Your Flat States Bore Me

One of the more enjoyable times in the last few years was an extended road, biking and walking trip through Wisconsin. Lots of 'hamlets', small private farming communities, public parks, carnivals, old churches and towns, beautiful bucolic roads and rural scenes, wonderful, honest hard working people who don't mind taking the time to talk.

Hikerjer, You need to travel the breadth and width of southern Alberta and Manitoba to get a 'feel' for open spaces. The hours on a road so straight that you can see it follow the curvature of the planet. The only thing that breaks the vastness of the wheat fields is the next COOP Crop Elevator in the distance that seems unusually far away - hours away. And then another, and another, and....

As a child traveling with my father across Kansas and Iowa (to visit brother) and return before the Interstate system, was an adventure that included the canvas water bag hanging from the Lafayette Nash hood ornament and knowledge of the next gas station. The progress was glacial, a blistering breeze came in through window side vents, the good roads had a stripe down the center and all of the towns were a chance to rubber neck at civilization plunked down in the middle of wheat fields. Dad would make sure I counted all the large unused or parked farm implements in each town Other than to distract me, I have no idea what he did with that information. We did try to calculate how much farm land (by crop) was lost to the roads we traveled upon. I wonder if the same information is available on the Interstate system. Lost opportunity to probably feed most of the 3rd world.

With few exceptons (e.g., I-70 across Utah) we try to only drive the blue, red and black (and dashed) roads on the map. You are right it is wonderful time well spent. We have had so many good encounters with everything that makes things fun in life, they are hard to recount.

Perfect!

lamebeaver seems to be the link is broken some where along the line.

Yeah... that's a classic.