Road Trip Traditions
16/10/13 05:11
Susan and I were managers and cooks at Camp Mimanagish, the camp of the Montana-Northern Wyoming Conference of the United Church of Christ, during the summers of 1975 and 1976. It was a wonderful summer job for a couple of seminary students. It allowed us to return to our home state and a place that we loved and to use some of the skills of ministry that we were learning. Near the end of the second summer, I happened to mention to a junior high student that we would not be coming back to camp the next summer as I would need to stay in Chicago to complete all of my internship requirements for my doctoral program. The student responded, “You can’t leave Mimanagish. You’ve always been here.”
Wow! In two summers, I had become a forever tradition. Not bad for a young guy, I thought.
Since those years I have learned that it is relatively easy to establish new traditions in youth ministry. Repeat an event a few times and all of a sudden it has become a tradition. The same is true with events for the wider congregation, although sometimes it takes a bit longer to establish the tradition. Once established, however, it is not that easy to lose or alter a tradition.
Our family has its own traditions as well. Some strike me as deeply meaningful. Others are a bit silly. Some are nice, but not absolutely necessary. And some things may not really be traditions, but rather just things that we have done several times. Of course, like other families, we have traditions around holidays and birthdays and anniversaries and other special occasions.
I’m not sure if yesterday was a day of traditions, or just repetition of some familiar things. First of all, we have taken a lot of road trips. Susan and I went off to graduate school in Chicago from our home in Montana when we had been married just over one year. We made several trips back and forth over the next four years. When we settled in North Dakota, we traveled to visit family in Montana, Washington and Oregon on a fairly regular basis. We have continued to make at least one trip to the West Coast most years. Some years we make several trips. When my mother was living in Oregon, I used to drive her from her summer home in Montana to her winter home in Oregon each fall and make the trip the other direction in the spring.
Yesterday’s drive from Red Lodge, Montana to Moses Lake, Washington spanned 672 miles, and the roads were very familiar all of the way. It is a long way across Montana, and we often drive across the state in a nearly diagonal manner, entering in the southeast corner at Alzada and crossing into North Idaho on US 12, Interstate 90, or US 2. Yesterday we stayed with the Interstate from Columbus, Montana. It is a familiar route and the stops were familiar to us as well.
Stop number one: Wheat Montana to pick up almond bear claws and coconut macaroons. They are good at making both of those items, and a lot of other things. Wheat Montana is just west of Three Forks, Montana. Years ago a wheat farming family who had land alongside the Interstate decided that they needed to figure out how to increase their profit and gain some control of their markets. They started by converting their farm to all organic produce to garner the higher price for organic wheat. Then they opened a bakery to sell some products made from their wheat. Soon they had a deli and a thriving business alongside the Interstate. The business grew until they had to purchase wheat from other farmers. Then a gas station and later a motel were added to the operation. It has become a regular stop for us each time we drive across Montana. Yesterday we arrived at about 11:30 a.m., so we had lunch: good homemade sandwiches on fresh bread. We got our bear claws and macaroons to go. There are some of each in our car this morning.
Stop number two: St. Regis Travel Stop for huckleberry ice cream cones. Our timing was just perfect – mid afternoon. After sitting in the car for a long drive, we got out and walked a few blocks licking our ice cream cones before turning around and getting back into the car. Huckleberries are a big deal in the mountains of Western Montana. There are people who wouldn’t tell you their favorite spot to gather huckleberries for anything. There have been feuds and even some weapons displayed over favorite huckleberry patches. The ice cream at St. Regis Travel Stop is always really good and they are generous with the huckleberries. In the summer it is so fresh and good that it seems almost worth the drive just for the ice cream cone. OK 732 miles one-way for an ice cream cone is probably a bit far. But we were passing through. It is a little bit past prime season for huckleberries and they had ice cream made from berries that had been frozen before the ice cream was made. This makes for a wonderful and unique frozen crunch in the midst of the ice cream. It is nearly impossible to describe, but it is wonderful to eat.
We’ve stopped for bear claws, macaroons and huckleberry ice cream a lot of times. We made those stops going both ways when we went out to the coast for our wedding anniversary. And chances are fairly good that we will make the same stops on our way back to South Dakota. I guess it has become a family tradition.
One does, however, have to be a bit careful with the timing. Although huckleberry ice cream is good any time of the day, it is best in the mid afternoon, or perhaps for a bedtime snack. And if you don’t make it to Wheat Montana in the morning, chances are pretty good they’ll run out of almond bear claws before you get there.
They’ve never run out of macaroons that I know of, however. And that reminds me of another tradition. As we buy the bear claws, macaroons and huckleberry ice cream, I make a point of telling the clerk who is waiting on us that I drove all the way from South Dakota just for the treats we are purchasing.
Wow! In two summers, I had become a forever tradition. Not bad for a young guy, I thought.
Since those years I have learned that it is relatively easy to establish new traditions in youth ministry. Repeat an event a few times and all of a sudden it has become a tradition. The same is true with events for the wider congregation, although sometimes it takes a bit longer to establish the tradition. Once established, however, it is not that easy to lose or alter a tradition.
Our family has its own traditions as well. Some strike me as deeply meaningful. Others are a bit silly. Some are nice, but not absolutely necessary. And some things may not really be traditions, but rather just things that we have done several times. Of course, like other families, we have traditions around holidays and birthdays and anniversaries and other special occasions.
Yesterday’s drive from Red Lodge, Montana to Moses Lake, Washington spanned 672 miles, and the roads were very familiar all of the way. It is a long way across Montana, and we often drive across the state in a nearly diagonal manner, entering in the southeast corner at Alzada and crossing into North Idaho on US 12, Interstate 90, or US 2. Yesterday we stayed with the Interstate from Columbus, Montana. It is a familiar route and the stops were familiar to us as well.
We’ve stopped for bear claws, macaroons and huckleberry ice cream a lot of times. We made those stops going both ways when we went out to the coast for our wedding anniversary. And chances are fairly good that we will make the same stops on our way back to South Dakota. I guess it has become a family tradition.
They’ve never run out of macaroons that I know of, however. And that reminds me of another tradition. As we buy the bear claws, macaroons and huckleberry ice cream, I make a point of telling the clerk who is waiting on us that I drove all the way from South Dakota just for the treats we are purchasing.