Kristi Noem Criss-Crossing South Dakota in Party Bus

Taking a page from the Gordon Howie campaign handbook, Kristi Noem has decided to counterprogram Matt Varilek's beautiful Buick and tour the state in a big RV:

Ah, the Noemobile. No word on how big a contribution you have to make to get a ride on Kristi's bus.

There's plenty of room for high-kicking daughters Kassidy and Kennedy. Komfy, I'm sure.

Noem is touring the state in RV comfort in what she calls the "Farms, Families, and Friends Tour." With this season-ending campaign blitz, Noem is effectively doubling the number of public meetings... although they aren't really public meetings open to all citizens, at least not citizens looking to document the vacuous campaign-trail malarkey Noem spreads.

On her entirely public Facebook campaign page, Noem snaps this metaphorically appropriate photo:

The water's rising, Kristi. Let's be honest, admit Noem is in over her head, and elect a Congressman who can do the job.

Uncle Sam to Spend Millions on Madison Airport

Last year our man Hunter criticized the spending of $4.1 million in federal stimulus dollars to build an airport on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. That airport was built to provide emergency air travel and economic opportunity for 20,000 underserved South Dakotans.

I eagerly await Mr. Hunter's criticism of even greater federal expenditures for the expansion of an airport serving even fewer South Dakotans. Mr. Hunter's own newspaper reports that the municipal airport right here in Madison, population 6,500, stands to receive about $4.5 million in federal handouts for various projects over the next three years.

Now I cannot speak to the quality or value of our fine local airport. I've never flown out of Madison. Neither has anyone else I can think of. So I would like to know:

1. How many local residents use the Madison airport to travel out of the county?
2. How many businesspeople, hunters, tourists, and other sources of business activity fly into the Madison airport each year?
   
3. How much economic activity is generated by the Madison airport?
   

The answers to these questions may provide a perfectly reasonable justification for the federal government to pick up 95% of the cost of our local airport improvements. All the Republicans in Madison had better hope those answers are good enough to convince Representative-Elect Kristi Noem to keep her Tea Party budget axe away from our airport.

Ron Paul Is Right: Get TSA out of Our Pants!

Congressman Ron Paul is leading the Tea Party to the airport... and I'm going with him. The best libertarian in Congress is saying enough is enough when it comes to the daily sexaul harassment of innocent Americans at airports across the country. Rep. Paul is sponsoring HR 6416 to deny immunity to TSA employees for their pointless groping of citizens. Watch his statement from the House floor, last night, November 17:



I have not flown since October 2000. I got hot with an airport lackey back in 1995 just because he asked me to remove my belt. I honestly believe that if some poor yokel in a uniform at Joe Foss Field ran his hands over my wife or my daughter, I would say something that would get me arrested. Or I'd just deck him. (The clicking sound you hear is Cory Allen Heidelberger being typed into the TSA watchlist.)

Ron Paul is right. So's Bob Ellis. Uncle Sam, you can have a hand in my pocket, but not in my pants. The lame-duck Congress should pass HR 6416 before Thanksgiving, restore the Frouth Amendment, and reel back and retool airport security.

Yes, the Governor's Talking to You, Kristi...

...and Tessa, and Jason...

From our fearless leader:

Gov. Mike Rounds is asking motorists to use extra caution on South Dakota highways during the Labor Day travel weekend.

...Four people were killed and 92 others were injured on South Dakota roads during the last two Labor Day weekends. Half of the fatalities were alcohol-related. “If motorists would just remember to designate a sober driver, to use seatbelts on every trip and pay attention to speed limits and road conditions, we could make our highways much safer for holiday travel,’ the Governor said.

...“Most crashes are entirely preventable,’’ the Governor said. “Please enjoy the holiday weekend, but take personal responsibility for your safety and your family’s safety – not only this holiday weekend but every time you travel’’ [South Dakota state government press release, 2010.09.02].

Put down the beer, slow down... and watch for bicycles!

Moody County Sunset

Sunset burning through far clouds, windy August evening, where 230th turns to gravel north of Colman, South Dakota.

