Since leaving Arkansas in early June, I’ve driven 99% back roads to get from place to place. From Missouri to Illinois, Kentucky to Indiana, and on to Ohio, it’s been a slow roll and scenic set of rides. And it is so much more relaxing for me to go 45-55 mph with no one in my rearview mirror much of the time.
Farm Silos
I don’t think I will ever get tired of seeing farm silos on the horizon. Each one is just a little different, there’s no standard design to them. Some are small, and some, like the one below, are seriously large and clearly support a huge farming enterprise. It’s definitely corn season in the midwest, and it’s been fun to see the corn shooting up from foot-high babies to four or five feet stalks in just a month or so.
This one, on the corner of a small town in Ohio, was a pretty big operation. It made me wish they gave tours of the place so I could see what each of those silos is for and how it all works to move corn or grain or whatever from field to storage to trucks. Maybe it’s just me, but I think that would be a really fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how food is produced in America.
Spotting Farm Equipment
Even if you’re in a city, like Terre Haute, where this shot was taken, you’re bound to run into farm equipment. I still don’t know what this big-wheeled things are or what they do but you could honestly drive a sedan underneath it and not touch it.
Stopping for gas just over the Ohio state line, I saw this little rig idling as its owner was in getting a sandwich. My guess is their farm must be pretty close by if they’re driving the little tractor to get lunch. If I ever had a tractor, I think I’d pick one like this, and not just because it’s blue. It’s just so cute, like a baby tractor.
It’s Roadwork Season
The downside to taking back roads is the painful realization that summer is road construction season in much of America. Here, the crew is hard at work repaving lanes on the west side of Indianapolis.
I was dead-stopped for about 10 minutes, just a mile away from meeting friends for lunch. I could literally see where I wanted to be, but I couldn’t get there because everything was waiting on something I couldn’t see ahead to get ouf of the way. Google Maps helpfully estimated my arrival time, which I texted along with this photo to my friends. I eventually got there at 11:45, instead of the 11:30 goal time. Oh, well, we’re all retired, so it didn’t matter much 🙂
Dollar Stores
Wherever you go in rural America, there are dollar stores. Say what you will about Amazon and Walmart destroying the downtown stores (and they have definitely factored in that), the dollar stores have also played a big part in the hollowing out of the mom-and-pop grocery stores and five-and-dime stores that I remember from when I was a kid.
Very small towns will have a single dollar store, while bigger ones might be supporting two of them. Big Spring, Missouri, supports three, the Dollar General above and a Family Dollar + Dollar Tree pair just a mile down the road. I’m no expert, but I’ve shopped at Dollar General enough to know things cost more than a dollar there, while at Dollar Tree, almost everything in the store literally costs a buck.
Dollar Tree operates over 15,000 stores in the US and its subsidiary, Family Dollar, has about 8,000 stores, while Dollar General runs over 18,000 stores. In rural areas, the dollar store is sometimes the only place to buy things like toilet paper or canned goods (with few exceptions, they don’t sell fresh produce or meat), and the prices often reflect that they know they’re the only game in town. For rural residents, the dollar store saves them a longer, more expensive trip to Walmart or Krogers, which can be 30-50 miles one way. Every time I drive through a small town and see an abandoned grocery store or a Main Street with boarded up storefronts, I know I’ll see at least one dollar store close by. It’s the underbelly of the current American economy, one you don’t see unless you drive the back roads.
Want to Know More?
- 2022: Dollar General Spreading Like Hot Gossip (Forbes.com)
- 2021: The Truth about those Dollar Stores (Consumer Reports)
- 2019: Dollar Stores are Everywhere (CNN)
- 2018: Dollar Stores are Gutting Small Town Retailers (Pantheos blog)
If there’s a defining symbol of America in 2022, it may just be a bargain-hunter scouring the aisles of a Dollar General in Olive Hill, Kentucky.
Forbes.com
I’ve been driving back to Indiana for over 30 years, and as far as I can tell, road construction season in Indiana is every day there is not snow on the ground. Seriously, they are never done in that state.
I love traveling on back roads. Not that I’ve done much of it in the past few years. Not that I’ve done that in the past few years. But soon I hope! I love barns, so your silos were fun! I agree there needs to be more pieces done on how food is produced here in the states. I was (years ago) in the central valley of California where they seemed to grow EVERYTHING. I want to go back when I’m not time crunched and spend more time doing photography there.
We always say that if you want to see something take a backroad. We always take the backroad if we have a choice, and I (Kellye) like your insights in this post, Annie. Thank you for sharing your “dollar’s worth”!
Over the last two years, we have found local food and even pottery at local breweries, also at coffee shops. Somehow, those are cropping up. Also, farm supplies of all sorts sometimes also carry local meat rubs and specialties.
In France, the Guide Michelin was built on the premise that each locality had a specialty. After it first came out, I understand that each tourism office had to also carry local specialties, be it crafts, wine, charcuterie, jams, chocolate. This to encourage travelers to hit the road and use those Michelin tires!
I do love finding the little places! I just had the most delicious cannols in Watkins Glen, they make them right there and, oh, they were delicious! (https://www.scuteriscannoliconnection.com/)
Love the varied silos. Also, I always feel sorry for those road crews, frying on the blacktop.
The machine in the fourth photo is a fertilizer spreader. It has tall, skinny tires that fit between rows, and are tall enough to clear the plants. Those big yellow things spread out (one on each side) and have the sprayers, so they can cover a lot of ground tip to tip.
Cool, thanks for explaining what it is and how it works.
I have a book you might enjoy. Running with Sherman. You won’t regret it…
When we drove across the lower states of the US on Hwy 84, most of the small places we drove through had only a Dollar store (of one of the names you have mentioned Annie) on the outskirts and within the place, empty buildings where stores used to be. We always commented on how sad it was to see this, that these Dollar chain stores have gutted small towns and places, and like Walmart, have greatly profited from doing so.
We strongly prefer back roads, for the slower pace, possible wonderful surprises of great bakeries and little bits of Americana. The dollar stores are a scourge on the economy of locally owned businesses and are just plain boring: home-town stores can be so much more interesting.