From our Sandhills to Mexico

Life is grand! This past week this old flight instructor was privileged to take a student instructional flight to Chadron, Nebraska. Flying direct the route takes one through the heart of our national treasure the Sandhills. I love the place, the people, the sea of grass and the myriad of lakes and ponds. In years past large herds of bison roamed and now the whole area is devoted to raising cattle a major source of healthy red meat to feed our nation.

I’d estimate that about half of the terrain below was covered with snow with last year’s foliage waving above the cover of white. Actually, there is not a lot of grass showing through due to last year’s drought and the need for overgrazing. The moisture from this year’s snow is welcome. The lakes are mostly frozen over but many display patches of open water to welcome geese and other wildlife.

Throughout the Sandhills isolated ranches, houses, stock pins and a few trees are the rule. Roads are few, winding and many are covered with small but shallow standing ponds of water. Driving is an adventure in some of the more isolated areas. Yes, many of the isolated roads and drives are still covered with snow with not a vehicle track in sight.

I have always been intrigued by the hardy souls that live year around in those isolated ranch locations. Possibly my ardor is because Grannie Annie’s granddad homesteaded a track north and east of Tryon and her mom was born there. Women have to drive maybe fifty miles in places just to go to a grocery store but I hear few complaints. Things are easier now and in part, because FedEx and UPS make deliveries after ordering by telephone. Kids take long rides by bus to attend school. Still, after large storms, the people that choose to live there in isolation are prepared with electricity generators, stores of fuel for heat and food stocks to last for weeks at a time.

National news has of late been bemoaning the plight of those people in California who live in the mountains where we see record snowfalls measured in feet. Many are isolated, feel trapped and are now running out of groceries. Maybe they could get a lesson from our Sandhill residents who know how to prepare for just such contingencies. Next, when all that snow melts we will be hearing reports of houses sliding down the hillsides when they have built on areas with the potential to sluff away. I guess one has to be special to live in California with its high taxes, burdensome regulations and Gavin Newsome for governor.

Years ago when living in Oklahoma, courtesy of Uncle Sam, we purchased a mini-motorhome and loaded up the family to vacation in Mexico over a Christmas holiday. We attended a midnight mass on Christmas Eve and then slept in our chariot there on a street in Reynosa. Then we drove on to Monterey exploring along the way to and from. Grannie remembers how rough the ride was along the paved highway! Still, the people met en route, we even picked up a hitchhiker, were welcoming and friendly and never did we feel unsafe.

Would I repeat the same trip now? No way. The news this morning was that gunmen captured four Americans in Matamoras—just across from Brownsville, last Friday. Americans that had gone across to receive specialized medical treatments. No word as to their whereabouts even today. The Drug running Cartels have evidently taken over large areas of that Hispanic-speaking nation. They are manufacturing and smuggling into the United States the vast quantities of illicit drugs that are killing so many of our young folks. Manufacturing drugs from the precursors imported from China. They also, for a price, are facilitating the movement of illegal immigrants from across the world to enter the US through our open Southern Border. What a mess.

Still, our close-by neighbors just returned from a wonderful vacation in Cancun and had a wonderful time there. Some parts of Mexico are yet safe to visit but personally I don’t think that I’d take the chance. So sad!

So the lying, stealing high profile lawyer who shot and killed his wife and son got life in prison with no chance of patrol. Too many hours of TV were devoted to his trial. The jury did the right thing and I applaud them for their decision. Justice served!

On a happy note, it is a happy feeling to drive by Central School at about 20 minutes until 8:00 each morning to see the principal greeting all his students as they arrive at school. What a nice way to start each day!

That is the way I saw it.

Dick Trail