WATFORD CITY, N.D. — I took my husband with me on a long road trip to western Montana recently. I had a songwriter’s festival on a Friday, but booked another singing engagement the night before in Bismarck, so I needed a little help to make the mileage and the math work so I could show up on time.

My husband has been working long hours this summer as he expands his construction business, and I haven’t seen much of him for the past four months. The timing to have him come along to help with the drive was terrible — as in, he didn’t really have the time. And also, we would be arriving home the day before school started, so we would be pushing it.

But we once lived in western Montana and it was the weekend of our 19th wedding anniversary, and I thought maybe we could combine the work with a

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