Swing State? You Betcha?

June 28, 2009

Filed in: North Dakota

No, North Dakota is not a swing state politically, it’s deep deep red and always has been. But it’s been swinging back and forth on the Tracy approval-meter, thusly:

First Swing: So all winter and spring, the whole 50th State enterprise was looking shaky. The enormous sums we plunked on the credit card last year for Alaska just would not/could not get paid down; we suddenly had a kid in high school and were hearing tales firsthand of just how awful the college cost situation is; and … what was the third thing? Oh, yeah, worldwide economic meltdown, that was it. Hard to justify spending unearned, nonexistent family dollars to fly anywhere in that environment, much less a place nobody really wants to go to.

Then I got a book deal. Not this book, not The 50th State, another book. A small book, but what the heck, a book deal! At 47! I took it as a sign from God that I should re-invest in my “writing career.” (The next time I get this thought in my head, someone please whack me hard with our 401K statement, willya?)

So late one night in March, I booked a trip for four to North Dakota. (The next time I do that, someone please etc. etc.) Loyal readers will recall
I’d already planned and nearly booked a trip to ND with my BFF, so I most easily could have just re-booked the same trail-riding-mountain-biking Western extravaganza for the family.

But I just couldn’t do it. We’d had a rough six months or so in Swellville, and T and I were both feeling crushed by work and money worries and general what-will-the-future-bring malaise, along with a bunch of physical stuff too boring to discuss, also some infrastructure issues with the house (leaking things and breaking things). More than anything in the world, I was longing for a week at the beach house we used to rent – quiet, private, pond-front, a short bike ride to the beach—just to read and bike and hang out.

Instead I had an unstructured but committed trip to North Dakota hanging over my head. Poor ND didn’t make it any easier by being flooded all spring – ew. W got a book out of his elementary school library, one of the “Our 50 Wonderful States” series, and it catalogued with shockingly frank honesty the state’s woes – low population, drought-followed-by-flood-followed-by-drought, and desperate yet chipper plans for increased tourism.

I spent hour after hour online, searching for something funky to do and somewhere funky to stay in ND. What I learned – there are only chain hotels in the entire state. And what’s to do? Hunting. Fishing. Hunting and fishing. Fishing and hunting. ND was making Alaska look like a positive earthy-crunchy hippie enclave. But we were booked to go, so go we went …