January in North Dakota--how did our predecessors survive?
While Meredith and law school classmate were ziplining through the jungles of Jamaica ...
the old folks back home were dealing with some of the coldest weather ever. Windchill temperatures dipped to 35 below zero.
One Monday, I decided to take the unpaved road out of Carson north to Almont, North Dakota. I like the change in topography along that route even if the trip is longer. I took this shot and the ones that follow after a wet fog left frost and ice on everything in sight.
My Mom just finished reading Giants in the Earth, Ole Rolvaag's classic book about a man and a woman's daily battle with an unforgiving land. She said the main character, Pers Hansa, reminded her of her father, Ole Burwick. As a girl, Mom remembers the plagues of grasshoppers and the year when cutworms ate the roots of every cornstalk in the county. Add to that the miserably cold winters and it is a wonder more homesteaders did not go off the deep end.
Even the fences look cold.
I did not see any critters en route.
This shot was taken on January 24 when mine was one of the very few vehicles on Highway 21 between Mandan and Carson. After a l-o-n-g, tiring drive to the courthouse in Carson, I discovered that sane people stayed home that morning. The place was locked! So I turned around and headed back to Bismarck. Winds were gusting up to 45 mph and, believe it or not, visibility was often worse than depicted above. A few pillow drifts added excitement to the journey. In elementary school, we learned a short song that went, "You oughta go ta North Dakota. See the cattle and the sheep and the folks that can't be beat. You say hello ta, North Dakota. But you just can't say goodbye." I'm ready to say goodbye for a few days at least when we take in the Witney Kline wedding this weekend in southern California.
All in all, I'd rather be snorkeling.