Open Valhalla as Public Landmark, Not Private Playground

The latest Madville Times poll finds a majority of you gentle readers agreeing with me on the use of Peter Norbeck's "Valhalla" cabin in the Black Hills. I asked you "Should Game Fish and Parks open the Peter Norbeck/"Valhalla" cabin for rental to the general public?" The results:

• Yes: 88 (66%)
• No: 46 (34%)

Norbeck's cabin is a remarkable public asset, built by a remarkable South Dakotan. Norbeck was our first Dakota-born governor. He won the federal funds—pork and stimulus!—that allowed Gutzon Borglum to carve four white guys on sacred Lakota ground and bring thousands of tourists to the Black Hills each year (pick your own value judgment; either way, Norbeck made history). Norbeck also pushed for the development of such South Dakota gems as the Needles Highway, Sylvan Lake, and the Custer, Badlands, and Wind Cave parks.

Much of Norbeck's life was dedicated to opening the Black Hills to more public use. That his cabin should become the private playground of "favored guests" of the ruling political regime flies in the face of Norbeck's values.

If we really want to get Norbeckian, we should be looking for ways to make as much money off the cabin as possible. Game Fish and Parks, which manages Valhalla, says the cabin generates maybe $4500 in revenue each year. Let's see... isolated cabin in the woods, six bedrooms, great hiking and biking and horseback riding, near several major attractions... would $100 a night be too low? At that rate, I think we could draw users for at least 180 days a year... $18,000 right there, quadruple the current revenue. And the sitting governor and his political friends could get in line to rent it right along with everyone else.

One of my good Democrat friends, Mr. Kurtz, says the governor needs a secure retreat, but I must differ. Every governor can use a vacation, sure, but can't he buy his own cabin at the lake like the rest of us? Let's not get too big for our britches: South Dakota's governor is not the President with the Secret Service and the nuclear football. Security is obviously not a concern in a state where the only things standing between citizens and the governor at work are a secretary and a wooden door. What's the point of a secure hidden location for the governor when he probably drives himself to Wal-Mart to pick up fishing tackle? The last thing we need to spend state money on is the crazy notion that our governor needs a secret compound to hide in.

The Peter Norbeck cabin in Custer State Park is a great public asset. We should make the most of it. Open it to the public. Rent it out to supplement the Sylvan Lake Lodge and other fancy lodging in our busiest state park.

Nature Conservancy Ordway Prairie HQ Open House July 24

Hey, here's something I didn't know about: The Nature Conservancy runs the Samuel H. Ordway, Jr. Memorial Preserve up west of Leola in McPherson County. No campsites or other facilities, just a visitor trail and 7800 acres of mostly untilled prairie. Oh yeah, and 250 head of bison. (Remember, bison are not pets! They will step on you!)

The Ordway Prairie is part of a larger stretch of 135,000 acres—about 210 square miles—of untilled prairie that reaches up to North Dakota. Sounds like a lot of beautiful open country.

The Ordway Prairie is the largest preserve owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy in South Dakota. The Nature Conservancy is working on preserving ten other sites in our fair state. The Ordway Prairie pings onto my radar by announcing an open house at its headquarters on July 24. The open house will be the first time the public can come in and see the new energy-efficient building. Some highlights in the construction:

1. south-facing windows for natural light and passive solar heat in winter
   
2. light-colored roof and wide overhangs to reduce heat in summer
3. lots of recycled material in the doors, windows, and steel
4. efficient appliances and low-flow water fixtures

And coming up: a wind turbine and solar panel to produce energy on site.

Brookings Summer Arts Festival: Who Needs Parking?

I've mentioned my Madison neighbors' obsession with parking. Whenever I suggest some interesting public event or project, like turning the Masonic temple into a community cultural center, one of the first things Madisonians say is, "Oh, but what about parking? There isn't enough parking!"

To which I say, nuts! Consider the wildly successful Brookings Summer Arts Festival. They expect over 75,000 people to come to Pioneer Park this weekend. There is most certainly not 75,000 visitors' worth of parking in Pioneer Park. Do the BSAF organizers scale back? Heck no! They figure if they offer a quality program, people will find a way to get there. And do visitors stay home?

Heck no!

They just park a half mile down both sides of both lanes of Highway 14 and hoof it. Or a block east of Main Street, which was the closest open spot I could find in town.

Or the free market (in the form of a guy with a cell phone and a four-foot stick) kicks in and offers a solution.

Or folks ride their bikes (a sight like this does my pedaling heart good!). Or they ride the shuttle bus.

As thousands of people will attest, the walk is worth it.

