On the Road to Hulett

 

On the Road to Hulett East, above, and West, below. Both are 5x7

AS CAROL HEADS OFF to her archaeological dig, I head out to the land around Belle Fourche, South Dakota, to see what I can see and paint what I can paint. 

The West begins to show itself in the bones of the plains landscape here. I can see mountains in the distance, and the close-in hills are sharper, rockier than they've been, except, of course, for on the mountain drives. The towns and villages have a western feel, and some, like Hulett, and the teeny (population 15) Aladdin have built the west into their structures. 

Farms give way to ranches, and corn to hay. Baling is in full swing. Horses watch me from fenced corrals, and somehow even the pickups look like ranch trucks, not farm trucks.

But the sky is huge and unobstructed, and though it is the height of the tourist season, outside of the tourist meccas, there's pretty much no one around. 

I pull off the road to paint a small landscape, and then turn the other way and realize that it's stunning in that direction, too. 

If you are a patron and you like these paintings, it seems like they go well together as a pair, for your patron dollars. They are not sunflowers, I know, but that was this day, this place. 

                                       

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BACK AT 164th AVENUE

164th Ave., No. 2, 4x12

HERE'S ONE MORE PAINTING, to have a sunflower painting in this entry. I made this one at yesterday's 164th Avenue field. The idea for this abstract came to me while I was painting the piece I showed you yesterday. 

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Center of the Nation

I'VE ALREADY FOUND the Center of the World, in Ohio, and now, in Belle Fourche, SD, Carol and I find the Center of the Nation. 

But wait. South Dakota? This does not seem like the center of the nation. 

And, in fact, for many years, it wasn't. The center of the nation was in Lebanon, Kansas, for a long time - until Hawaii became a state and reset the balance, literally. Lebanon had become the center of the nation when someone balanced a cut-out map and found - voila! - that it balanced at Lebanon.

Then came Hawaii. 

According to the experts at the Tri-State Museum in Belle Fourche (which is pronounced Bell Foosh - and is called "Belle" by everyone who lives there - i.e., no "Foosh"), the inclusion of that land mass shifted the geographic center to Belle. 

Well, not really to Belle, it turns out, but to a spot 20 miles north of town, on private land. Still, close enough! Apparently, you can go to the actual site, but Carol and I are happy enough with the big, pretty flag-festooned monument. 

You can find the Center of North America somewhere in North Dakota, either the town of Rugby, or possibly Hanson's bar in Robinson, ND. 

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People and Dog of the Day

WE MEET PEGGY and her humans at the Center of the Nation, where they are visiting on a cross-country trip to celebrate his retirement. He has a big camera and a tripod, but she takes our photo.  

Thirty-eight years ago, he was working at a camera store, when a friend said he'd met a woman who had just moved to town and needed a job. He rolled his eyes but said OK. They married within months and have been together and happy ever since.