My whole life I’ve lived on either the West Coast or the East Coast, never far from ocean. Spending the last month going through Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois and now Indiana is showing me parts of the country I’d not paid much attention to before, so as we close out May, here’s a salute to the middle of America.
This view is what the western-bound pioneers saw as they went through Scotts Bluff. They were one-third done with their journey at this point. All I can think looking at this is how tough they were compared to me, driving a nice car and sleeping in a comfy trailer.
Most definitely the thing I have enjoyed the most is the big sky. It’s 180 degrees of sky on the plains and it’s always a show since the weather is constantly changing. This photo was about an hour before a massive thunderstorm hit.
The Big Muddy, the wide Missouri, is an amazing thing to see up close. I was mesmerized by it. Crossing over it on bridges is not the same, so if you get the chance to see it at the water’s edge, take it.
The middle is full of little surprises. This is the only lighthouse in Nebraska. Which is a land-locked state, yes. The lighthouse is a local landmark, built as a point of pride on a lake in the 1930s, at the height of the Great Depression in America. The people who grew up there love it, and everyone of them asked if I’d seen it yet.
The use of traveling is to regulate imagination with reality, and instead of thinking of how things may be, see them as they are.
Samuel Johnson
I grew up in Missouri, near the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Since then I’ve spent 4 years at Cornell (Ithaca, NY), 2 years in Germany, 12 years on the west coast (SF bay area) and 35 years just north of NYC. It still feels like home when I cross the Mississippi river from Illinois into Missouri.
Ahhh what a nice Sunday Serenity. Like you, Jeff and I have spent our entire lives as “coasters,” left coasters to be precise. We have lived in Calif., Wash., and Oregon. Looking forward to discovering the Middle ourselves next year when we pick up our new Alto. Thanks for the inspiration.