Settling in -- North Platte, day 1

The drive from Denver was beautiful. I know that people who live elsewhere think of this part of the country as flat, empty, and boring. But here's what I thought:

Vanishing Point
In my rearview mirror, the cloudlike skyline of the front range of the Rockies, slowly receding from view.
Through my windshield I can see an exercise in one point perspective.
Passing a prairie dog town with a lone sentinel, and harvest fields brown in the early morning sun.
Some folks might see a flat landscape, but the road rises and dips like ocean swells,
Cresting a long hill, I gasp at the sight.
The prairie, in all of its glory, a breathtaking sea of golden tan in the morning sun.

I moseyed along my way, stopping to visit the church in Brush, Colorado, where my grandfather served as pastor eighty or so years ago. The current pastor and church secretary were warm and welcoming, and shared some of the parish's history with me.

Finally, I made it to North Platte. The road into town was unrecognizable; lots of chain restaurants, a WalMart, a shopping mall. But soon I was driving through the old part of town, and over the viaduct that carries the Main Street across the railroad tracks. Within minutes, I was driving into Cody Park, past the swimming pool and the kiddie rides (closed for the season) and reaching the banks of the North Platte River. The familiar sights and smells, the grasshoppers leaping away from my footsteps, all brought tears to my eyes. A fellow about my age stopped to talk -- the first of many conversations I have had in my few hours here. And therein hangs a tale.

I think of myself as an introvert, someone who is usually reluctant to chat with strangers. But the genial neighborliness I have encountered here has triggered a memory of learning to look away from strangers instead of smiling at them, to nod instead of saying hi. I remember walking down the street in Westwood, New Jersey shortly after we moved there, and saying hello to a woman only to have her look at me with a startled expresssion that clicked quickly to annoyance and then to a mask, averted away from me.

So far today, I have had short conversations with:

• the man at the river
• the manager at my hotel (more about her, later!)
• the plumber who came to install a new shower head in my bathroom
• the clerk at WalMart

I am falling back into a long-forgotten old habit, and it is so much fun!