TYPICALLY, I SHOOT hundreds of images on a 600-mile round trip from Faribault, MN., to Appleton, WI., to visit our daughter.
But not this time.
Winter wedged her way onto the van windows Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. Frost, road spray and rain that froze onto the windshield diminished my photo numbers to 27 frames. Darn winter.
The trip, especially along Wisconsin State Highway 21 through towns like Arkdale and Redgranite and Wautoma and countless other “you gotta slow down” places, seems shorter when I can photograph the world unfolding before me.
Along a portion of 21, I noticed the snow frosting the landscape. It was quite beautiful really.
And when my husband and I reached the intersection of Wisconsin highways 21 and 13 west of Coloma, we noticed this:
Eastbound on Wisconsin State Highway 21 on Thanksgiving morning.
Yup, some driver or passenger had taken the time to swipe snow from a stop sign.
© Copyright 2014 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
That is a great shot. I think someone is safety conscious or something but probably a nice thing to do for fellow drivers. I can imagine your picture snapping was reduced dramatically.
Randy actually noticed this. Sometimes he’s way more observant than me.
The ever vigilant driver. 🙂
I never notice things like that because I am always looking at the old buildings etc.
It’s in the details, Missy, in the details. But I understand your distraction with old buildings.
In Minnesota that’s known as “Minnesota Nice”!!!!!!
You are correct.
[…] Kletscher Helbling, who writes the Minnesota Prairie Roots blog, has a real knack for finding the obvious characterizations of our sensibilities that most of […]
I lived in Minnesota for 40 long, cold winters before moving to Cornwall–the southwestern tip of Britain. So far this year we’ve had maybe three mild morning frosts and a few lone roses are still blooming outside our kitchen window. I look at your photos and can’t believe what I’m getting away with.
I’m rereading your last sentence and laughing. Laughing.
Sometimes I question, too, why I remain in Minnesota. But this is home, the place where I grew up and the place where my family lives. Well, not all of my family. But most. And I love my family. Fortunately the second daughter lives in Wisconsin, which is a short drive away, if you call 300 miles short.
I’m glad you laughed. After I hit Send, I thought, y’know, maybe it’d be kinder to shut up about living in a place that isn’t hip deep in snow right now. I understand all the reasons to stay. I still have ties there, but I suppose it was easier for me to cut my ties because I was a transplant to begin with.
I’m always up for a laugh. So thank you for hitting Send.
Great Capture! I can say I have done this a time or two when I lived back in the Midwest in wiping off signs. I love that this sign also has a light too. Happy Hump Day 🙂
Well, good for you to do the right thing.
This intersection needs the additional red lights as two main roadways meet on a flat stretch. It would be easy enough to daydream your way right through these stop signs.
From your capture it looks like a wicked intersection.
It could be, I suppose.
I don’t think I’d be any good driving around in those conditions. I read your comment on my blog this morning and thought, I probably will be just like Audrey in a few years with an empty-nest and wishing all the chaos and drama were still with me xx
I didn’t mean to diminish the drama in your household. Sometimes it can be a struggle as a mom to cope with all of it. Just savor the days when your children are still in your home. That’s my advice.
Nice Capture Audrey…only in the midwest do people get out and wipe away the snow on a stop sign ha ha
Certainly not in warm weather states. But, yes, thoughtful and nice.