« The Land of 3.2 Beer | Main | Brrrrr! »
December 8, 2005
Potato Country
(This was written several days ago, but I'm dating the post inocorrectly so that it'll appear on this page in the right order.)
Do you know where your potatoes come from before you buy them in the store? I knew that many of them came from Idaho, but I otherwise knew nothing of the process. I was in for a learning adventure, accompanying S. to his family’s house for the Thanksgiving holiday. I had a great time, though! We were there for 4 days, and we spent time with his parents, his siblings, and their respective families as well. His family’s house is deep in the heart of potato country, and S. and his family were all born and raised potato farmers. Though everyone has now moved on (S. works at Yellowstone, his father has sold his fields and retired, and his siblings have moved on to other working endeavors.), it’s a huge part of who they are.
Aside from spending time with his family, I got the grand tour of the area. I got to see all the big machinery that’s used to farm potatoes. I saw the huge, climate-controlled sheds where potatoes are stored for the winter. I got to walk among the potato fields themselves. Did you know that potatoes are grown in loose, sandy soil where they can grow out evenly on all sides? Did you know that potatoes will keep all winter long if they are stored at roughly 40 degrees and at a decent relative humidity? Did you know that there are various types of really cool machinery that dig up potatoes, sort potatoes from rocks and dirt, transport potatoes, and move potatoes via conveyor belt from one location to another? This is probably much more information than you ever want to know, so I’ll stop there. However, I had a great Thanksgiving adventure by all accounts.
As for my running, I did some! On Thanksgiving Day, I ran at Yellowstone before leaving for Idaho. I don’t recall the run, other than it being a frigid 6 miler on too little sleep (Think: get off work at 6 am, sleep for 3 or 4 hours, run, drive to Thanksgiving dinner.).
On Friday after Thanksgiving, I inadvertently ran over 7 miles getting lost in a nearby town. S. showed me around the nearest town, then he went to the gym to lift while I ran outside. In contrast to the rest of potato country, this was a really hilly town. I set my sights on the water tower at the top of the town and made it there in just over 20 minutes, and that was 20 or so minutes of hard climbing. Once I got up there, I wound around some neighborhoods trying to avoid going downhill until the end of my run. When it was time to go downhill, I couldn’t find the right street. I meant to run for 40 minutes and ended up out there for almost an hour. Between the hills, the pavement, and running somewhat further than I had wanted, I was sort of tired at the end. It’s bad when 7 miles makes you tired! What can I say, I’m out of shape!
The next day, Saturday, I ran 3 easy miles from his parents’ house on a flat farm road. The only problem was that it had snowed about 6 inches! It was kind of fun prancing through the snow, but hard work! On Sunday, I ran another 3 easy miles along the farm road. However, this run was anything but fun. It was cold, the snow had turned to ice, and the wind was whipping icy snow into my face. It was over quick, though, so the suffering was minimized. On Sunday afternoon, we returned to Yellowstone for the evening to pack for our next adventure and pick up my dog.
On Monday, I did a “long run” on the railroad bed in Gardiner, the usual “long run” spot as of late. My “long run” was a beautiful 9 miles, which I flew through so quickly. I can’t remember what my time was now, but I remember being impressed by my pace. On Monday afternoon, we returned to potato country for one more night, a good stopping point on our way to vacation!
The adventure continues in my next post…
Posted by Meghan at December 8, 2005 9:09 AM