Crossing the Prairie - "Left, Right, & Country"

We took Old Highway 2 (also called the Highline) across from Idaho to Minnesota and really got some good small town experiences. It was exactly what we were looking for. From Roger & Heather's campground in Havre, MT to Karen & Scott's place in Detroit Lakes, MN we found:

1. Lovely people and conversations.

2. Great country accents that we didn't expect.

3. A museum in EVERY town. They're serious about preserving their history.

4. Golf courses in a weirdly large number of places (not complaining!)

5. LOTS of Walmarts. Especially as we discover little things we wished we'd packed, Walmart has become our saving grace. Both Joan & I can find our way around any Walmart now without getting lost!

Highlights from this week include

• The H. Earl Clack museum in Havre, MT. Thanks to Cathy C in Glacier for recommending it! The picture we took of Joan with the stuffed beaver is priceless. Zoom in on the photo. He's smiling and looks like an extra from Caddyshack!

• Athletic activities:

  • Golf in Minot, ND. Joan even broke out her warmup up routine on the first tee. . . . I should note that Minot is home to a VERY large number of long range nuclear missiles. We felt very safe.

  • Biking the "Lake Wobegon Trail". Joan was convinced we'd found the actual Lake Wobegon, but, alas, it was a mirage.

  • Drop-in Pickleball in Detroit Lakes, MN. Everyone was "Minnesota nice", but they kicked out butts on the court! Pickleball is the great connector of people and we're really looking forward to using the apps to find games wherever we go.

• Re-visiting Some great small towns:

  • Casselton, ND (pop 2700) where our friend Joe S. grew up and where he & Tracy got married way back in the 80's!

  • Deer Creek, MN (pop 322) where Randy's mom lived as a little girl. Last time we visited might have been 1968.

  • Frazee, MN (pop 1400) to visit Ketter's Meats and pick up some amazing smoked sausage. Joan was even MORE excited though to get some Olive & Pimento loaf for sandwiches. Even after 28yrs, Randy had NO IDEA she liked the stuff. . . . . But Frazee is where we got that great picture of Joan with the angel wings. :-)

AND . . .

• Meeting TJ at the Twins game. He was a dead-ringer for Johnny Depp (or maybe Kid Rock) but turned out to be an IT guy for a local company. Tremendous style, a great conversation, and he even shared his tequila with Joan. This was a quintessential "Journeys with Joan" moment. More of those to be highlighted next week!

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There's something about the incredibly vast spaces of the prairie that changes the way you look at the world. The trip across Montana, North Dakota, and into Minnesota really got us thinking . . . . and not just about where the heck Lake Wobegon was.

Try as we might the pictures still don't really capture how incredibly, amazingly overwhelming the land is out here.

This is one of those parts of the earth where you REALLY feel how much mother nature in in charge.

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Thought for the day:

Randy & Joan: There are definitely a lot more Trumpers in this part of the world than there are in California. (no shit, sherlock) But that’s not the main difference that strikes us.

Living in rural America is just a whole different world. The spaces are so vast and overwhelming that they can’t help but affect you.

For example, if I’m a farmer, battling everyday against the weather and the soil and the clock, it wouldn’t be surprising if I felt like Mother Nature was “in charge”. It takes an excruciating amount of work day in and day out just to keep her at bay and to make the land produce my living. Is it surprising then that the farmer “me” would be doubtful about global warming? Hell, I can’t even keep the crickets or the forest at bay. How could mankind have screwed up the WHOLE planet?

Here’s another one. Farming involves pain and sacrifice. Maybe I work from before dawn to after sunset. Wolves eat my sheep. I kill cattle to make a living. Every day there are burdens that drag down both my spirit and my body. I don’t have the luxury of avoiding death and pain. They’re just one of many parts of my day and I’ve learned to deal with that. That’s just “life on the farm”.

So is it surprising that I might be skeptical about affirmative action or welfare? Let alone “cultural appropriation”? If my world is small enough that I’ve never seen or understood your pain, I’m hard pressed to imagine that it’s any more difficult than mine. Because my life sure as heck isn’t easy.

It’s funny how, sometimes just driving these roads affects you. A good friend of Randy’s suggested that we re-read Wallace Stegner’s Angle of Repose for just that reason.

I think Wallace Stegner was right. The land changes you.

It was a beautiful week of travel. Exactly what we hoped it would be!