Ah, springtime. In Northern Minnesota, of course, springtime often means fewer snowstorms or longer gaps between big snowstorms. It’s a great time to be driving a great vehicle, but it also is important to drive something — whether your own vehicle or a wonderful new test-drive car —  just so you can make your appointed rounds. And those appointed rounds are far different than a month ago. For example, Gordy’s Hi-Hat drive-in opened for the summer on March 22, and while it seemed a little presumptive to declare a change of seasons, there are reasons it’s important to visit Gordy’s on opening day. We stood outside in chillier weather than we anticipated, and you simply wait your turn while the line slowly dissapates ahead, which gives you time to ponder. Joan pondered and chose a loaded Coney dog, with onion rings and a fresh blackberry milk shake; I selected the fish and chips, which includes five generous filets of Alaskan pollock with french fries. I usually swap the french fries for a side salad, but on the first day of the season, I went with the fries. And, while I felt compelled to order a butterscotch shake, rare these days, compared to a hot fudge or other of the fresh shakes, but I also went with the blackberry — which includes whole blackberries in their select vanilla ice cream. I get no whipped cream on my Gordy’s shakes, so I can pretend they fit my diet.

The other primary objective of our driving is to make a special run to Virginia, Minnesota, an hour up from Duluth to the Iron Range. The project here is that the wonderful Great Lake! Candy shop in Knife River has a cousin in the legendary family originator, Canelake’s Candy Shop in downtown Virginia. The Knife River shop closes for the winter and isn’t yet ready to open; Canelake’s, meanwhile, has a soda fountain and sells assorted other souvenir-like items and stays open year ‘round.

The whole business is operated by two skillful and artistic twin sisters, with Patricia running the Great Lake! shop, and Pamela and her husband Dennis taking on the expanding Virginia shop.  Their son, Andy, manages the Knife River shop.

The point is, it’s the best candy you can find, anywhere. They make their own caramel, and they use only the finest ingredients, but the reason we are lured to Virginia is that, a week before Easter, the shop is filled with a new treat — Easter eggs. You can pick coconut, maple, orange, cherry, chocolate and virtually every other filling, and one egg will satisfy you for the day. In this case, after joking around with Pamela about how the premier egg would dark chocolate, filled with caramel. And not the drizzly, runny sort of caramel, but the firmer, non-drippy caramel that, to me, tastes better, too. She said they had no plans to make dark chocolate/caramel eggs, but she went ahead and made me a custom order. They are, without a doubt, my favorite candy of all time. F

unny thing about candy. If you have really good stuff, you are satisfied without needing more anymore. A little goes long way, and is far more satisfying. But if you’re waiting for the Knife River shop to have those eggs, forget it. You have to go to Virginia and spend an hour figuring out which eggs you want to fill your shopping bag as gifts for friends and family. You might also select a couple of the new caramel-corn-with-chocolate-drizzled little slabs Pamela has perfected as this year’s new addition. While you wait, Pamela will make you the best turtle sundae you’ve ever eaten — special ice cream with all kinds of their homemade fudge, caramel and pecans. I’m thinking of going on a Canelake’s Turtle diet.

To make our appointed rounds complete, we had to hustle home to watch the NCAA hockey regionals, and to chase around to find selected NCAA basketball eliminations. So it helped to have a special vehicle.

This past week, I had the opportunity to road-test a special vehicle, because he 2023 Land Rover Defender is all new for 2023. It used to be a solid, mid-size all-purpose vehicle, and it still is. But that would be the Defender 100.

What I drove was the Defender 130 S, and the 130 designates a longer vehicle, with room inside to house a third-row seat, which, I must say, looks remarkable comfortable and inviting. There are a lot of third-row seats in SUVs these days in which you have to be a contortionist, or very small, in order to get yourself into the third row.

The new 130 S has a second row that consists of two outer bucket seats with an integrated middle seat, with a backrest that folds down and enhances the idea of a center console if there are only two occupants. Flip an integrated lever in the top of the backrest and the backrest flops forward, allowing you to climb into the third row. Honestly, it’s the first third row that I’ve experienced lately that I would like to sit in and enjoy the panorama sunroof and watch the snowbanks pass. Except, that I wanted to be driving the Defender all the time.

In the last couple of decades, Land Rover and its British partner Jaguar have been sold, first to Ford Motor Company and more recently to Data Motors of India. So the world’s second-fastest-growing auto market now can claim both the legendary Jaguar sports and luxury cars and the just as legendary Land Rover fleet of vehicles uniquely designed to be both ultra-luxurious on the road and incredibly competent off-road.

They are partners under the skin, too, with Land Rover adding the explosively swift Jaguar engines to its arsenal. The solid feel of the doors closing, and the amazing ability to smooth out this year’s accumulation of strut-breaking potholes in Duluth without any protesting tells you that this Defender can conquer any off-road challenge.

But cruising on the freeway or smooth highways is the ideal way to enjoy that rock-solid and yet-compliant suspension. You also might enjoy a couple little bursts of power, because the Defender 130 S has the capability. True, you can find a high-tech V8 or a hybrid with it, or a high-tech 2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder in some applications by Land Rover.

This Defender came armed with the new in-line 3.0-liter 6-cylinder with 296 horsepower and 347 foot-pounds of torque. That upgrades the towing capability, and the configurable terrain-response system is also something above and beyond.

The Defender 130 S has a base price of $68,000, and when you add on torque-vectoring from the 8-speed automatic, and the cold weather package includes heated washer jets, heated steering wheel, and — get this — a heated windshield.

All of that boosts the sticker price to $74,175. and, yes, you can get along without some of those fantastic features and still have a Defender-for-Life, but those features all have meaningful aids to driving. And besides, it’s just like I said about the best dark chocolate confections at Canelake’s Candy Kitchen, if you get the best, you won’t spend any time wishing you had more.