The side roads...

Just south of Lake City the highway winds narrow along Lake Pepin and apparently this past Saturday an accident opened up a tank of ammonia. Ammonia, specifically ammonia nitrate I believe, is used as a fertilizer in farm country and if a tank truck of the stuff rolls over or a train carrying it derails it can poison the air for some distance so the authorities weren' taking any chances. All traffic moving south was diverted to the side roads.

So off we went and it soon became apparent the sheriff told us where to divert but we were on our own to find the road that would take us back to highway 61. Around Minnesota highway 60 we flagged down some folks stopped at a light and found out that 60 was closed as well so out came the map and we decided to make an adventure of it.

And our risk was rewarded. Not only did we find the trip south to be a beautiful run between bluffs and valleys we also discovered the county roads were actually in better shape then Federal highway 61. Our journey took us to towns with names like Plainview, Elba, Altura, and my favorite, Rollingstone. Along the way we traveled through a state park and though the road was winding we lost little time. This fall, when highway 61 is full of tourists looking at the leaves and the river, we're going to take these side roads and see everything they're missing by playing it safe and sticking to the main highway.

I suspect there's a lesson in there somewhere, something about the narrow less traveled way and heaven or just about how sometimes good things come from unforseen happenings, or maybe about risk and reward. Plain old living life is sometimes the best textbook and I'll get back to you when I figure it out.