Football, Firearms, Farming, and Family. Welcome to America.

I stayed in Iowa for a few days longer than I thought I would, and finally wrenched myself away from old friends and familiar faces to head out to the next stop: South Dakota. I reached the tiny town of Madison on Saturday night, after a day of giggling at billboards and contemplating landscapes. My friends in South Dakota welcomed me and gave me a warm place to sleep... and also taught me a few lessons in how to be a good guest in a strange place. I stayed for two days, then moseyed on to Scottsbluff, Nebraska, where I applied these skills again (and had a wonderful time doing so).

Life in places like South Dakota and Nebraska moves just a bit more slowly. People take their time to answer questions (if not to pass judgment), they value tradition and methodical progress, see nothing wrong with fried foods and light beer. There are some things that just can't be argued against, namely guns and God, and ideas that are simply foreign, such as locking one's house or recycling. (These are pointless arguments, trust me.) Football is next to godliness, and hunting is a far more reputable sport than running or biking. Nobody apologizes for their way of life, and if you don't like it, to hell with you. And oh, do rural folks have a sense of humor!







Do NOT drop your small animal friends off here.





I literally did a U-turn on the highway for this one. Golden.



Carhenge is just funny.



The Husker House and the Bears Crib, respectfully.



But there are also strong senses of family and community, and I witnessed these first-hand in both places. People take care of each other without asking questions, family or not. On the way to Scottsbluff, while listening to Nebraska Public radio, I learned that because of record wet weather and cold fronts, farmers are behind in harvests by upwards of a month. Corn is usually harvested by the first of November, and some people are now just hoping to get corn and sugar beets (the top cash commodities in western Nebraska) out by Christmas. I mentioned this to a farmer I know in Scottsbluff, and he said, "Yeah, as a matter of fact the Hoffs have to get their beets out by tomorrow or else they'll lose them all 'cause of the snow storm that's hittin' Wednesday. I'm goin' out to help 'em in the morning."

I invited myself to go along and see this community thing in action, which is how I found myself on a sugar beet farm on County Road D early on Tuesday morning. It was freezing, the ground was soaked, and I figured there would be a few combines and trucks.... No. Four families had shown up to help the Hoffs get their sugar beets out of their last twenty acres by the end of the day, and combines were lining up in the field, semi trucks were standing by to haul the harvest off to the plant, and people were smiling through frosty air and with a red-cheeked, can-do attitude. I watched for close to an hour, and left knowing that the Hoff family would be alright this year, and hoping that the other farm families in the area would be as fortunate.



Git 'er done!



As heavy clouds began to roll in, people began to warn me about the snow storm, and I took heed. A parting shot of western Nebraska: goodbye and good luck. Until next time....