Waiting is never easy, but it's especially hard when you are a 17-year-old boy delayed from getting a permit to ride a motorcycle because of bickering adult politicians.
So when state government reopened for business Thursday after a long and bitter shutdown, among the first people in line at the Department of Driver and Vehicle Services in Eagan was Zach Pfeifer.
The Eagan teen finished his motorcycle course in early July, then had to wait day after agonizing day while Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican legislators worked out their differences.
"It sucked," Pfeifer said shortly after passing his written test on Thursday. "All I wanted to do was get my permit and ride my motorcycle."
Similar scenes played out across Minnesota as highway toll lanes reopened, fishing licenses and lottery tickets became available, and thousands of state employees went back to work. Still, not everything was open yet; many highway rest areas, state parks and historical sites won't put out the welcome mat until Friday or Saturday. (For updates on state parks, see www.mndnr.gov/reopen.)
Under a sunny morning sky on Thursday, a short-sleeved Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Landwehr greeted his employees with handshakes at DNR headquarters in St. Paul as his wife and kids handed out cookies.
The state wasted no time allowing state-sanctioned gambling to come out of the gates. Lottery ticket sales were back Thursday morning, and Canterbury Park offered a free Thursday night horse-racing card.
Canterbury was one of the businesses hardest hit by the shutdown, with dire predictions made about its sustainability if the closure endured.
"It was sad to see," said Jim Oldsberg of Jordan, who has friends who work at the track. "I drive by there every day. I don't think they are going to come out of this."
As for those closed highway rest stops, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) said most of them should be open by Saturday. Crews will need to inspect facilities and clean up any storm damage before opening buildings, the department said.
"The public will see MnDOT come out of the shutdown in stages," MnDOT Commissioner Tom Sorel said.
One of those stages, the pay-to-drive carpool lanes on Interstates 394 and 35W in the Twin Cities, cranked up again at the start of Thursday morning's rush hour.
Traffic cameras and freeway incident response trucks were poised to get going fairly quickly, Sorel added. "Other services may take more time to bring fully online."
As for the many dormant road projects, Sorel said, "We know the contractors are anxious to get their employees back to work, and we want to do whatever we can to make up for the disruption to our schedules. This is the height of our construction season, and we want to make up for this lost time."
The 26 historic sites and museums operated by the Minnesota State Historical Society will reopen Saturday. Most state-operated driver and vehicle services were due to resume Thursday.
That was welcome relief to the dozens of people who streamed into the office in Eagan to take driving tests, get permits and licenses, and conduct other business.
"It was a waste," Dennis Pfeifer said of the shutdown. "They could have agreed to something a lot sooner."
Tom Morris of Shakopee also was bitter. He lost his license in early July and had to wait until Thursday to get a new one.
"I had to get a ride everywhere," he said.
Like many others, he said, he never thought the government would close. Even when it did, he thought it might be a few days or a week. He never thought it would turn into the longest state government shutdown in U.S. history.
"It was just a bunch of overpaid politicians that can't agree," Morris said. "You probably can't publish what I think about them."
The shutdown had effects that few could have predicted: In Jordan, for example, a controversial crematory has been operating even after a Scott County judge ruled it was not in compliance with the city zoning laws.
Frustrated opponents could not contact the state Health Department, which issued its operating permit, because the office was closed.
"We couldn't get them to relook at their license," said Christa Oldsberg, who blamed both sides for the shutdown. "I think it was a big waste of time. A lot of people got hurt. It had a big impact on regular folks."
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