Another Trip to Duluth

We drove up to Duluth this morning. It was a bright day with an utterly clear sky. We took the Interstate most of the way, then took a two-lane hardtop the last fifty miles. It goes through pine and birch forest. The trees were encrusted with fresh new snow, so it seemed as if we were driving through a white lace fairyland. But the road was nasty, a mixture of packed-down snow, slush and bare pavement. The pavement was wet, and the snow was icy; and the highway winds and dips.

About halfway through the fifty miles, an adult eagle appeared and flew over the road, then landed in a ditch next to the road. A moment later, it took off, most likely startled by our car. Four or five crows or ravens took off with it, which suggests there was carrion in the ditch.

"We're going to be okay," Patrick said after we saw the eagle.

After that the road got better. The snow must have fallen in a belt south of Duluth, because we drove right out of it. There was no snow in Duluth.

I thought of the story one of the Wellstone boys told. He and his brother were going to see the place where Paul Wellstone's plane crashed, and they lost their parents and sister. On the way in or out an adult eagle landed on the road in front of their car and just stood there for a moment or two. Someone -- probably a Native American -- told them later that this was a good sign. Eagles are messengers from the spirit world.

I realize this sounds like New Age hooey. But eagles are amazing; and I like the story about the Wellstone boys.

Do I think the eagle made our road better? No. Except in the sense that the sight of an eagle makes life better.