Country Bumpkin

When I was a kid........

Growing up as country bumkins, we Cassens kids had a quite a few things in the world waiting for us to discover. One of them, was that many interstates have more than 2 lanes. One year we went to Denver. We were flabbergasted when the interstate turned into 3, 4, and 5 lanes! And look at all the cars! There is one behind us AND one in front of us! Hey, let's wave at them! Wait, better yet, let's make faces out the back window! Wow, so much fun. At one point, I remember we decided to act like we had never seen cars, buildings, and signs before. I don't think we had to act much.

Well, low and behold, when I graduated from high school, I moved to the big metropolis of Rapid City. I have never really loved driving, and merging, stoplights, and one way streets (don't ask...) were all new to me. My greatest fear was having to take the interstate. Which meant I had to MERGE, which I hated.

So, last weekend I went to Salt Lake City. By myself. With Penelope. Penelope does not like riding in the car. I was quite apprehensive about this endeavor, but it actually went very well. I was able to get Penelope's naps to coincide with most of the driving.

On the return trip, as I was driving through the city, I kept tensing up every time I could hear Penelope sigh or wiggle. It was then that I realized I was driving and merging in six lanes of traffic, and my biggest fear was that Penelope would wake up.

You've come a long way, country bumpkin.