Brad Nelson

Early January. Most of the country is concerned with things like, “Did the water to the house or cattle freeze up last night? Will it freeze tonight?”

“Put it on your Christmas list” may be one of the directives least liked by kids, followed closely by “Put it on your birthday list.” Too often, both birthdays and Christmas degrade into comparisons of who got the most loot. This is never good.

Way back when the world was still drying up after the Great Flood (as I usually begin stories I tell to the grandkids), I met a fellow named Clark Draper.

Little America, Wyoming, is a unique truck stop/tourist haven on I-80 west of Rock Springs. It’s aged. First time I was there in the 1970s, it was huge and spectacular. By today’s standards, it’s only a moderately sized freeway oasis. The wind always blows, and the softy ice cream machine is always running.

Farm kids and town kids can be light years apart, even when those town kids are from small rural communities.

Favorable winds are always desirable. We had two high school graduations to show up for this year. They were three days and 2,000 miles apart. Driving expenses were less than half the cost of airline tickets, so I used that as the excuse to drive.