Near Spellman, Minnesota
Trip Start
Apr 12, 1992
1
58
65
Trip End
Jun 15, 1992
Spellman,
Minnesota,
United States
Monday, June 8, 1992
6-8-92
Near Spellman, Minnesota
Warm, clear
The first town on US-83 in North Dakota is Strasburg, which is the boyhood home of Lawrence Welk. The farm where he grew up is advertised as a historic site.
I drove along, through Linton and Hazelton, reflecting on ideas about how environment shapes the character of people who live in an area. Family values are strong in small towns and rural areas because they have to be. People have to depend on one another. The non-cooperating person in this society can quickly find himself without any support systems. Out here you truly must "Go along to get along." Having said this, I think other forces are increasingly at work.
The automobile opened these rural areas to outside influence, radio widened the crack and T V will finish the job. It brings the whole world in. Regional accents are fading. Styles of dress and social activity are becoming homogenized. T V, more than we realize, shapes the standards or lack of, by which our people live.
beyond Fargo the Red River forms the border between North Dakota and Minnesota. This is not the same red River that marks the border between Oklahoma and Texas. This Red River flows into the Minnesota River, which joins the Mississippi at Minneapolis.
geologists teach that about two million years ago glaciers up to a mile thick covered most of Minnesota. It has only been about 10,000 years since the last glaciers melted. They left behind thousands of depressions and basins with plenty of water to fill them. Today, Minnesota is known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes." Actually its surface is dotted with almost 12,000 blue lakes measuring 10 acres or larger.
Red Lake, almost surrounded by the Red Lake Indian Reservation, is the largest lake located entirely within the state.
it's not surprising that more than 900,000 Minnesotans have fishing licenses. They net tremendous quantities of walleye, northern pike, bass, lake trout and panfish.
Minnesota is also home to the world's largest shopping center, The Mall of America at Bloomington. Nearby, in Edina, the Southdale mall is the country'y first fully enclosed shopping Mall (built in 1956).
small towns across this part of Minnesota, like Moorhead, Dilworth, and Glyndon, Hawley, Lake park, Audubon and Detroit lakes are alive. Their businesses thrive.
