Respect and Balance

     I'm painfully aware that I haven't done a post here for several weeks. The fact of the matter is, I was on a vacation. I needed to go south to visit my mom and see how she was doing, so we turned it into a road trip of sorts. We flew into Boise and drove around Idaho for a few days, then across Utah and Wyoming to visit my daughter Camille. From there we went to Custer, South Dakota. Unfortunately, the elected officials whom we voted on to run this country are so incompetent and partisan that we were unable to visit one of the places that I had my heart set on visiting- Mt. Rushmore. It wasn't a total loss though. I thoroughly loved the Black Hills of South Dakota and we visited the Crazy Horse Monument and museum. We watched the seventh and eighth generation of Crazy Horse perform several native dances and it was a pretty impressive display. If you ever wonder about a great place to visit I would highly recommend Custer. The area is beautiful, the people are friendly and there's a lot to see and do. I wanted to go see the Custer State Park, which was open because it wasn't run by the feds, however, there were winter storm warnings with the possibility of one to two feet of snow, so we only spent the one day in Custer and beat feet trying to outrun the snow storm. I saw on the news last night that an enormous number of cattle were lost in South Dakota because of that storm. Anyway, we spent a night in Mitchell, South Dakota where we ate a real meal at a Perkins Family Restaurant.Up until then we had been eating barbequed this or that or things other than just a burger. It all kind of runs together. I do however remember that I ate meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy at Perkins and we topped it off with a piece of apple pie, which I had to take with me for future consumption since I was filled to the gills with meat loaf. While we were there I couldn't help but notice that there was a huge Cabela's store right next to the hotel, and since I'd never been to one, I felt the need to peruse it. Frankly, it was pretty darned impressive. There wasn't a whole lot that they didn't carry in terms of things that outdoor enthusiasts would need, particularly in the hunting and fishing line. I would have loved to have stocked up on some ammo, maybe a gun or two, some brilliant new composite arrows and a bow to shoot them, a tree stand, some clay pigeons, perhaps some bass or walleye fishing lures, in case I'm ever in the area again for more than a few hours, a couple rods and a four wheeler. As it was I settled for eight pairs of wool blend socks and some jeans. I wouldn't have bought them except for the fact that my socks, and my jeans for that matter, were developing holes. Of course I could have gone to any Wal- Mart to replenish my stock of clothes, but these items were made in America, something that I'm increasingly interested in supporting. I'd much rather spend a little more and be assured that I'm getting a quality product and that Americans are benefiting from my purchases. We went on to Iowa to visit my daughter Amber, being followed by severe weather all the way. When we arrived at her house we were greeted with tornado warnings. On the one hand it was a bit exciting and beautiful. The dark clouds were rushing under huge, white, billowy clouds, and there was non- stop lightning. It was a pretty impressive display of the power of nature. Unfortunately there were seventeen tornadoes that touched down in the area and there was some damage to some of the towns surrounding us. From there we passed through Illinois, Indiana and on to Ohio where my mom lives. All in all it was a pretty fun trip. I'll post a few pictures of the trip on my next post. The pictures above sum up the attitude that I believe we should all have when traveling. Respect and balance. As the posters state, it's more than just a place to visit, it's where we live. Whether you're visiting the Tongass or passing through Le Roy Illinois, please remember that you're a guest for however long you're there. Treat the folks you come in contact with with respect. It will make your stay more pleasant, they'll be glad you dropped by, and you may make a new friend or business contact.