Greetings, writers!
For the past three days I've been in a county whose population barely cracks 18,000. Back home, I can see 18,000 people in
a day without really trying. The town I'm staying in houses 5,000 of those 18,000, and is the only incorporated community in this county of 600 square miles.
I'm staying at the nicest hotel in town. It's a run-down Ramada, base rate $65/night, and is worth nearly every penny.
There's a bookstore in town. It doubles as a liquor store; you can come in and browse books while sipping a local beer. Weekdays it closes at 5:30 p.m.; weekends 6:00.
The town's restaurant guide offers a dozen options, including McDonald's, Pizza Hut, KFC/Taco Bell, the Kwik Trip filling station, and Subway.
The 2010 census shows a population of about 5,200 people, 96.1% of whom are white. Agriculture makes up 49% of its
economy.
I was talking to a guy yesterday and he mentioned a successful local farmer. "Yeah, Tom's a good farmer," he said. I'd never before considered farming and talent level; that there are farmers good at farming and farmers bad at farming.
My dad was born on a farm just outside of town. When he was zero years old, his family lost the farm. I guess maybe my grandfather wasn't a talented farmer.
So they moved to town, and for a few years my dad lived in a building kitty-corner from a warehouse designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. I wonder if that meant anything to him.
To see photos of both buildings (can you tell which is which?) and to read the rest of this dispatch from the
middle of nowhere, visit this week's blog post, "Tom's a Good Farmer."
