Somewhere on a back road between Detroit Lakes and Hendrum.
TRAVELING NORTHWEST TOWARD the Red River Valley from Detroit Lakes last Thursday morning, I thought I was mentally prepared for the vastness, the flatness that define this area. I am, after all, a native of the southwestern Minnesota prairie. And I’ve been to Fargo-Moorhead, which is tabletop flat.
Trucks hauling crops are the most common vehicles on roads in these parts this time of year.
But this route was different. This nearly 1.5 hour drive took Randy and me off the interstate and onto back county roads and state highways as we aimed toward Hendrum in Norman County. At times we drove for endless miles without sighting another vehicle. It’s unsettling to feel such isolation, to know that you are miles between towns, that the distance between farm places stretches farther and farther.
Our route took us through several small towns, including Borup just 20 miles southeast of Hendrum.
Yet, I tried to make the best of this drive to visit friends who once lived in Faribault. A job relocated the family of seven to this town of 300 some 30 miles north of Fargo-Moorhead along U.S. Highway 75.
Mountains of sugar beets are prevalent in this region.
As we headed toward Hendrum, Randy and I, both Minnesota farm-raised, observed the progress of harvest—seemingly slowed by too much rain. In places, mud from farm equipment stamped the roadway and signs warned of slippery surfaces. Acres and acres of corn remain to be harvested. Muddy conditions, however, apparently don’t stop the picking of sugar beets, a major crop in this region. Our friends’ oldest son works at a sugar beet plant as he saves money to attend a college in Washington, D.C. I can only imagine the cultural shock of moving from remote northwestern Minnesota to our nation’s capital.
Clusters of grain bins are common in this agricultural area.
This is an area that truly is Red River Valley flat, that seems to an outsider rather desolate. But, framed in a positive way, it is a peaceful place. Wide. Spacious. Uncluttered by traffic and housing developments.
It is a land marked by grain bins and by small town elevators, which can be seen for miles—seven miles once, Randy noted.
It is a land marked, too, by rectangles of stacked bales rising like barges along our route toward the Red River.
Here the land and sky seem endless.
Here agriculture anchors the economy.
Although I couldn’t live here given the flatness, the remoteness, I can appreciate that others call this place home.
TELL ME: Have you been to the Red River Valley of Minnesota or neighboring North Dakota?
CHECK BACK as I take you into Hendrum. You won’t want to miss the humor of Hendrum.
© Copyright 2018 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
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