Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly!
On July 18 Marcia and I left our rural Bismarck home early to drive 100 miles to the Patrie farmhouse in Wells County. We wanted to get the grass mowed before it got hot. Marcia push-mowed around the house and garage; I rode the riding mower. Marcia went inside and washed windows while I finished mowing. We left in time to meet Jack and Orion, our grandkids, coming from Moorhead to Jamestown. We have the boys for a week. It was 90 degrees when we left Jamestown headed west on Interstate 94. I spontaneously turned north into Medina. I told about the Medina shootout as we drove north. The major figure in that deadly violence, Gordon Kahl, is buried in the same cemetery as my parents.
Going north toward Woodworth on a paved county road, the boys heard how the glacier formed the land, beautiful as a national park. We occasionally slowed down for farmers mowing the road ditches. I told them about Hawks Nest Hill and how Native Americans would gather there and could see a long way. I told them about taking their dad to Hawks Nest when he was little. My folks had taken me there when I was very young.
We crossed Highway 200 at Sykeston and dodged construction on Highway 30 to go north to Fessenden. We had made an appointment to look at a motor home in my hometown, and the owner quit mowing hay to drive into town on his tractor and show it to us. We went for a ride in that motor home, and I was impressed -- the powerful quiet Dodge Hemi 413 cubic inch V8 moved it nicely. It is a 1972 model with pioneer plates.
The boys were disappointed that we didn’t buy the motor home. Why drive all this way if you don’t buy it? We had ice cream at the Fessenden Cenex and filled gas for $4.33 per gallon. We stopped at the farm where we had mowed earlier in the day. The boys were fascinated by things in the garage -- fishing rods, a canoe and a red toy fire truck.
Off we went, back to Highway 200 west past Bowdon, Chaseley and south on Highway 3 west of Hurdsfield. Again, we encountered the majestic terminal moraine left by the glacier. More farmers cutting hay, the heat still stifling. As we crested the big hill headed south, the one with the fantastic view, Orion asked if we shouldn’t stop and get out to look for a while. Not this time! Grandparents were running low on energy.
We turned on Highway 36 and went west through Tuttle and Wing before turning south on 83 at Wilton, the odd light making visible things we had not seen before on countless trips. We got home and unloaded the truck, the bikes, and put everything away in case it rained. The boys are watching a movie with Grandma, and it is well past their bedtime!
I know rural North Dakota is an acquired taste. I have acquired it. I was struck by the beauty of the farms and the rural towns. There is much to enjoy in North Dakota. There are stories to tell by folks who love telling them. I have long hoped to share this beauty and quietness with people needing a place to live. I hope it can happen.
Bill Patrie has been recognized for his work as a cooperative developer by the National Farmers Union, the Association of Cooperative Educators and the National Cooperative Business Association.
Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly!
🎧 The hosts discuss whether we have the right social structures in place to allow us to develop humility as a virtue.
President Biden is in deep trouble.
There’s no shortage of takes on the Great Resignation, the COVID-era trend of workers quitting jobs they no longer want and being selective ab…
I’d like you to consider the possibility that the political changes that have rocked this country over the past six years will be nothing comp…
Change: Life’s only certainty. Our culture seems to be both obsessed with change and unsettled with it at the same time. I wish I could say th…
In one of Rob Port’s May writings, he indicated that former state Sen. Roscoe Streyle was running for a seat in the Legislature on the strengt…
The day Dobbs was handed down, I happened to be lunching with a new friend who was upset and angry over the decision. She's a libertarian and …
The wall-to-wall coverage of progressive carping about Joe Biden has been interrupted by reruns of progressive carping about West Virginia Sen…
Texas is often hot, but not like this: Current forecasts have the temperature in Dallas hitting 109 degrees this week, with highs in triple di…
Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.