Playing Tourist

Thursday is the kind of day that reminds me why I love my job.

I do love it, though it might be hard to guess from all the times I blow off steam on the blog. But Thursday I got to play tourist.

It wasn't a promising start to the day. My first run took me right into the snow. I'd hoped to avoid it because it was only snowing on the southern part of the metro, and forecast to be gone fairly early in the day as it moved further south and east. Some days I never get that far across the metro. But not today. I hit snow about a mile from my first drop. Slick stuff.

I leaned my seat back for whatever kind of nap I could grab before the next run. It had been a rough night that way, but luckily I'm the kind of person who can benefit from cat naps. Dispatch woke me with a query of whether I wanted to chase east for a run into Wisconsin? They've gotten coy these days in how much the tell you before they send you a run. But at least this dispatcher knows my walking limitations and is pretty smart about working with them.

Sure! Out of the snow - maybe. He didn't say how far into Wisconsin or which way, but it would likely beat driving through more snow here. I'm willing to take that kind of gamble.

It turned out to be another of those electrical parts runs. They've been good to me lately. And this one turned out to be going to Niellsville. Never heard of it either? Well, head just a bit further south out of the metro to pick up Hwy. 10 as it crosses into Wisconsin, and just keep on driving 'till you get there.

I'd taken 10 into Prescott many times. Never further. It's beautiful country out there, even with snow covering everything. The first bit holds lots of hills sharply cut by streams, heavily forested, windy-twisty driving but nothing that need to slow you below the posted 55 MPH.

Except the towns, of course. There is no general rule, so Wisconsin small towns can be posted anywhere from 45 to 25 MPH as you drive through. You better find the sign. But in addition to the scenery along Hwy. 10, the first several towns had some character. No cookie cutter construction here. Nothing suburban, no '30s or '40s - or '80s! - development clusters, no single builder with their 5 patterns and variations. Lots of small starts with add-ons sprinkled through others obviously built all at once. The huge house wasn't obviously the funeral parlor or the insurance office because nobody really lived there any more, but more likely held an actual family. Unlike Prescott, first along the border, there were no obvious signs of urban sprawl.

So despite myself, my dislike of all things winter, especially snow, I found myself enjoying what I was doing again, loving the drive, playing tourist. I was especially hit by the vista as I came up over one hill and saw an opening to a huge valley spread out before me, hills so distant they were blue, reminiscent of views way out west. This was a major surprise to me, as I'd been through other parts of Wisconsin, and remembered it as a state with lots of rolling farmland and shortened views. Not as flat as southern Minnesota, but pretty much similar: fields and corn and cows, mixed in with the higher level of trees found in northern Minnesota, just slightly different species.

The sharply cut hills leveled out about twenty miles in, giving way to widely rolling farmland. There were no more vistas until just before my drop. A motel sign by a veterans memorial advertised its great views, so I tried to look in its direction to see what could be seen. Sure enough, the road was on another major elevation, with wide valleys spread out in three directions from there, better viewed on my way back, actually. Another sign hinted that this hill was likely a huge glacial moraine left behind.

Eagles and pheasants were the only major wildlife visible, but the drive with those kind of sightings is always worth while. If I wanted to view cows, llamas and horses, there were plenty of those as well, including some horses so tender they were out wearing blankets for warmth.

The drive did wind up taking the whole work day, though it needn't have. I did find myself trying to doze behind the wheel on the way back, and pulled over for a half hour snooze. I keep a kitchen stove timer in the car for just such a purpose. It serves me well.