Letter from the Editor 2023

My late husband Jimmy loved to drive. Something we did not share a love for. He was a truck driver by trade and spent the last decade of his life driving for the local bakery. When he wasn’t working, he was driving his beloved Jeep or his Harley. He always said that he loved
the relaxing open road and how he felt close to nature, and it gave him time to think. I have done a lot of driving this last year and a half
which means I have had a lot of time to think. Life being as short as it is. Is this where I really want to be?

As I was driving home from a meeting this fall the sun had started to dip behind the tree line bringing all the rich reds, oranges, burgundy, and gold leaves to life. I started to think to myself how breathtaking it was. I pulled to the side of the road rolled down the windows down and watched the sunset! How fortunate that the landscape around me wasn’t cluttered with tall buildings, honking horns and sirens but most of all I wasn’t stuck in traffic! I am proud to say that I live in rural Minnesota. Where the tall buildings are only in larger cities, honking is from the Trumpeter Swans flying overhead and traffic jams are waiting for families of ducks and geese to cross the road.

We often talk about living rural. There is a stigma that goes with that word; nothing to do here. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. There is always something to do in Otter Tail County every month of the year not just during the summer. We are the Land of 1,048 lakes. There are community festivals, ice fishing, pond hockey, ice skating, sledding, ice races, snowshoeing, polar plunge, hiking, and hunting and that
is just in the winter months.

So next time you get behind the wheel, ask yourself, “is this really where you want to be?” I know for myself the answer is not only yes, but I can confidently say, there is no other place I would want to live and work!

Marie Noplos
Marketing & Membership Director
Otter Tail Lakes Country Association