When there are bagpipes, you know you've got a good show.


My daughter liked the dancers.


I liked Sonic Screwdriver, as much for the quality of the music as the irony of a surf band from the prairie.

The Brookings Arts Council raised some money with its face-painting station.

This butterfly blue reflects the prairie sky, not this little one's spirits.

These big windchimes surely got a workout during last night's thunderstorm.

Art certainly doesn't have to be useful.


Ron Colbert does some interesting four-piecers (quadriptychs!).


"Simple Gifts" by Curtis and Loretta on mandocello and harp.


Ecuador Manta plays guitar and pipes. Drop some money in that jar!

The National Children's Study crew from SDSU hosted a craft booth where kids could make ladybug ornaments...

...or something generally resembling a ladybug. Far be it from us to stifle creativity. We also saw a glider towed and released overhead. Gliders fill us with disco fever.

Prairie, lake, elevator, buffalo....

No ugly mugs here!

Alexandra Burg's work may unlock some deep thoughts.


Morris Johnson, folk artist, just makes me laugh out loud... and that's a good thing! Go, crabs! (Note the political symbolism, escaping the red bucket for the cool blue waters of freedom and Democracy! Wahoo!)

Chicken or fish... admit it: there is some South Dakotan in your life who would absolutely love having one of these Morris Johnsons on his or her wall.

Art must always leave room for fun.

Be the happy mullet: dance for the sheer joy of being alive.


It's not a summer festival if someone doesn't start a hacky circle. And the ladies hack in! Set me!

You can always flush out some pheasants at a South Dakota arts festival...

...or more fish (a bit more naturalistic than the Morris Johnson works above)...

...or perhaps a goose in progress.

And then a mix of real and abstract from (I think!) Franklin Arts of Sioux Falls.

The Brookings Summer Arts Festival wraps up today (Sunday) at Pioneer Park in Brookings. Bring your walking shoes and sunblock, and enjoy a grand Sunday afternoon of ourdoor art and music.

Naked and Nuked: Airport Scanners May Increase Cancer Risk

Conservative friends, Gordon Howie followers, and other wingnuts, if you want to foment anti-government paranoia, then froth up over this one: the Transportation Security Administration may be giving you cancer. It's bad enough the federal government wants to electronically strip you naked at the airport; now scientists at university of California San Francisco say full-body scanners may hit travelers with enough X-rays to "increase the risk of cancer and other health problems, particularly among older travelers, pregnant women and people with weak immune systems."

But why worry? Homeland Security's chief medical officer Alexander Garza says he feels perfectly comfortable nuking his family in the scanners, so so should you, right?

Of course, TSA and other experts will tell you that you get the same dose of radiation from a full-body scanner as you do from two minutes up in the air. (And what do you think that phone in your pocket is doing to your groinal region all day?) But you choose to nuke yourself by flying. The full-body scanners are the government choosing to nuke you against your will, and that's not right, right?

Come on, Tea Party, this could be your next big issue, one that could really get traction, like fears of vaccines causing autism. Latch on, fight the scanners!

Heidepriem Keen for Camper -- Could Howie Help?

First the ads, now accommodations: the Heidepriem campaign is looking to put the camp in campaign:

The Heidepriem Campaign is looking for an RV of their own to use during Scott’s announcement tour across the State.

We don’t need to ride around in the lap of luxury, but we would love an in-kind contribution of a safe, comfortable RV for Scott and his loyal followers to tool around the state in for a week or so.

...This would really save the campaign a lot of money and make campaigning easy for our team [Heidepriem campaign website].

Those darn Democrats, always looking for ways to save money....

Now if Scott could just wait another three weeks on that announcement tour, I know someone who won't be needing his campaign RV any longer....

Top Ten Stories of 2010: A Madville Times Wishlist (Part I)

Senator Snowe doesn't want to dwell on history, so why not look ahead with hope and aspiration? Here are the top ten stories of 2010. Don't confuse these headlines with predictions—in three previous tries, I have yet to pick a winner... although that's never stopped me before! These are just the ten best stories I hope I'll get to report on the Madville Times in the bright, bouncy new year.

