The day started early with a long drive through western Ohio. The countryside was amazingly flat with large corn fields and beautiful white barns. The road went on for miles. Route 80 was incredibly flat and straight. I drove for half an hour in a straight line before the highway curved and then again for another half an hour before the next curve. So unusual from the Pennsylvania mountains of home I'm used to where the roads follow the valleys. After several hours the Indiana state line came and went. Indiana seemed to have less fields and more woods. The terrain was still flat but more rolling so the views and vistas were less breath taking than compared to Ohio. I was glad to put Indiana behind me as the traffic picked up as Illinois and the Chicago area was upon us. I had been warned about travelling through Chicago and was nervous about it. Although traffic was heavy and I saw several almost accidents it wasn't as bad as I had been warned.
After Chicago, the highway opened and good time was made through the Illinois landscape. I called my friend Rose and made arrangements to meet her after she got out of work. To kill time, I got off of Route 80 to explore a little. The secondary road went north for forever straight and flat.At one point the road topped a small rise and on the the other side it continued on flat and straight. Amazing. The fields on both sides of the road were full of corn, soy beans and oats. Some of the fields had been cut and everywhere you looked there were huge combines chopping corn. Pickup trucks were pulling huge wagons filled with silage down the road. The farmers were hurrying to get the crops cut and to the huge grain silos that dotted the countryside while the weather was nice. I pulled over several times to take pictures before heading up the road into Prophetsville, population 2500. Before Prophetsville, however, was the the thriving metropolis of Hooppole, Illinois, population 250. The small towns with the half block row of downtown buildings were charming. I wanted to take pictures but in every town there was the inevitable eye sore of a modern chain restaurants brightly colored sign detracting from the home town feel. Usually it was a Subway franchise.
After Prophetsville it was on to Moline, Illinois on the the Iowa border to meet Rosie. It was so good to see her, her Mom and the kids again. It was the first time I was able to meet her husband Shawn and her step son as I was unable to make there wedding in June. After seeing her daily for years, I had been missing her friendship the past couple of years after changing jobs and life became busy.
Soon it was time to go and the road west led over the Mississippi River into Iowa. The ground was flat as a pancake and stretched to the horizon for miles. The moon was coming up behind the car as the sun set in front turning the sky pink. Darkness came quickly as the car sped west across the plains. Feeling tired it was time to stop for the night in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Quote of the day from my co-pilot as she looks at her phone "It seems like we've been driving forever and it's only 11:00". Just then we drove past a sign stating it we were entering the Central Time Zone and her phone switched to 10:00. "Damn. Now it's only 10:00." You can't help but love the timing and irony.
Tomorrow its on to South Dakota.
No comments:
Post a Comment