Name: Pure Dakota Honey
You can buy it: On the internet here.
Country: USA
Purchased: August 2008
Color: Corn Tassel Gold
Flavor: This is classic clover honey, the kind of honey you're used to only much better. Rich and granular, it tastes like the sweet, clean air of a freshly harvested farm field.
Consistency: Medium to heavy. Sticks to the spoon.
Fragrance: The clean scent of fresh clover.
Notes: I bought this honey during a stop in North Dakota on our way to the Republican Convention. Dennis had been to 49 states, but never North Dakota. Rather than take the direct route from Denver to Minneapolis, we decided to detour north and go straight up the map from North Platte, Nebraska into the Dakotas.
Highway 83, our pathway, turned out to be a great road. It's two lanes, so we were really close to the seemingly endless fields of corn, hay, and sunflowers than border the road. Every once and a while, and I mean every once in a while, we'd pass through a small town and catch some local color.
Interstates are a wonderful way to travel, but you lose that "Route 66" feel that I so love. Give me an uncongested two lane highway any day. That's the way to see the country.
Before we left, North Platte, we stopped to see the world's largest rail yard. It’s like watching a giant model train set, except the trains are real. From a specially built observation post, we observed the big locomotives pulling or pushing their cars in and out of the massive yard. We stood mesmirized for forty minutes or so. We could have easily stayed another hour. Every where our eyes settled, there was movement. Here in North Platte, Nebraska the economy of the world was in transit.
We saw very dramatic scenery on this trip when we drove through Utah and Colorado, but I have to say that while mesas, mountains, plateaus, and canyons take your breath away, there's something very calming and relaxing about driving through fields of green corn with their supple stalks bending into the strong winds of the plains or watching fields of bright yellow sunflowers smile at you as you pass. Every state in our blessed union has its highlights, that's for sure.
We reached North Dakota at sunset. Dennis got out of the car and kissed the ground. He'd made it to all 50 states! I have the great moment on film. Once I get a few minutes, I'll put it up on YouTube.