In today’s episode, we visit with the man who had a dream to memorialize the Governors of South Dakota in bronze for all to enjoy throughout the capital city. Listen in as Rick Jensen, the visionary who turned this dream into reality talks about how the Trail of Governors in Pierre, South Dakota, came to be.

It happens all the time.  We have conflicting commitments and have to decide which we are going to live up to and which we must let go, or find a way to do both.  It’s a new philosophy for me…”yes, and,” instead of “either, or.”   Thinking that way changes everything.   

Last month I had a chance to put the concept into action.  I had registered to walk the Run with the Govs Race and later found out I also had an important meeting at church.  I decided I would do both because as important as the meeting was, I really wanted to participate in the walk, not to mention that I had announced publicly at a city commission meeting earlier that week that I would be doing the walk. Besides, when would I ever get the chance to do the inaugural walk again?  Exactly; never! 

I am so glad I did.  You see, I had the rare opportunity to enjoy a good share of the trail in the company of former Governor Frank Farrar.   Luckily for me, at the young age of 89, he was walking instead of running or someone else might have had that pleasure.  What an honor it was to visit one on one with the only Governor to have participated in the race.  I found him to be very personable, accomplished, and surprisingly humble.  

As we followed the trail from one former Governor of South Dakota to the next, I learned that Governor Farrar had participated in 360 previous walks/runs, but I assume this was the first where he would walk by a statue of himself.  Blocks before we reached his bank where his statue is located, I had asked if he would be willing to have a selfie taken with me.  He was gracious enough to say yes.  What I hadn’t counted on was a whole contingency of reporters to be around the corner when we got there.   I didn’t realize that he had not previously been photographed with his statue and it was fun to see the moment documented in such a way.     

Eventually, I had to move on and allow others to enjoy the Governor’s company.  I had to hustle to gain back some of the time I lost since I had that meeting to get to.  As I race-walked along, I had time to contemplate how fortunate I was to just be present in that moment and enjoy it for what it was.  I also felt so blessed to live in this beautiful city where people from all walks of life came together to celebrate the history of our great state and view the incredible statutes of the state’s leaders.  It was a stunning summer morning. 

We are given opportunities for great moments all the time; sadly we miss a lot of them because we are often so busy being distracted by our electronics or racing to the next event. I’m so glad that I allowed myself to be present in the moment that morning of the Run with the Govs instead of trying to hurry up and get to the next meeting. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to meet a great South Dakotan.  Cleary, by his record, he didn’t miss many opportunities nor did the other men depicted in the lifelike statues along the trail.  

I was so inspired by the concept of the Trail of Governors and the incredible detail of the statues that I requested and was granted an interview with the man whose dream it was to create the tribute.  Listen in on my interview with Rick Jensen on Reviving Your Soul (Now Longing for More) above to find out how he turned his vision into reality.  If you see Rick, one of the board members or artists, thank them for their vision and commitment to make this lasting tribute to the men who shaped our great state.   

To learn more about the Trail of Governors, go to https://www.trailofgovernors.com.