In The Neighborhood
Our friends had slipped out of the city for a short visit. They had come to our big city for some special Olympics activities and...
They were from Louisiana, and we are in the middle of nowhere. It was traumatic.
Within a city block you see people, however in a country mile—not so many. When the wife got out of their van you could see fear in her eyes as she is confronted by a vast uncharted territory .
In this neighborhood the neighbors maybe physically across the road a mile or two away. It's hard to explain our neighbors.
We live on a busy gravel road—a farm to market road that isn't paved until you get to the corner. From the corner south into town and west/ north- west into another town it's pavement.
A Farm Service business sits on the corner across from the Friends Church. The Farm Service people are evidenced in the neighborhood as their employees drive their white pickups by often checking on customers' fields.
Our FS neighbors have funny equipment that they use in their business and during certain seasons we see them flying up and down the road.
Along with the white pickups, we have large farmer-owned semis. On occasion there are large over-sized loads going to the pavement—those aren't neighbors.
I think they're lost. They don't know that from Highway 6 north of us it is almost seven miles of gravel until they hit the pavement south of us. But it is a straight shot. And Alexa and Google don't care. It's a road.
*Out here Alexa and Map Quest, and all of those things will take an unsuspecting traveler to worlds that no longer exist, down roads that don't exist and into places no one should enter.
Farmers and their employees drive this gravel road in every thing from nice modern semis, large and small tractors, an occasional four wheeler, pickups and cars.
Certain times of the year we all drive the same color vehicle—brown. We have a couple of farmers that take especial care of their cows. I've seen the same pickup hauling their cattle trailer around the neighborhood. It goes by our house, then ten minutes later it goes the other way.
I think, Wow, how thoughtful is that? Happy cows are important. I like cows, and I like happy cows.
