Take the road to better place

By Dave Churchill (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Friday, July 27, 2007

Unavoidable duty required a drive down to the Twin Cities a couple of weeks ago. Making that trip is something to be avoided if at all possible because the process of getting there is so unpleasant, second only to the bad experience inevitably involved with getting around once you are there.

Increasing age and decreasing patience, along with a growing recognition of mortality, make the metropolitan driving experience more harrowing with each passing year.

There is simply no good way to get into, through or around the metro, especially if what you must accomplish is a trip to the airport or, for the ultimate in distasteful experiences, a visit to the Mall of America.

We had to do both on this last trip and, to cap it off, were arriving on a Friday afternoon. Have you noticed that the Twin Cities rush hour starts about 1 p.m. on summer Fridays?

The only good thing about the trip was that we were going the right direction. As we struggled to keep up with the 80 mph traffic blasting along to the left and to the right, we could see drivers fighting the inverse phenomenon over across the median: They were stuck, standing still in their efforts to get out of the Twin Cities.

It reminded me of a trip home to Fergus Falls near the end of one Fourth of July weekend about eight years ago. There was construction on Interstate 94’s eastbound lanes, which really bottle-necked the traffic headed back to the Cities from Fergus Falls and the lakes area. As we scooted along unimpeded headed west, we could look over at more than eight miles of cars that were either standing still or moving at a crawl.

We have seen similar, although never as dramatic, sights in the westbound lanes at the start of duck hunting season, around the Memorial Day and Labor Day holidays and, of course, around the 4th of July.

It always reminds me of trips with my parents (a l-o-o-o-ong time ago) from southern Wisconsin up into Door County. That scenic peninsula, bounded by Lake Michigan on one side and Green Bay on the other, was a major tourism destination and the few roads that lead that way were absolutely jammed on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons. We enjoyed vacationing there, and spoke frequently of how nice it would be if we could live in Door County.

All of which speaks to the point at hand: Those of us who live in and around Fergus Falls are pretty darned lucky to do so.

There is great fishing and hunting everywhere we turn.

There is no end of lakes, large and small, on which to have fun – summer or winter.

Great snowmobiling opportunities.

Two excellent state parks within easy driving range.

Lots of interesting, small restaurants and shops.

The list could go on and on.

It may not be paradise, but it could be a whole lot worse. Which is something worth remembering on those occasions when everything else may not seem to be going that well. It is always refreshing to step outside, maybe take a drive out into the country, look around and tell onself, “You know, some people spend a lot of money to spend their vacation here. I get to do it all year around.”