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Joe’s Bar and Johnny J’s Saloon. He remembered walking by them and smelling stale beer and secondhand tobacco smoke. Several of the once thriving businesses on Main Street had closed their doors since he left after college—a pharmacy, an office supply store, a big grocery store, a bakery—all gone, the buildings vacant with For Sale signs in their windows.
    At the stoplight, he turned north toward Link Lake and spotted the Willow River Hospital and Clinic. The clinic was new. So was a dental office next to it.
    Back on Main Street, he traveled east, past the new McDonald’s and Culver’s restaurants, and past the big Buy It Here grocery store with a statue of a life-size Angus steer standing out front. He saw the Ames County Argus ’s new building. The weekly Argus was a newspaper nearly as old as Farm Country News . Its handful of reporters, several of them stringers, covered all corners of Ames County; its circulation was primarily house-holds in Ames County and thus was not a competitor of Farm Country News , which covered much of the Midwest and concentrated on agricultural stories.
    Josh looked for the Lone Pine Restaurant that he remembered standing on the far east side of Willow River. He found it, but now it was a part of the Willow River Plaza—a strip mall with an Ace Hardware store, an Amish furniture place, and a small-engine repair shop, all scrunched together with no attempt at architectural aesthetics.
    He swung south, off Main Street and past what had been cucumber receiving and salting stations, now warehouses or mostly old abandoned and graying buildings. He drove past the new Farmers Co-op Feed Store, and then past the Ames County Fairgrounds, where he saw a couple of new metal buildings, but it mostly looked the same as it had when he was a kid in 4-H, showing calves there.
    Josh pulled open the courthouse door and walked down the long hall to the agricultural agent’s office, past the register of deeds office and the county clerk’s office.
    Brittani Martin, office manager, smiled when Josh entered the ag agent’s office.
    “What can I do for you?” she asked pleasantly.
    “I have an appointment with Ben Wesley,” Josh said, smiling.
    “Your name, please.”
    “Josh Wittmore, with Farm Country News .”
    “He’s expecting you, Mr. Wittmore. Go right in.”
    “Josh, it’s been awhile,” said Ben as he walked around from behind his desk and shook Josh’s hand. “I remember when you were in 4-H and helped out at the Ames County Fair.”
    “Those were good days,” said Josh. “Fun days.”
    “How’re your folks doing? Heard they sold their cows a couple years ago.”
    “Yeah, dad’s knees were giving out. Besides, it’s time for both of them to take it a little easy.”
    “Yup, there comes a time. What brings you to town?”
    “You probably haven’t heard that I’m working out of the main office for Farm Country News now, right here in Willow River. Moved back here last week. Found myself an apartment here in town.”
    “Well, good for you, Josh. Welcome back. Always good to have one of our best and brightest return.”
    “I don’t know about the best and brightest part, but it feels good to be back home. I’ve been living in Springfield, Illinois—worked out of the Illinois bureau until last week.”
    “You’re with a good paper; it’s done a lot for midwestern farming, no question about it. I’ve been reading the series on cattle feedlots. Let’s see, I got the last issue right here. You know this guy, Jed Walker?”
    “I do,” Josh said.
    “He’s a good writer. Your paper get in any trouble for telling the Lazy Z story?”
    “Made some people pretty mad,” Josh said. He didn’t want to get into the details of just how mad a few of them had gotten.
    “Well, what can I do for you?” Ben asked as he folded the paper and put it back on his desk.
    “I’m looking for an update on what’s going on in Ames County. I know a lot has changed since I left.