DAY 7 THE PRAIRIE AND ROUTE 2

Except for the first four miles the entire day was spent on beautiful two lane roads riding the prairie lands of the northwest. As is my habit when we pull out in the morning I leave the radio off and just listen to the bike. Soon the bike and I are in sync with the beating of the v-twin and my head firing together.

This morning I just left the radio off and thought about the great road we were on. This path was first followed by Lewis and Clark then by the wagon trains heading west. The railroad came next following the same path followed by the automobile and now us.

At first I did not think it could be you,
But you're the only one who got off the train.
Yes, you must be my wife--Miss Annie Halsey.
I guess I am your husband,
Hello, I'm Harry Crane.

Mail Order Annie
Never mind your cryin'.
Your tears are sweet rain
In my empty life.
Mail Order Annie
Can't you see I'm tryin'
To tell you that I'm glad you're here--
You are the woman, who's come to be my wife.

You know you're not as pretty 
As I dreamed you'd be.
But then I'm not no handsome Fancy Dan.
But out here looks are really not important--no, no.
It's what's inside a woman
When she up against the land.

Mail Order Annie,
Never mind your cryin'.
Your tears are sweet rain 
In my empty life.
Mail Order Annie,
Can't you see I'm tryin'
To tell you that I'm glad you're here--
You are the woman, who's come to be my wife.

You know it's not no easy life you're enterin',
The winter wind comes whistlin'
Through the cracks there in the sod.
You know you'll never have
Too many neighbors--
There's you, babe
There's me and there's God.

You know I'm just a dirt man
From the North Dakota plains.
You're one girl from the city
Who's been thrown out on her own.
And I'm standin' here not sure of what to say to you
'Ceptin' Mail Order Annie,
Let's you and me go home.

HARRY CHAPIN

The homes now are wood or brick not sod but there is still miles between homes and many more miles between towns. Harry's song is somehow still appropriate, it is easy to imagine the early settlers coming out here to build a life and the women who outnumbered the men back east in the days following the civil war that followed. It takes very little imagination to put myself on horseback fighting the elements to scratch out a meager existence. Makes you appreciate the things we take for granted. 

I'm truly in awe of the sheer vastness of the prairie mile after mile and state after state it just goes on and on. One of the locals today said he doesn't know how many more winters he has in him. Winds of fifty mile per hour at forty below zero make for a hard existence even with modern conveniences. We managed to ride all day under partially cloudy skies in t-shirts.

 Met several veterans at various stops today and took the opportunity shake hands and thank them for their service on this Memorial Day.