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I am an amateur at blogging, however I hope through it you see and read about my passion. Thank you for coming here. 

A Cow On My Calendar

3/31/2018

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A Cow On My Calendar

A February calendar picture of a big black calf stared back at me from the wall on my office.  I started to chuckle because anyone who knew me in high school or thereafter would know that is the last thing you would have ever seen on my wall or anything else. 

I remember in Sunday School getting invited to a friend's small acreage farm in Rapid Valley. I experienced a comforting emotion I had never felt before (I still can't put a name to it today). Or, the time my father won some baby chicks in a giveaway and I received them for Easter, only to have to take them to a farm out in the county. That was a bummer! 

A Life Lived Rurally

When I met my husband, his "calling" was clear to him, just not me! We would be living life rurally; as a rural Pastor and his city wife.  There would be no changing this guys' mind.  In case you did not pick up on it, my husband is a rural pastor. 

Living it

Agriculture takes on a whole new meaning when you live it.  Looking back, I basically think I was kind of a snob towards county kids as an adolescent and growing up in the city.  I never really felt I belonged to any particular clique in high school, but there were those country kids that all met outside at one end of the block waiting to load the school bus, and then there was "us".  We would maybe interact in the classroom now and then, but I do not remember much else.  How interesting to look back on it all now.

I have lived rurally now for 36 years. Since then I have seen a cow pulled (with a chain I might add), a few born on the plains of Montana (right out in the open!), and twin lambs born in rural Kingsbury County SD. I have even had my name show up in the local paper's column as having gone to a women's house where I quilted all afternoon.  Me Oh MY. 

Now as I've gotten older, I look and see things so differently.  I've talked to farmers who are serious "stewards of the land" and it's not just a "cause" or lip service.  I watch how the weather can make or break crops and the growing season. I've hear how difficult it is for the young farmer to have the option of start farming on his own.  I've learned and seen much; too much to list here.  But watch for further blogs! ;) I love rural.  


The End of The Road...

​

(A MUST READ - click here) 

Two Sparrows Farm and Dairy
PLEASE GO and take a few minutes and read this story by clicking on title and follow the link.  It's outstanding and gives a great view of what has happened over the years and what continues to happen. The landscape of rural has changed over the years and continues to change.  It's an amazing story that a friend of mine shared, that I hope you take a few minutes to read.  

There is so Much to Love About Local

Whether you live rural or city we do need to fight for "local" in all it's forms. My life, my employment, has taught be so much and I have so much more to learn. 

I'd love it you would share my blogs if you like them...in some manner.  My mission is to promote local and small business.  When you share or tell another about Travel Backroads, you are collaborating with me and "saying it forward".

Joan
​Travel Backroads
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Telling People Where to Go

3/23/2018

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Telling People Where to Go
 
Boy, do I like to do that!!  I can bark orders with the best of them! It just dawned on me that I have been experiencing telling others "where to go" for a very long time!

Grayline Bus Tours

​For as long as I can remember, (yes that is a long time), I’ve been directing people where to go.  And by that I mean—what highway, what by-way, what tourist attraction, and what bus to take.
 
During my summers in high school and college, my job was working for Grayline Bus Tours in the Black Hills.  I sat at a desk in numerous hotel lobbies in Rapid City. Some summers I also drove to other motels and touched base with them about Grayline Tours and brochures.. 

It was at the height of the tourism ‘years’ that our tour busses were packed full.  It was a great time to be in tourism. We had buses going to the Southern Hills and to the Northern Hills and then three times a week to the Passion Play in Spearfish.  I worked hard talking to customers and making it easy and convenient for them to get a tour and inform them about what they would be visiting by bus or by their own transportation.  Oh, the questions that came up--I could have written a book! 
 
I’ll Be Their Guide
 
Another job I had during this time was working at a very large campground in Rapid City at the time.  It was when Holiday Inn’s had campgrounds and I worked the desk, helping tourists.  Those were the best times and I loved my jobs.  It came easy for me to guide them on a map and tell there what sites they needed to see.  The Holiday Inn Trav’L Park had over 200 sites for camping and that did not include tenting space.  There were times that we needed overflow too as the tourism business was booming.
 
