On February 22 and February 23, 2005, I drove from Fairwater, Wisconsin, to Moorhead, Minnesota, where I was to make three presentations at Minnesota State University as the first Tom McGrath Visiting Writer of the spring semester. I stayed overnight at my parent's house in Faribault, Minnesota, on Tuesday the 22nd, then continued to Moorhead on Wednesday the 23rd. This is a report of that two days of driving across Wisconsin and Minnesota.
We're coming into town.
Grove City, pop. 608. An elevator. A bank. Restaurant. Fire department. Pub. Got to have a pub. Lumberyard. Lions Club. Insurance company. Laundromat. That's enough.
Highway 12 goes straight out of town and there's a bit of a rise to it. I guess we're going west; the land wants to climb towards the mountains.
The train tracks are back snug against the south side of the road again.
Another big factory farm. One, two, three, four, five, six long buildings. Again there is no sign to tell me what they're raising here. If it's turkeys, it's a lot of turkeys. Again, it doesn't smell like pigs. You only have to smell one factory-farm hog house and you never forget it.
A sign for Atwater, Minnesota, ahead. A half mile beyond the sign, another set of factory-farm buildings.
At 11:27 a.m. I cross into Kandiyohi County - "Where the Lakes Begin." Doesn't it depend on where you're coming from, going to. Every beginning is an ending. Kandiyohi County - "Where the Prairie Ends."
Elevator along the railroad tracks. I see some houses. What else do we have in town? I don't know; I can't see it from here. This is Atwater, "Gateway to the Little Crow Lakes Region." Sign: "Happy New Year." The community has a liquor store and a couple of gas stations. Houses. A sign says there is a golf course south of there. Historical Museum. Now we're passing the Thompson Bakery and Coffeehouse, Inc. Then again the climb out of town.
A wide load comes down the road at me. Down this two lane highway, half a house. Just behind it, the other half a house. I've got wide shoulders here, so it's okay. I've got broad shoulders, too. Heh-heh-heh.
The land here has some up and down and scruffiness again. Low ground and potholes for ducks and marsh grass. Trees that lean. Some more factory-farm buildings.
Up over the railroad tracks, which then sneak off to the right. More factory-farm buildings. I don't know whether they are in operation or not - the buildings are closed. There are bulk feed bins at the end of each building. Sign: "Disease Control Area. Keep Out." But nothing says what's in the buildings. I'll have to believe it's turkeys.
The train tracks had wandered away from the road, and now they are stuck back up close.
This is Kaniyohi, pop. 555. There's a car dealer, an elevator, gas station, a couple houses. How much else? Over there, a high school. Tract houses out at the edge of town. That becomes predictable, doesn't it?
To be continued....
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