Not much to tell today. I take that back, I can always find something that went on going down the road.Lets see...? Led Zeppelin is great music to hear when you’re driving down the road through the less ‘interesting’ places like parts of Iowa that I careened through today. I felt like a Hunter S.Thompson without drugs. Now if only I could write like him! But I like the idea of careening through America with a head full of ideas. The music stoked me, and propelled me on, around 465 miles of propulsion is what I needed, Led Zeppelin, Lester Young, some chill music, Fela Kuti, Bernard Hermmans Taxi Driver soundtrack and Bob Dylans’ Maggies Farm did the trick.
"oh i aint’ gonna work on Maggies Farm no more..
it’s a shame the way she makes me scrub the floors,
no I ain’t gonna work on Maggies Farm no more!"
Zipping through farm country, I saw a buy local sign today a la the old Bermuda Shave signs, where there is a series of signs, you know what i’m talking about, right? ‘Buy Local ..To Keep Our Wealth...In Our Communities.” Yes indeed! Wondered what crops they grew around here besides corn, but just didn’t have the time to stop to ask. That sign was good to see that people here have an independent spirit and not to be fooled by the con men.
the big manufacturing food concerns make their 'food' without nutritional value and all those chemicals. Listening to one of those religious radio am stations , the talk was about the obesity problems in the communities and the growing trend of diabetes and other diseases that seem so prevalent these days. The food stinks and is concocted to make money not to nourish us. Eat and shop local whenever possible. Just like that sign said in Iowa.
It looks like its spring planting season on those farms, not a sign of a cornstalk, just acres upon acres of plowed ground probably with corn seed in it.
I crossed the Mississippi River today into Illinois from Iowa, I had my camera rolling at the time and unexpectedly the Mississippi showed up, nice of it to give me the photo-op. We’ll be seeing a lot more of the Mississippi on the way back. But it looked beautiful, big and wide. I immediately thought of Mark Twain and Huckelberry Finn (of course).
A few more hours and I was in the Chicago area. Darned if doesn’t look like LA from the road point of view. Huge factories and faceless buildings without windows along the freeway. what were these? warehouses? acres of them. the traffic and the intensity of the roadway was remarkable. People rushing in their cars (including yours truly, only I try and take it easy) going so darned fast this Friday around rush hour. Well, going fast when they could, there were so many of us that there were a number of slow ups. I felt so inconsequential in this fevered madhouse compared to how I felt on that Wyoming lake. Just one of many. I felt stripped of my real nature, just part of the machinery. I’m privelaged enough to be driving a Hybrid vehicle though. Man i’ve only seen in 4 days of travelling like 5 of them! Where I come from, the East Bay of California there are literally hundreds of 'em. the rest of the country will catch up in a year or two I am sure, but for now, I’m sort of unique on the roads. Talked to a couple of bikers at a rest area, who have those big cruising bikes, they get about the same mileage as me, 45 mpg on the highway.
Arrived in Evanston Illinois to stay with friends. What a great place they live in, and they fed me well. Loved spending time with ‘em and their kids, even though I was really tired. Tomorrow it’s on to,Pennsylvania,I think.
