Thanksgiving Roadtrip

We took a road trip to South Dakota last week to visit Heather's grandparents. The picture above is this huge structure in Nebraska that looks like a pedestrian bridge on steroids. It's one of many random vague monuments in Nebraska, and they're all named some permutation of the following: the pioneer western museum, the western heritage center, the prairie museum, the western prairie pioneer heritage museum.

A few notes:

1. South Dakotans can tell what kind of tractor a family owns by the sound the kids use when playing. John Deere goes putputputput and International goes rrrrrrrrrr.

2. The only pictures that Heather's grandparents have up is all of their grandchildren and great grandchildren, and both popes. (old and new).

3. Heather's grandfather Hub has some serious zen. The other day, Betty was worried because he'd been out at his field, where he was going to hunt some pheasant, for all afternoon, and it was getting dark. Turns out he'd decided to spend the afternoon laying down in the field. He swears that he didn't fall asleep, and I believe him. Also, he measures the seasons by the angle of the sun beams shining through the south-facing window on their living room. During the winter, it almost reaches the opposite wall. In the summer, it doesn't come in the window at all.

4. One farmer in way-rural Nebraska had a billboard sized sign in his field that read "Outlaw Sodomy". I was a bit puzzled. I wonder why he was so specific. And who's the target audience? All of us non-nebraskan interstate travellers? Or the farm on the other side of the road?