1

Highway 34 Four-Lane Campaign Buys Masons' Building: "Build it and they will come," said campaign organizer John Goeman of Four for the Future members' decision to buy the Madison landmark. "We're sick of begging for federal money to build more road to Madison. We're going build something to give people a reason to come to Madison." Goeman and his colleagues have formed a non-profit corporation and hired local carpenters and artists to turn the old Masonic temple into a cooperative coffee house, gallery, meeting hall, and movie theater.

2

TSA Officers Work Naked: "I wasn't trying to start a revolution," said Chicago airport security agent Ralph Jablonski. "I just tell this lady to step into the body scanner, and she says, 'You show me yours and I'll show you mine.' So I says o.k., I drop my pants, and the lady steps right into the scanner, no questions asked. Pretty soon everybody in the airport's droppin' their drawers." Jablonski's initiative was so effective at improving customer satisfaction and trust, President Obama soon mandated nudity for all TSA staff. This new government transparency has inspired passengers to fly naked and made security a breeze.

3

Fahrenwald Named MadChestRut Superintendent: Following the resignations of their superintendents, Madison and Chester school districts both realized they could get along without a superintendent. "We farmed out duties to the principals and business manager, and no one noticed a difference," said Madison board president Jay Niedert. Madison and Chester then pursued further cost savings by taking up an offer from the Rutland school district: the two school districts dissolved and merged with the Rutland School District. Rutland Superintendent Carl Fahrenwald will run the new district, which spans three-quarters of Lake County. Madison residents responded with cautious approval: "Maybe now we'll win some football games," said former coach Tom Milne.

4

Jason Bjorklund Places Third in County Commission Race: Local 9-12 Project activist Jason Bjorklund came within two votes of winning a Lake County Commission seat in the November 2 election. Bjorklund's third-place finish was the closest any Glenn Beck/Tea Party candidate came to actually winning elected office on any South Dakota ballot. "I love politics!" said Bjorklund, vowing to run again. "I just need to keep improving my public speaking skills. I also need to remember that real county politics are about fixing roads and hiring good cops, not banning the Federal Reserve and preaching Natural Law."

5

Heidepriem Names Munsterman Economic Development Czar: After a literally bruising gubernatorial race that saw primary season fistfights and independent challengers splintering the state Republican Party, Governor-Elect Scott Heidepriem announced the olive-branch appointment of his main challenger, Scott Munsterman, as state economic development czar. "Scott knows South Dakota's future depends on promoting growth through cooperation in our rural communities," said Heidepriem. "Plus, the economic portfolio will keep Scott away from his nutty fundagelical friends in the all-abortion-all-the-time crowd."

...read on: here's the second half of the Top Ten Stories of 2010!

My New Holiday Hat?

Quick holiday photo puzzle—what is that on my head?

New Russian hat?

Head-mounted battering ram for plowing through Black Frdiay shopping crowds?

Franken Mobile Satellite Uplink 2.0?

Nope. Something even more valuable:



Sometimes you're having so much fun, you don't notice your hat is covering your very funky sunglasses.

Friday Fun Foto: So Simple, So Elegant...

The holidays bring out my sense of irony.

Recession Thanksgiving: Upsides of the Downturn

You know me, always looking for the silver lining!

As Thanksgiving approaches, here are some more reasons that the recession may actually be doing some good for the country:

1. AAA says South Dakotans will travel 2.6% less this year for Turkey Day. That's less fuel burned up, less pollution. Travel will be up slightly nationwide... but it almost has to be up from last year's amazing 25.2% drop in Thanksgiving travel.
   
2. From the same report, air travel for Thanksgiving has dropped an "astounding" 62% over the past decade. Thank high prices... but also thank the Patriot Act: AAA cites "stricter airport security" as one of the factors in less air travel (so, the terrorists are winning?).
3. Urban sprawl has been knocked on its can. Bedroom communities that relied on long-distance commutes to coax residents to join their housing booms now are looking for ways to develop rail lines, denser and more efficient housing, and local business.
4. More folks are shopping at Goodwill, Salvation Army, and other thrift stores. The National Association of Resale and Thrist Shops (yes, there is one) reports a 35% increase in resales. Of course, the recession has also cut back donations at some stores, as folks hang on to their old clothes to get as much use as possible from them... although NARTS counters that almost 70% of their members report increases in incoming inventory volume. Good thrift business is good news for the town of Wilmot, South Dakota, which holds the grand opening of its new a community thrift store tomorrow. The Replay Thrift Store is a product of the Whetstone Valley Horizons community revitalization project.

