TheBanyanTree: Run for the Border

[Margaret R. Kramer]

Ray was a sweetie and bought some legal fireworks a couple of weeks ago for
the grandsons, but being a daughter of a 4th of July birthday boy, I wanted
to reinforce our wimpy legal fireworks with some real bah bah BOOM action.

Wisconsin offers Minnesotans a chance to break the law and put a POP in the
4th of July, so since Ray and I had the day off and Susan was working a
split shift, we got together and made the short drive to the border.

We were finally having a real summer day.  It was sticky.  We can see the
haze hanging in the air.  It was sunny.  I had the sunroof open and we can
feel the rays baking our bare arms.  It was hot.  We could wear shorts and
tank tops and sweat when we moved.  We had to wait until July for real
summer, but it was worth it.

The traffic was building as we got closer to Wisconsin.  As the weekend
approached, more and more people began their own runs for the border in
campers, large trucks towing campers, and small cars loaded to the gills
with sleeping bags and tents.  The vehicles’ tires slapped a rhythm on the
pavement as moved along towards the St. Croix River.

We crossed the river and noticed that there weren’t many boats on it yet,
but by evening, especially a warm and sticky evening, the river would be
jammed with boats of all kinds.  Plus, the Twin Cities was honoring the 1854
Grand Excursion and the Mississippi River would feature a flotilla of
paddleboats.

After we got through Hudson, which is like a suburb of the Twin Cities now,
the scene gradually changed and became rural.  We didn’t see any cows, but
we saw lots of farms with lots of horses.  The traffic wasn’t as tight, but
the freeway was probably much busier than a normal summer weekend.

We decided to go to Baldwin and Fireworks City.  As we got to the Baldwin
ramp, I noticed a bunch of cars off to the side of the road.  I thought
there was an accident.  But no, it was hundreds of cars waiting to get off
on the ramp, too, and head to Fireworks City.  Gee, we buy fireworks there
almost every year and I’ve never seen it like this, especially in the middle
of the day.  But because I was too chicken to try to move back onto the
freeway to bypass the traffic jam, we were stuck in a slow motion move up
the ramp and over the bridge, and finally an escape back on the freeway
heading towards Hudson.

As we went by the small towns, we looked for any type of fireworks stores.
Finally, we saw a sign at the Prescott ramp.  This fireworks store was hard
to find, because the proprietors didn’t have any signs directing traffic to
their door, but thankfully because of Ray’s and Susan’s eagle eyes, we found
it after driving down a service road.

There were about 10 people there.  It was a decent store with decent stuff.
We walked through and grabbed things we thought the boys would like.  I
bought some cheapo stuff for our “grand finale.”  They had some really cool
“grand finale” stuff for about $100, which is way more than I wanted to pay,
and besides we can’t have much of a “grand finale”, because of our oak
trees.  Our finale has to be lower to the ground.

It was time to go home.  We stashed the illegal fireworks in the trunk and
headed for the border.  There was less traffic going into the Cities than
leaving.  I guess camping is more exciting than the Taste of Minnesota and
the Grand Excursion.  In fact, traffic heading towards the Wisconsin border
was insanely jammed and was moving at a crawl.  Thanks goodness we left
Minnesota when we did.

The fireworks are in the garage waiting to enchant little boys and our
staring neighbors if they’re home.  They’ve participated in our past 4th of
July celebrations, so I’m sure they’ll line up on the driveway and watch
this one as well.  We’ll share our sparklers and firecrackers and of course,
our exciting, but low to the ground “grand finale” with them, too.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net

http://www.polarispublications.com
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Business and Professional Women of Minnesota

To him in whom love dwells, the whole world is but one family.
~Buddha