This is what happens when you let people name their own roads

A couple of years ago, Minnesota decided it was time to name all the roads up north that previously were just "second left after the Vacationaire sign" or "three miles past Two Inlets, when the road makes a big S-curve, look for the sign that says Minimum Maintenance Road" (Amy and Aaron's) or "HC 05" (my parents'.) So they did this thing where they let the residents of each road name it themselves. In Hubbard County it was alphabetical--you got assigned a letter, everyone submitted ideas that started with that letter, and then the top three went to a vote. Thus did HC05 become Far Portage Drive, and the sequence was born of Flaming Pine Road followed by Flamingo Drive (?).

Driving through Beltrami County tonight, in the woods north of Cass Lake, Tove and I saw these roads. Not alphabetical, but clearly resident-determined, these are their real official names.



Honest to god.