North Dakota...Nothing Ever Happens, Nothing Ever Leaves

It’s February and I’m in Bismarck, North Dakota, in a car, on a county road, stuck in the snow. I saw coyotes a few miles back and a flock of pheasant about a half mile back. The wind is piercing but the silence is beautiful. Never in my life had I heard such absolute silence. Never I have I seen so many pheasant or so much snow. The air is clean and my healing lungs after 10 years of smoking soak up all of the oxygen. I can see stars at twilight and the outline of the Milky Way. This country has so much beauty that is right there, in the middle of it all, in North Dakota. We called the roadside assistance. We then had to explain how we were stuck in the middle of the minimally maintained county road, in a snow drift, in a Subaru. The tow truck driver was impressed and slightly annoyed. But, we got out and we moved on. In the airport I purchased a refrigerator magnet that says...

"Welcome to North Dakota! Nothing Ever Happens and Nothing Ever Leaves"