Dating as a Country Girl

In high school when I was old enough to date, I faced some challenges my city classmates didn't--twenty miles.  In my high school of 1200 students, only about ten of us lived outside the city limits. You either lived close, or way out, and we were way out. We only went to town for church on Sundays and one other day of the week for groceries or appointments.  This distance limited our extra curricular activities and that included dating.  My dad was delighted at this prospect, but I agonized over it. Any boy who wanted to take me out for a date had to drive 20 miles out to the ranch to pick me up.  Then we would drive back into town to a movie or activity and another 20 miles back to the ranch.  Finally, my date would drive the 20 miles back to town for an 80 mile round trip.  For a guy counting his pennies, the additional gas money made dating me a less attractive proposition.  Then there were the guys whose mothers didn't want their little boys out in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. 

O woe, woe! That was until I met John.  Now compared to where John grew up, I lived in the suburbs.  His family ranch in southern Colorado was 45 miles out of town and 20 miles from school, located in a very small community consisting of two churches, a post office and a few homes.  The kids in his family participated in every school activity because each person was essential to make it happen. So after we had met in Kansas City, John was not put off by the fact that we were 65 miles apart.  In fact that was close since he was attending CSU and not at home, 365 miles from my house! He drove up to the ranch to pick me up, back into town, then home again to the ranch and then the long lonely trip back to college--a round trip of 170 miles, over twice what the local boys were willing to do. This delighted me on multiple levels, an awesome guy and willing to make the effort.

So twenty miles out in the country didn't deter the right guy, and I only needed one!