On These Days in Colorado and the Dakotas

There was a lemonade stand and a Fourth of July parade with llamas, early settlers, and Kenny from South Park. Ash from a mountain fire drifted down like snow.

Carol pulled trash from a motel lobby, telling guests, "Have a blessed day."

Her husband died when he was 45, leaving Carol to raise their six children on her own.

"Judge Judy said if you can't make it on one job, get another. Sometimes I had three. My faith in God kept me going. Still does."

The hardest job she ever had was working with children abused by their parents. She only stayed a year.

A window in Rapid City asked, "What's the most beautiful thing you have been told?"

One answer read:

"You're the oldest you've ever been and the youngest you'll ever be again. Go live your life unapologetically."

Another said:

"My mom telling me I could name my cat McRib."

Next door, the Community Café served anyone who walked in. People paid what they could, volunteered for a meal, or bought tokens so someone else could eat.

A few blocks away, Art Alley invited visitors to become part of the artwork. Graffiti covered walls and garbage cans, and an old piano waited to be played. A sign overhead read:

"Everything Will Be Okay."

Also on these days, George Washington greeted visitors at Mount Rushmore and posed for photographs.

"How can I refuse a photo for posterity?" he asked.

A park guide said, "America is in the unfinished edges of Mount Rushmore."

Three sisters wearing matching "Sisters Trip" shirts held up a photograph of their parents before taking their own picture. Their mother and father had been married for 67 years before they died. Now the sisters were carrying that photograph across the country.

Children leaned out the windows of their minivan to say hello to bison blocking the road through Custer State Park.

One of them said, "Dad, I want to try a buffalo burger tonight."

A swather cut hay while fields of yellow canola stretched across North Dakota. Cattle grazed near the Great Western Trail, where millions of Texas longhorns were once driven north.

A new presidential library overlooking the North Dakota Badlands told the story of Theodore Roosevelt and the place that helped shape him into a president who fought for the Square Deal, supported women's right to vote, and protected more than 230 million acres of public land.

The museum ended with his words:

"This country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in."

And:

"Each one of you carries upon your shoulders the burden of seeing that this nation does well for the sake of mankind."

After sunset, a family walked down a bluff quoting Christmas Vacation.

"Oh, jeez! Look at the time. I gotta get to bed. Brush my teeth. Feed the hog..."

All on these days.

Happy 250 America. You’re a big, beautiful, complicated, diverse, maddening, inspiring, crazy country. I’m lucky to live here.

Kermit came to Fat Tuesday. “I caught him ten years ago, and he’s come to every Mardi Gras since. He’s a trouper.”

A boy in a gas station sang "It started with a whisper, and that is when I kissed her" as he grabbed a Mountain Dew from the cooler. The cashier said the soda was on her.

Oct. 11, 2025

On this day, a t-shirt in Arkansas read, "Don't doubt the snout." There were early fall leaves in the Ozarks, but most of the woods were still green. A riverbed was dry, and spring peepers peeped from the trees.

Two friends, both named Jack, told about living in the valley. Their families came in wagons from Tennessee in the 1830's, searching for land of their own. One Jack showed pictures of his brother, an actor who has played nine aliens in Star Trek. The other Jack is a fifth-generation farmer and told about the barn his family built in 1945. They used to have a dairy and milked their own cows, but small farmers like them got out of the dairy business a long time ago. Jack said farming has used him up, but he keeps going because this is his retirement.

On this day, a dish towel hung from a screen door. Directions started with "I'll take you there."

There were neighborhoods named Happy Hollow and Sunset Strip. There were strings of lights and lanterns. Doors and windows left opened because there was no AC–no cool air to keep in.

There was the smell of bacon in the mornings, and Comeback sauce was served with tamales. Easter bunnies sat on pavilion pews, and Mississippi State and Ole Miss flags hung from some of the same cabins.

Folks went porch to porch, visiting friends and family. There were Fair rules: "We offer you something to eat, so that we can eat it, too."

A mother’s murals were still on refrigerators and walls many years after she painted them.

Lawn chairs were left by the rodeo fence. Pictures were taken of grandparents with grandkids.

On these days, a biplane flew along the Gulf of Mexico. A dump truck read, "Jesus Loves You."

Nabs and a Diet Coke were left on a hearse before a funeral. A Whataburger bag sat in the middle of the road with a few fries inside. A trash can full of cardboard was pulled around a corner.

On this date, American flags hung from utility poles on a country road. The smell of barbecue filled the air as two veterans' groups sold plates of chicken and pulled pork. The Emblem Club sold desserts, and tables and chairs were set out hours early for a Memorial Day concert.

There were stories about going to college because the military paid for it, and grandparents who had come over from Norway. They were given land in North Dakota and called "soddies" because they lived in sod houses—there were no trees or stone on the plains.

On this day,  a magnolia bloomed. There were lightning bugs, bullfrogs, and a nest of baby woodpeckers. An abscess broke through on a horse hoof. 

On this day, a four-leaf clover was handed to a customer, and a scooter was ridden to work. A basket of laundry was carried into a laundry mat by a woman with LOVE written all over her shirt.  

On this day, a man on a bike rode up and said, "We couldn't figure out if you were a man or woman. But you have thug life swag and dress code."

An "Abide No Hatred" flag hung at the Hopkins place that was built in 1900; trolls decorated a house down the street.

On this day, raindrops dripped off bridges. A sign at the Tombigbee River warned to "Swim at your own risk."

On this day, a server poured wine with seven pens in her pocket. She said you can never have too many.

Peaches and snapdragons grew by a chicken coop. A sow lay on her side–eyes closed and making urnf, urnf, urnf noises–as she fed her five piglets. A dog sat in the back of a truck while stickers of sasquatch shooting the bird were on a truck close by.

On this day, students told about the outdoor classroom they helped design. A loblolly pine grew from a seed that went around the moon. Ouch stories were taped to a wall: a scooter that went back down a hill really fast and playing with swords, and running on a roof.  Classrooms glowed with rainforest art.

On this day, a bird's nest was found. A lobster balloon hung from a street sign.

Sand fleas were caught as bait for pompano by a farmer on his annual
family vacation.

On this day, a horse rolled in the dirt, antique tractors were displayed, and a deer skull was wrapped in clematis vines.