Minnesota Observations

Minnesota is green.
     Lots of grass.  Lawns are green and nicely mowed.  Farms have huge mowed grassy areas.

     Lots of trees.   Trees everywhere.  Mostly deciduous.  Driving in the country the farms are surrounded by groves of trees.  I remember going to friends or relatives farms and playing in their "woods", as we called them.  It was great fun!  There were trees to climb in and always some old farm machinery to sit on.

    Corn.   Oh my gosh!    Miles and miles and miles of cornfields.  Some soybeans too, but mostly corn.  As far as the eye can see in all directions.  Every town is marked by a water tower with its name on it and a grain elevator.  You know you are getting close to another town when you see one or the other or both in the distance welcoming you.

   Bumpy roads.   Highways are bumpy.  City streets are bumpy.  Neighborhood streets are bumpy.  The highways have expansion joints in them to handle the extremes in temperature, I guess.  But the weather takes a toll on the roads.  Driving on some of the roads gives you  a pattern.  Thump,  dot, thump, dot, thump.  It's a sound and a feeling at the same time.  It tries to lull you to sleep until you hit the occasional "big one"  that jar you and your car's suspension system.

   Bugs.     I got more bugs on the front of my rig on the drive from the South Dakota border to Fairmont (100 miles) than I did on the entire trip from Canby to Texas, to South Lake Tahoe, to South Dakota.  I have been happily surprised by the lack of mosquitoes.  They haven't been bad at all.  Other bugs have made up for their lack.  Lots of flying bugs.  I had forgotten about Cicadas.  We used to call them Heat Bugs.  You don't see them, you hear them.  It's kind of a buzzing sound.

   Humidity!!   Yikes!  I had forgotten how I hate it.  Hate it.  Hate it.   The weather guys don't talk about relative humidity, they talk about dew point, whatever that means.  It isn't constant.  It comes and goes.  This week-end and today was great.  The middle of last week was crappy and the upcoming mid-week sounds "not so good".   Think dry.