Travels with Children

The fall colors here in Minnesota have been very nice this year.  We were in northeastern North Dakota this past weekend, and although a lot of leaves have fallen, there were still some nice colors.

For my favorite Minnesota fall drives, please read Beautiful Fall Drives in Minnesota.

Do you have a favorite fall-colors drive?

I’ve mentioned before that we’re back-roads people.  A good part of our getting anywhere involves paved county roads.  Usually they create a shorter, more scenic, less-traveled path than the state and U.S. highways in our area.  And so it was today when I took the kids on a little outing, that I was reminded why I usually avoid the county roads during spring planting and fall harvest here in our agricultural area.

The third time it happened, my son said, “I guess no one wants us to get to town today.”

I’m not complaining, not one bit.  It’s part of what comes with having a cornfield in my front yard and a barn out my kitchen window.  Oh, yeah, and a husband who farms.

So when I encounter combines and tractors and sprayers on the road at this time of year, I pull into a field approach and wait for them to pass, and give a friendly wave and a smile that says, “I’m not annoyed that you took up the whole road and I lost three minutes out of my day.”  They have work to do, feeding this country we live in.  And besides, they’re bigger then I am.

If you’re traveling in rural areas during the busy ag seasons, my advice is to stick with the main roads if you’re in a hurry.  But if you want to give your kids the chance to see a combine or tractor up close, and watch a field of soybeans or corn being harvested, try the back roads.  Just be ready to pull into a driveway or field approach quickly if sharing the road isn’t an option.