Family and friends had always come out to the Hills when I was growing up.  There would be discussions as to what to go see and how to make several days of it, and how to make those destination stops. It continued on into my adult years-- what tourist attractions to go to and what not to miss or any special events going on that we wanted to be sure to visit. Even my father  and uncle, during their college years, drove tour buses in the hills. 

It’s In My Blood…

I LOVE guiding people and making sure they get to the sites they want to see, or even sites they had no idea about. There are many times that I wish I had gone into tourism as a profession, but now I get the best of all worlds.  I get to work on the economic and community development side in our state, rural countryside, and I also help others through Travel Backroads . 
 
Via my online directory, I am wanting to help tourists and weekend travelers find their destination and business, or a service that they should know about.  Some people want me to sample a business's chicken, or pie.  I love knowing that and enjoy marketing businesses and services. My problem is there is only one of me and thousands of businesses. But I believe I have a service to offer and it IS of VALUE.
 
I care more than many about local business, I believe that. I will do what it takes to help others know how to find my customers' business. My directory is just getting it’s “feet wet” and we're off and running.

…It Does Comes Natural to Me! 

Let's do this! 
​Joan

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Finding Your Passion

3/7/2018

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What are you Passionate about?

I had another conversation the other day with a gentleman.  He told me that he does not care whether he shops local or not. He does not care if his community shrivels up and dies, or not. Surely he does care somewhere inside of him.

When do things become an obsession with someone? I think I have crossed over into that obsession zone. My heart kind of fell when I heard him say that so emphatically. Here I am so concerned for our small rural communities and small rural businesses, and he does not really care.


Then I ask myself, why do I care so much?
They say to be worried when you talk to yourself, but be very afraid when you answer yourself back! ​
I do not know why I care so much, I just do.
I suppose if our grocery stores disappear, we just do the "Amazon" thing or the new Walmart Blue Box, or Hello Fresh or Blue Apron.  We can now shop and get a boxed meal and drive up to get it, or if you live a distance away, they will probably mail it to you. This too shall run its course. Entrepreneurs and big box stores have found a new niche'.  Big stores especially have to remain pertinent and viable too or they are looking at bankruptcy.

It is Not Easy... 
 
I thought selling Ads, Videos, "The Works" would be easy for me at Travel Backroads. It is not.  Some have jumped on my bandwagon and see my vision for their businesses. I live, eat, and breathe Travel Backroads but it's not an easy thing to sell my vision to other businesses. One problem might be that I'm not a salesperson, yet this is the easiest thing in the world for me to sell. I believe in it and I am passionate about what value I am bringing to the table.  

We all have to find our passion. I know day in and day out you might face another day where there are few customers or the weather has shut you down again.  Maybe you have had to go out of business and your dream came crashing down.  Be open to working with others in your community because it is that "co-opetition" that is going to help you in the long run and the "collaboration". It is not easy day in and day out to find that passion. But I think we all just need to think back to what got us started on our dream to begin with. 

 
Joan
Travel Backroads
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    Blogs Titles

    All
    A Cow On My Calendar
    Adopting A Front Porch Attitude
    An Insurgence
    Are You Welcoming?
    A Rousing Discussion On Customer Service
    A Year Old And Learning
    Buffalo Museum Harding Co
    Bus Trips Anyone?
    Can't We Love Both?
    Change Is Good; Lets Find Out What's Ahead
    Collaboration And YOU
    Co-promotions
    Destinations & Social Media Management
    Dissension In Our Communities
    Driving The Passion To Go Local
    During This Pandemic Crisis
    Enlightened By Pat And Where I Need To Be
    Entrepreneurs
    Farmer's Markets
    Finding Your Passion
    Following Your Dream
    Franchise Online Shopping
    Going Local Is Not A Trend
    It's In All Our Hands
    Katy Kassian
    Keeping Going During This Time
    Let Us Manage Your Social Media
    New-things-instore
    New Year Brings New Changes
    Not Without It's Mistakes
    One Or Two Fingers?
    Ready To Go Again
    Revitalization Please!
    Roundabouts
    Telling People Where To Go
    The Big Reveal
    The International Vinegar Museum
    Those Big Box Stores
    Top 10 Reasons To Buy Local
    What Brings You Joy?
    What Is Your Role In This
    What's Going To Happen
    Where's The Beef?
    Why Choose Travel Backroads
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  • Blog "Loose Gravel"
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