NOTES FROM THE VAGABOND JOURNAL A VISIT TO WEST POINT, NEBRASKA MAY 3, 2004 - (30)

May 3, 2003
I've left West Point. I'm making my way towards Redfield, South Dakota, with a stay tonight in Sioux City along the way. I left West Point reluctantly. I have to say that the earnestness of my conversation with the people I've talked to has tired me. The full weight of this project, its seriousness, burdened me as I drove away.

I have been amazed and sometimes startled by the wisdom of the people I've interviewed - those in West Point and those elsewhere. These people have vision and understanding and earnestness and humor. One cannot spend much time talking with them without realizing the enormity of such an undertaking as this Vagabond Expedition. The question I've raised has no single answer, no simple answer, no easy answer. No doubt I'll get a book out of this effort, but it won't be an easy book to master. Perhaps there are as many explanations of why we're here and what we're made of as there are people to talk to.

I am astounded by the profundity and job and enthusiasm of a fellow like Steve Engelhart of Wisner Rendering, who spends his days loading and hauling dead animals. Such a job - distasteful at least, disgusting to some - could numb a lesser man, you think, could leave him sour and joyless, yet that's not the case at all with Steve. Somebody has got to do the job, he says; he can make a living at it, he does it without complaint, there doesn't seem to be a whiny bone in his body. How smug are those who think they are somehow superior to a fellow who hauls dead animals for a living. We could say: "Steve is happy. Are you?"

I like being able to meet people like Steve, like the Rocheleaus in Rugby, Jim the truck driver, Therese taking care of the motel. These people don't expect to win the lottery, they are not looking for a free ride, they don't waste any time complaining about what somebody else got and they didn't.

The enormity of my undertaking was underscored by the wealth of material I gathered this past week in West Point. It was as if they gave me a bolt of gold cloth and said, "Okay, see what you can make of it." What am I going to make of it?

I am pleased that I got to see a good Nebraska thunderstorm this past week. The grey sky didn't bother me too much, as the heat of the sun made its way through the cloud cover and temperatures were pleasant. I saw a good greening of the earth, that's always a joy.

The warmth of the people I met has been a joy. There may be cranky people in West Point and I just haven't met them. Perhaps I get steered away form the whiners and trouble-makers and towards the movers and shakers. Yet the choice to talk with Bud and Mabel Hanneman, with Steve Engelhart, was entirely my own.

I think the idea of spending time in various endeavors and doing a "day-in-the-life" look at those occupations - such as with Bob Flittie for a farm radio air shift or with Steve Engelhart on his rendering truck route - is probably something I should consider for other opportunities. I know already I want to spend a day at the auction barn in Rugby on sale day, but what else might be appropriate? Should I consider something like "Making Hot Dogs at Wimmers" or "Riding Pens" at a big cattle operation? For the time being, I'll stay open to possibilities, and opportunities will present themselves, without a doubt. It's enough for now that I simply stay with the project, push forward, take both the plain and the pretty as they come, don't make anything more of it than what it is. There is little chance that this book will be what I wish it to be; rather, it will be what it must be. Already I can see some of the directions I'm being pushed in.

Comments

[Lois]

Tom: I do hope there's a book in this....what you've written here is inviting!

[Tom Montag]

Oh, Lois, there is most definitely a book in it; it will be coming once I feel I know enough to speak, unless I get hit by a train as I'm leaving town, which would be a sad eventuality. Thanks for your good words.

[Kyle Michaelis]

Tom:

Don't know when or if you'll be reading this, but I'm writing from West Point, my hometown, and just want to tell you what a fascinating undertaking this whole effort of yours is. I look forward to one day reading what ultimately results.

[Tom Montag]

Thanks, Kyle. I find the people I interview to be the most fascinating part of the project. The old cliche that everyone has a story is true: eveeryone does have a story; it's just that we very seldom get asked to tell ours. I am giving some people that chance, and they are responding....