Today when I pulled up at a rest stop I suddenly remembered (randomly) that somewhere in the Midwest there was a big ball of twine. I called my godmother to check online where it was (I don't have internet!) and she told me it was in Darwin Minnesota. When I looked on my map I realised I had stopped at exactly the right point to go straight there! Obviously this was fate so, even though I was only two hours from Minneapolis, I decided to go to Darwin first (and add two extra hours to my journey) Let me tell you - totes worth it:
 |
| Loved it!!! |
I was really happy that I took this detour because I was able to see a bit more of Minnesota that I would have otherwise. I saw countless towns like this:
I can really see the difference in architecture in people's houses here from the West Coast and out west. In California I saw some really nice sturdy houses (in spite of the earthquakes) in the west I saw a LOT of trailer homes and here they look really big and lovely and farmy. Also, every town seems to have a big tower with its name on it:
Sioux Falls
I found the Falls in Sioux Falls, it was pretty with lots of ducks and geese and stuff. It was nice but I wasn't there for very long.
 |
| Still in South Dakota so still very w/c accessible |
 |
| Can you see the icicles? Bottom left |
American radio
When I can find radio it's generally pretty interesting. Normally I listen to NPR but they repeat their programmes a lot so sometimes I have to venture further along the dial. What's funny is that the set up is the same as every other country I've been in - classical music at the beginning and end, pop music in the middle, older music in between at either end. However - and here's the thing - the whole dial is randomly interspersed with Country music. Thing is, you may not realise straight away that's what it is. Reason for this is that they sometimes play quite well known soft rock ish bands and that will drag you in and before you know it the next song is the dingaling of a banjo. I have found that the way to tell the difference is first names, here's an example: Bon Jovi will normally play on a soft rock channel BUT if there are first names in the lyrics it's considered country. "You give love a bad name" = soft rock. "Livin' on a prayer" (Tommy used to work on the docks...) = country.
Other things
 |
| Can you believe the selection of candy in this gas station? This is only half! |
 |
| Minnesota!! |
 |
| Who sees a big truck like this and wonders whether there might be Twinkies in it?? |
The frequencies from 88.1 to 91.9 are reserved for noncommercial stations, so that's where 99% of NPR stations are located (and religious stations, which I'm a bit surprised you didn't mention, although most of the ones on the FM dial tend to just be playing friendly "contemporary Christian" music -- if you want serious preaching, you'd usually have to switch to AM).
ReplyDeleteAnything else you may have noticed about what type of music is where on the dial is a coincidence.
Hey! My fact-checker is back!! Where've you been?
Delete