Bright Ideas

In days gone by, people would take a team and wagon and travel cross country to Miles City twice a year for supplies - twice a year in good weather. Brice travels to Baker every 10 to 14 days for bananas for me. If you buy too many, they just get black and squishy, too few and you run out.

So he’s on the road in winter if driving conditions are favorable. Reviewing road conditions and weather forecasts, he chooses the best day to travel and makes the 35 mile trip. Everyone does that now, since Ekalaka’s grocery store burned down, everyone with a vehicle. They all meet at Reynold’s Grocery.

In pioneer days there were no televisions or radios, no professional weather forecasters this far west. Remote areas had to rely on vision; that’s as far as they could rely on judgment.

The first time I met Brice’s parents was in Columbia, Missouri. They had come to help Brice move home. We took them to an area with limestone caves. It had trees hanging overhead, obstructing vision.

“How do you know what the weather is?” asked Marshall Lambert. “You listen to the radio or television,” I answered. He was used to forecasting for himself. Raised on a ranch, he learned what his grandfather knew, using vision to see what was coming. You couldn’t see that far in most of Missouri.

Today we all rely on weather and road reports on radio and television. We know if travel conditions are too dangerous or fine. Long trips keep us constantly consulting the radio, changing stations the farther we travel. What would we do without the people who take up the profession of weather forecasting?

I guess we’d rely on our vision, like Brice’s dad, but first we’d need to learn all that he knew on the subject. His mind was filled with more than many knew. Could any of us hope to learn all of that he knew?

Listen to the weather, travel if you can, and fill your pantries, or help those who can’t travel.

Until next time, I’ll sign off.