Welcome to Small Town, USA!

    In June of 2005, my wife and I purchased a home in rural Wisconsin. Being from the Twin Cities, I was content in the fact that I was used to living in "the city" and after moving into our new town, I expected to hear and see the sounds of "home"- sirens, people at all hours of the night, cars driving by, things like that.

 

    What I got surpassed anything I could have imagined. It was soon apparent that what I considered "city" and what was actually happening in our small rural community, were really TWO DIFFERENT THINGS!

 

    Things like, large farm tractors, out of the fields, used to transport a single individual to their destination...morning coffee at the local cafe on Main Street; front end loader city vehicles for snow removal; going to the grocery store and having the clerk know you by name before you introduce yourself and, of course, being able to speak hunting, fishing, farming, and town history, all at the drop of a hat, even with a total stranger, on a street corner.

 

    ...I was terrified.

 

    Now, nearly three years later, I have learned the importance of things like: there is more than one meaning behind the term "cold enough for ya?"; that waving at others as you drive by them is more than a greeting, its a right of passage; that some of the best business meetings are done over a cup of coffee at someone's kitchen table; and finally, you never, ever, kid around about somebody's favorite football team. This is exactly what I try to put in these comics, simple, yet timeless.