Pictures from a Trip

Taken from the car, as many of the pictures from the first part of the trip were. This is Indiana or Illinois on the first day of my trip. Another scene, not unlike this one, sticks in my mind but didn't make it into the camera. I was scooting past an exit--in Illinois between Urbana-Champaign and Bloomington, I think--and happened to glance over at a scene like this but nearer. Beneath a gray sky threatening rain, a young man was setting up a drum kit out in a grassy barnyard. I couldn't help but imagine some future rock-'n'-roll band whose drummer had developed his chops by playing to the cornfields and drivers speeding past his rehearsal hall at 75 mph.

Walnut, Iowa, home of Aunt B's Kitchen.

Aunt B's Kitchen, home of the famous taco salad special. It came in a bowl (not edible) that was perhaps slightly larger than the side salad. I had my basic salad ingredients--mostly lettuce carrot shavings (or whatever they're called)--laid over a handful of out-of-the-bag tortilla chips. Broken over top of this was a hamburger patty, which was topped with some shredded white cheese of some sort. A little cup of salsa and a little dab of sour cream came on the side.







Elk Point, South Dakota--Cody's Homestead Cafe. I don't know if it was open or closed. Either way, it was the middle of the afternoon, and I wasn't particularly hungry. But I just had to take a picture.



Chamberlain, South Dakota--This is one of my favorite views along I-90. I'm standing at a rest area that overlooks the Missouri River. Chamberlain is on the east bank. And east of it lay the plains. It always seems to me that on the west bank the West begins. The South Dakota Badlands aren't far to the west from this point.



Near Wall, South Dakota--The aforementioned Badlands in the background, South Dakota's native blurry yellow-flowering weeds in the foreground.









On I-80 near Sidney, Nebraska--A typical western landscape.












Red Rocks area just west of Denver, Colorado--I've seen concert footage of U2 performing here. What an awesome setting either to see or perform a concert!




PS--Thanks to my friend Dennis for helping me figure out why I couldn't get pictures uploaded to the blog.