So darn that President Obama, trying to end the recession. Doesn't he see all the good this recession is doing for the country?

We're still far from the hard suffering of the Great Depression that made our grandparents such tough characters. But even the relatively small lemons of this recession may produce some cultural lemonade.

Pine Beetles Threaten Harney Peak Trails: Clear 'Em Out!

Regular readers know I get a little sentimental about trees. I'm also a big fan of Harney Peak, one of South Dakota's great geological wonders, not to mention the center of the universe for some of our neighbors.

So a little blurb on KELO about timber cutting shutting down two Harney Peak trails gets me going on two levels. I go looking for the full story and get it from (who else?) Kevin Woster. He gets my attention with one sentence from Custer State Park Superintendent Richard Miller about what pine beetles are doing to the Black Elk Wilderness:

Miller said there are estimates that 80 percent of all the trees in the Black Elk will be dead in two to three years....

Oof. The proper response: clear out about 3000 acres of beetle-infested trees. Beetles can spread from tree to tree more easily in forests made artifically thick by our overzealous fire suppression policies. Thin the trees, slow the beetles.

CAH below Harney Peak, coming up the north face from Willow Creek trailhead, August 2001. Photo: Tobias W. Uecker

I've been up Harney Peak several times, usually day-hiking, a couple times backpacking, and once snow-shoeing. The hike and the summit peak are glorious every time. I've hung out with hikers cooking noodles out of the wind in the old fire station. I've ridden the top of the tower through an advancing sea of clouds at sunset. I've come home with feet a-glitter from the mica trails. And I've rested comfortably in the deep shade of the high rocks and trees along the Harney Peak trails.

I hate to see destruction done along the Harney Peak trails. But the real destroyers are the beetles and previous bad policy, not the loggers being brought in to clean up the mess. CSP chief forester Adam Gahagan says the cleared areas will green up fast, much like the recovery seen in the area of the 1988 Galena fire. It will not be the same thick forest... but a thick forest of dead brown trees is no forest at all.

To keep the Idaho helicopter crews from dropping logs on hikers' heads, Trail #4 at Little Devils Tower will be closed through the winter. Trail #9 from Sylvan Lake will be closed from October 1 until Christmas (keep to that schedule, fellas: there are folks planning their New Year's hike!). If you want to visit Harney Peak this fall, you'll need to come up the north face from the Willow Creek trailhead (Hiram Rogers's favorite route).

Travel Notes: I-90 Slow, Chamberlain Highway 50 Bridge Closed

I spent my Friday and Saturday at the Speech Communication Association of South Dakota annual convention. Fun was had by all... once they got there. 36 miles of I-90, from Mount Vernon to Kimball, is under destruction. Some of my Far-East River friends reported a half hour added to their travel times (farm implements may have been involved in the longer delays). I experienced no such troubles, however, taking in the sweeping vistas of Highway 34.

View east on Highway 34, just before the drop into Wessington Springs and the Jim River Valley.

New windmills on the Wessington Springs Ridge. Keep 'em coming!

Best route to Chamberlain from Madison: take 34 all the way to the Prairie Chicken (ahem), then head south to Chamberlain on rolling Highway 50.

I missed the I-90 work, but I did see some serious bridge reconstruction in Chamberlain. The Highway 50 bridge across the Missouri is closed for "rehabilitation." In other words, don't go there! The bridge closure quintupled my travel time from Main Street Chamberlain to the convention site at Cedar Shores.

The Chamberlain-Oacoma Truss Bridge, closed until the end of November, 2010. Says SDDOT: "Work will consist of removal of the existing bridge deck, removal of existing paint from the truss members, repairing or replacing rusted steel, repainting the truss, repair of concrete piers, and replacement of the bridge deck."

We will not cross that bridge when we come to it.

Construction promotes culture: Chamberlain residents and visitors may now more easily enjoy the work of local artists.

Lagging Health Care Nicks U.S. Tourism Competitiveness

...and ethnocentrism doesn't help!

Health care notes from an unlikely source: The World Economic Forum produces numerous reports on global competitiveness. Their March 2009 report on Travel & Tourism Competitiveness ranks countries based on their attractiveness to visitors and the travel industry. The United States ranks 8th overall, behind various socialists (including Canada).

But dig into the rankings, and you find we fail to make the top ten in a number of categories, including...

