Sense was, at times, a very difficult man. One day, Wine accidently opened a letter intended for the old man. That did it and he blew up! Opa Sense did not think much of Hinne, and the feeling was mutual. They had a good fight. The upshot of it all was that Opa insisted on leaving. And he left for Groningen where he settled in with the family of Reinder and Anje (Wine’s oldest sister) van der Molen living on the Hereweg.

Hinne mentioned that during the time Sense was about to be born, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands was visiting Westerwolde. The Queen drove right by the de Jong home. Of course, Wine didn’t think twice and jumped out of bed to see her Queen! No one in the village had ever seen royalty. The people were so impressed that they forgot to applaud!

That same year (1934) the de Jong family moved to Acacialaan 15, Winschoten (Groningen). By this time, Hinne travelled literally all over the province. He would take the steam tram from Vlagtwedde to Winschoten, then transfer to another tram to Delfzijl. He would then mount his bike and peddle all the way to such places as Uithuizen, Roodeschool, etc. And, as always, he carried with him on the bike all the paraphernalia associated with that part of his job that was called surveying. It included the instrument level, the tri-pod and a long, collapsible measuring rod. After hours of work he travelled back the same way in the evening.

Hinne gets a motor bike

Just before his move to Winschoten, Hinne got his first motor bike from the company. He, of course, had to learn to drive that thing. He was a slow learner and, consequently, had a number of close calls. Later, he got a larger, more powerful motor bike, a B.S.A.. Hinne wrote how he and a colleague of his, a Mr. Koopman, drove to a job site somewhere near Stadskanaal. With Koopman hanging on in the rear, Hinne took a short cut through a very hazardous piece of land alongside a canal. The front wheel suddenly went off the path. Hinne dropped out of sight down the canal embankment. The bike flew into the canal. Koopman ended up in the tall grass. When he got up he couldn’t see Hinne or the bike. He called out: “De Jong, de Jong, where are you?”
When Hinne scrambled up the canal edge, they started laughing their heads off. Somehow, they got the bike onto dry land. They pushed it all the way to Veenhuizen, their destination, arriving there dog tired.

The arrival of the new B.S.A. made a great impression on Hinne’s son, Cees. One day, Hinne parked this shining new bike right in front of the house on Acacialaan, leaving the keys in the ignition. That was too tempting for Cees. He mounted the bike, turned the key and he was off. In no time he came to the end of the street. Later, they told Hinne that some people had seen Cees flying by at 120 km/hr on a road outside town. Hinne was furious, of course, and let Cees have it with the “matteklopper” (rug beater). He figured that Cees had never driven a motor bike before. He observed: And it was a new bike that was still in the break-in period. Cees went way over 50 km/hr. “Dat mag toch niet!" (That’s not allowed!).