Midwestern Travels

Today we're in Urbana.

Over the last week we have spent time with family in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio and now tonight in Illinois.  We have one more stop - Minnesota - and then its just us for a while.

Each stop has been fun and engaging.  It's been good to see family that we don't get to spend much time with ... and to catch up and feel connected.

And, we've meandered through countless back roads, eaten at wonderful diners, and enjoyed the picturesque charm of what Sarah Palin calls "Real America."

I've had my first opportunity to be welcomed into a cafe with my "properly registered concealed weapon" and was thanked for providing extra security.  If I happened to have a gun with me.  Which I don't.  The sleepy little town of Roswell OH didn't look to me like it needed the extra protection, but what do I know?  I don't live in "Real America" - I live in Florida.

Indiana has a fine, heritage-embracing love affair going on with the Confederate Flag!  How delightful!  I felt so at home.  And here all this time I thought Indiana was more of a Northern State!  Who knew??  Why they have quite a lot of sympathy, empathy and love of Southern heritage.  Imagine my surprise when, in the middle of downtown Indianapolis, they have a GIGANTIC (and I mean GIGANTIC) Civil War monument ... to the Union Army!  "Real America" embraces itself! 

And then coming into Urbana the good folks at "Guns Save Life dot Com" provide entertaining and informative signage letting me know that "Shooting sports are safe and fun, there's no need to fear a gun" ... Whew!

Why I am feeling ever so much more relieved knowing that I'm surrounded by so many guns!!

Take that you Kenyan Muslim Gun-hating President Obama!

Ebbs and Flows

Life is full of ebbs and flows ... periods of insane busyness and hurry ... followed by a time of peace.

These days have been rather busy ... the planning, packing, organizing.

Feeling out of the moment.

Trying to plan for and know the unknowable.

Like the weather.

But there is just nothing I can do about that.

I can throw another sweatshirt in the bag...and another pair of shorts, too.

A bathing suit, and something to wear to an opera.

Will it rain? Will it be cold?

Just how hot can it get in San Antonio in July?

The cat has an ear infection.

Better get that foaming liquid in both ears ... and the drops.

And the antibiotic.

Where are the binoculars? Do I have a bird book for Oregon?

Texas?  In July?  Really?

Grass is growing among the flagstones.

The floor is beginning to look like a floor - it is solid.

But organic.

I'm too fat to meet them for lunch in Philly.

Walk the labyrinth.

One more time.

And again.

Breathe.

All will be well.

All is well.

More Stones - BIG ONES!

Laid flagstones in the Pergola today.

Not a bad day's work - should finish it up tomorrow.  Only a few blisters!

I'll be glad when the Wisteria and 

Cross Vine grow up and give some

shade!

On The Road

I enjoy travel, and fairly soon we will take off on our, what is now, traditional summer Grand Driving Tour.  This year we will drive up to Pennsylvania - both eastern and western.  Then head due West and some North to watch our middle daughter graduate from college in Seattle.  Then down Highway 1 into San Francisco where we'll catch Die Valkyrie.  And then I-don't-know-how-but we will head to San Antonio for a conference the weekend of July 4.

In light of that impending schedule you might wonder who would hop in their car and drive just weeks before?

Well, me.  I had a chance to be in the middle of the state for some meetings and so I decided to hit up three State Parks I have seen signs to for years, but never stopped to explore.  So with my new Tilley hat, binoculars and trusty little camera I stopped at:

Paynes Prairie Preserve

This is a wonderful park.  Huge and is being reclaimed and managed so that it will (hopefully) return to its natural state - before development and runoff.  Looks like they're doing a great job.  There is also a herd of bison, a herd of wild horses and loads of birds.  Saw some Sandhill Cranes ... they are extraordinary!  Way too far off to photograph, but I got some close up peeks with the binos.

Then it was off to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings State Historical Site.  I've always wanted to go here because of her books - which I love. 

Walking through the hammock I really felt like time was going backwards.  It was so still, and the cricket calls were so dense I felt like they draped across my shoulders and moved with me.  I could see why she was so inspired by this landscape.

Walking along along the lake, I was immersed in old Florida in a way I haven't felt since my childhood days.  I grew up just a short drive east in St. Augustine and if you get off the beach, this is very much the scrub, cracker landscape that is the way I always think of Florida.  Regardless of how many theme parks and condos go up.

I ended up at Silver River State Park in Silver Springs (speaking of theme parks - for a vintage 1960 park, go here!) and was almost overwhelmed by the beauty ... the cloistered feeling of solitude.  I know I get a lot of alone time, but this felt fundamentally different.

For a total of $11 and the cost of gas to drive the roughly 45 miles between these three parks I had an amazing two days.  Taking the time to slow down, to pull off the road, to stop the car and get out and walk seems so simple.  I don't know why it is so rare.  In the course of my two day exploration and miles of hikes I saw exactly 5 people.  A retired couple, a student from England, and the canoeing couple on the Silver River.

So much beauty.  So few people enjoying it.

At the hotel where I stayed there were LOTS of people, glued to the television watching Fox & Friends discuss taking away the Miranda rights of terrorists.  While I believe that just about ANYTHING would be better than watching Fox News, I am absolutely certain that getting out in the nature that surrounds and sustains this part of the world could make a dramatic difference in someone's outlook and sense of perspective.

So, now I've sort of primed the pump for the big drive.  I have some organizational and logistical issues to work out ... packing, weather-checking, graduation present buying.  Perhaps taking some flags for the gravesite of Joe's dad (he died in WWII). 

But mostly I am grateful that my life allows me to take a moment and breathe some clean, fresh air.


Oh - and I crossed this:

What's not to love about that?  :)