• life expectancy (29th)
• physician density (39th)
• hospital beds (54th)

We also rank 91st in attitude of population toward foreign visitors. Hmm... maybe if we were a bit more open to those durn furriners, we'd actually learn from them that universal health insurance works.

-------------------------
Bonus links! Here are some health care gems from around the South Dakota blogosphere:

• David Newquist says the Republican Party is choosing rage and racism over the real reform that hundreds of thousands of South Dakotans need.
• Bill Fleming catches an Economist article that offers a wonderful cost-benefit analysis: is a modest gain in cancer survival rates really worth bankrupting an extra million-plus Americans each year? The article comes out in favor of pretty much the same insurance reforms that President Obama has been pushing all along (decent things like not kicking cancer patients off insurance), reforms that will do no harm at all to our cancer treatment system.
• Adam Feser joins me in giving props to Senator Al Franken for a darned good explanation of what health insurance reform can and should do.
  

AAA Predicts Slower Labor Day Tourism -- August School to Blame?

Stunning! Where I susually expect Triple AAA to beat the drum for more motoring, AAA South Dakota is actually predicting less travel here over the Labor Day weekend. AAA sees 9.5% fewer South Dakotans hitting the road this last summer holiday weekend, despite much cheaper gas than last year. They say part of the problem is relative: evidently last year's Labor Day was a big travel weekend. But this year's Labor Day will be dragged down by the later date and the down economy.

Parts of the problem not mentioned by AAA:

• Lots of travelers got their fill of the road this weekend whooping it up at Prairie Village!
• Lots of kids and teachers have been in school for over a week already. Hmm... anybody relying on tourism for their income care to revisit setting the school start date after Labor Day?
  

Chamber of Commerce Minute: Promote Your Town with Warm Showers!

Bicycling blogger Kevin Brady does the Lord's work and the Chamber of Commerce's by hosting some cross-country bicyclists over the weekend. He also points toward a tourism-promotion strategy that some Chambers of Commerce probably miss.

Mr. Brady's pedaling guests found his Vermillion home via an online service called Warm Showers. The website is mostly just a big list of hospitable folks across the world who are willing to give bicycle tourists a place to stay for the night. I know how happy a long-distance cyclist can be to trade the tent for a roof and a bed for just one night. A welcoming host and a safe place to sleep do wonders to recharge a cyclist for another long day of self-propelled voyaging. Such hospitality also gives tourists a chance to really connect with folks who live here and build fond memories, not to mention some good word-of-mouth that might bring future tourists this way.

Opening our doors to bicycle tourists isn't the big enchilada of tourism promotion. Hosting a cyclist here, and biking family there, won't bring in the sales tax dollars of a signature event like the Threshing Jamboree. But perhaps the Chamber could round up maybe a dozen members to volunteer to join the Warm Showers list. If each of those members manages to snag even one visitor, then heck, we've just brought another dozen tourists—nay, adventurers!—to our fair city... and we've done it without spending one thin dime on marketing or slogans or glossy brochures.

More free tourism consulting, courtesy of the Madville Times!

Prairie Village Steam Threshing Jamboree: Full!

My path to marriage began with a simple question in August, 2001: "Do you like steam tractors?" Erin said sure! and came to Prairie Village for Madison's signature event, the Steam Threshing Jamboree. We looked at tractors, visited the Lawrence Welk Socialist Hall, talked E-Prime over lemonade, crossed the road to the Moonlite for dinner... and the rest is history.

Fueled by romance and the Izaak Walton League's all-we-could-eat pancakes and sausages (so good they set off the smoke alarm... kind of like our own romance), we steamed over to Prairie Village on our bikes (with Madville Times Jr. in the bike trailer) to see the big threshers and tractors and take the Divine Miss K for her first train ride.

Let's see... about a dozen cars lined up waiting to turn into the Prairie Village entrance. Not too bad a wait to the west...

...uh oh. This is the line coming from the east on Highway 34. At 10:00 a.m. Before lunch, we heard traffic was backed up to Pizza Ranch, maybe even as far as Madison's Main Street, about three miles. Plus traffic backing up north on U.S. 81. Tell me again, which stretch of road needs four lanes?

