Take Me Home Country Road

There is something about living on a country gravel road that I love.

Now don’t get me wrong, it has its downsides.You car rarely stays clean. A heavy rain makes it nearly impossible to drive and in the summer it can get pretty dusty. Oh and rollerblading…don’t even try it.

But, for each bad, there are an awful lot of goods.

First of all, there is privacy. I can run out and get the mail in my underwear if I want (I don’t…but I could.) If I need something out of my car at midnight, I just take a mad dash in whatever I currently have on and no one knows but Sam (my dog). Well, and probably my parents, but they don’t care.

Second, it’s quiet. I am getting in the habit of taking a walk every night with Sam. I just grab my weights, turn on my iPod and take a speedy stroll right down the center of 270^th. I love it. And on my walk, I get to see how the calves are doing and monitor how fast the corn is growing (which by the way is doing pretty good.) Oh, and I can pump my weights and know that no one can see me looking like a fool, except of course my Uncle Charlie who is in the fields and doesn’t care.

And finally, it’s extremely useful when moving animals. When we want to bring a cow from my Uncle’s pasture to our house, we just put on a halter and walk her up the road with her calf diligently following behind her. When we need to wash the pigs, we just drive them up the hill to our place…and when we get a steer too fat, we run him down the gravel to loose some weight.

You think, I am joking on that last one, but I am not. When I was younger, I had a Hereford steer that was too heavy and every night after we got done in the cooler, I would have to take a run with him down the road. Good thing I was in shape back then huh?

So what’s with this random post about my love of country roads? Well, Mark is moving into a town home this week and I am starting to get a little sentimental. Goodbye workouts down the gravel, goodbye walks with Sam, goodbye getting my mail in my underwear (I never did that though).
And the worst part is I am never getting it back. First, I will make the move to an apartment in November and then I will move to Mark’s parents house who knows when, which is conveniently located on…a busy paved road.

Part of growing up a country kid is the "country" atmosphere and I am definitely going to miss the dirt road I grew up on.

But, to look at the positives…I have until November and I have always wanted to learn how to rollerblade.