Homebodies - Are we entitled to smooth speedways?
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- Published on Sunday, March 29, 2015
By Rita Friesen
It is spring. Along with the gentle silver/gray pussy willows, the raucous cry of the ebony crow and the clean line of migrating geese, we have pot holes. The news has been reminding us that, once again, we have the opportunity to nominate a road, any road, for Manitoba’s Worst Road.
I wonder, do we expect too much from our public pathways? Are we ‘entitled’ to smooth speedways? It takes me back. Back to the year my parents moved from the flat land of Southern Manitoba, Kane, where a growing tree indicated a yard site, to the treed sandy soil in the Graysville area. Back to the time when roads were often inaccessible. The road leading us to town was low, filled with sections of willow trees and sloughs. Then there was the wet spring, and the local municipal councillor got stuck making his rounds. My father cheerfully fired up the tractor, pulled the pick up from the mire and headed home. Not many minutes later, once again the inspector of the rural area slowly walked back down our lane. Once again, stuck. And once again, dad rescued him, this time watching to witness the car make the muddy mile. That very year the road was built up. [ Also made me wonder, why, if our cardinal farmer rule was to NEVER leave the field until the tractor or truck was moving smoothly, why did dad come right home that first time? Hmm]
In that same era, there was another washboard road leading to town. We had an option on that stretch. We could rattle and bounce, teeth clattering, or swing down into the ditch and follow the much smoother trail that the neighbour lads had established. It worked.
In our early farming years in the Riding Mountain area spring run off could make travel interesting. More than one year we had to drive north to go south. Water was running over the road to the east, to the west and to the south. Just a couple miles north and an all weather road allowed you to travel any direction you wanted. The season was short, and we never lost a child or a vehicle!
I miss the modest stockpile of good gravel that used to sit behind the shop. It was easy to fill a wheelbarrow and keep the lane relatively smooth. Sad thing, once a dip starts every passing set of wheels just deepens the dip. The lane is looking good, thank you! And there is no way that each one of us can maintain the road fronting our property. So I pays my taxes and hopes for the best!
So, my lane is not on the worst road list, neither is the highway passing my home. Could we run our own local contest and prompt attention to needy roads? Just a thought.