Once in the gate, no worries. We've got cowboys (and cowgirls) on the job. And they didn't turn us away for not wearing Allis orange. This easy rider shows us real cowboys drink Coke on the job. One of his colleagues cheered our bikes: we left one more parking spot available! Good thing we did: when we rode the train around at 11:30, the horse patrol was directing cars to the last parking spots at the far southeast corner of the lot. I've been to the Jamboree off and on over the last 25 years, and I have never seen it this full.

Inside Prairie Village, the only traffic jam is the reasonably orderly convergence of tractors lining up for the hourly parades.

And on Prairie Village's Main Street, much calmer traffic.

On display among the antique cars, a 1921 Ford truck... more like a rolling carpenter's shop! Saws, vises, drill press, grinder... dang! Who needs a hemi? I'll bet Ford could pull out this blueprint and sell a million of these to do-it-yourselfers today!

Ours weren't the only human-powered vehicles at the Village. The Wentworth Depot features another of my dream machines, this rail velocipede from the 1880s. It's a two-seater, so the rail inspector can concentrate on his checklist while the other guy busts his chops cranking along the line. I really, really, really want to sneak into Prairie Village some night and take this baby for a spin. (I suspect I'll want to bring an oil can.)

Here's a full view of the velocipede with its outrigger.

Second choice for vehicle I might hijack at Prairie Village: this two-seat pedal car! Not an antique, but pretty cool with its stick shift. On the downside, I did not see any brakes... gangway!

The Prairie Village Herman & Madison Railroad blue USAF engine runs on diesel. Don't ask what the PVH&M crew were running on when they hung the bloomers from the water tank.

Ah, what might have been: the PVH&M loops through the old Herman townsite. Pioneers in this county thought Lake Herman would be a pretty place for a town. But then C.B. Kennedy wanted to increase the value of the land he'd bought three miles to the east, so rich guys friendly to his interests bought up buildings in Herman and hauled them back to New Madison. Small revenge: right now, there are more people at Prairie Village on the northeast shore of Lake Herman than there are in the city of Madison. (Now, Prairie Village, let's talk about putting up a sign to commemorate the Lake Herman bordello...)

A 9.12er... Wasn't that an experimental model John Deere introduced in Russia in the 1920s? Or wait, wasn't that the combination thresher and 108-bale haywagon Minneapolis put out back in the 1890s? Oh well, guess I'll have to wait until this evening to find out.

Not everything at the Village is an antique. These sculptures actually weren't in the flea market; they were featured in a sculpture garden of sorts by the sawmill in the show grounds. Now if a guy could rig up a chain saw to run on steam power, that would be impressive! (No word on whether the chain saw artist has obtained rights from Hanna-Barbera. If he were selling sculptures of the Enterprise and Mr. Spock, Paramount would be beaming in lawyers in an instant!)

Why yes, that is Austin Powers, rendered in wood. Behave. $900.

The best maintained building at Prairie Village, the iconic 103-year-old Junius Church has greeted travelers along Highway 34 from this site since 1967. I can see it from my house on the other side of Lake Herman. Different congregations hold services every Sunday here during the summer. It may be the prettiest place in Lake County to get married, especially when you step out the doors and see the sun gleaming on the lake.

Oh yeah: Madville Times Jr. enjoyed her first train ride. She clung tightly to her mother the whole way, just like on the buses in Winnipeg. We'll get her used to mass transit yet!

Among other joys of the Jamboree, I ran into Benjamin Stowe, a true railroad devoté. When I worked as summer help at the Village 20 years ago, Ben was there, barely a teenager, working right alongside Joe Habeger and Paul Redfield to build the Village railroad. He tells me this is his 22nd straight Jamboree... and he's still wearing his blue and white engineer's cap. Very cool.

What I like most about the Jamboree and Prairie Village is that this big event came from a few local folks with big ideas. They've plugged away since the early 1960s, doing crazy things like moving an opera house down the highway, building their own railroad, and daring to believe they could throw a party centered around antique machines that would double the population of Lake County for a weekend. They've forged a reasonable success, and they haven't needed focus groups or fancy outside marketing consultants to make it happen. They've taken what we have here on the prairie, our own heritage, and polished it into a cultural gem—a rough little gem, sure, but a gem nonetheless, the signature event of Lake County.

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Update 22:15 CDT: Check out this video from Horseshoe Seven. My friend John caught the Minnesota wagon train heading for Prairie Village Friday right past his house on old 34. Yay, horsies!