To Niles, MI

I left Rock Falls, Illinois early. Driving east into the sunrise. More morning fog. Dense fog, thin fog, stringy fog. Foggy foggy foggy. There wasn't too much to take pictures of. there is some nice brick work on this building

I was headed Southeasterly through Illinois. When the fog finally cleared I was deeper into the farmlands of Illinois, the undulating hills of the previous day had flattened out into almost still waters. The fields had become even larger. They were huge! I was driving amongst endless corn, and endless soybeans. It wasn't just quarter sections of a crop it was full sections on both sides of the roads. The horizon was broken only occasionally by clumps of trees, otherwise it was miles of corn and miles of soybeans. As far as I could see, corn and more corn. The scale was immense. I stopped my truck and stood on its roof looking out over the fields of corn. I was adrift in an ocean of corn. The roof of my little truck a raft from which I could scan the horizon for passing steamers. Ah, but in the midst of farm land there are no steamers about. Were I lost, my only hope would be for a passing dirigible.

With farms so huge there are not as many other things to see. The old buildings from when the farms were numerous and smaller are all gone. The machines that work these massive spreads don't want interruptions. Plowing, planting and harvesting around trees and old buildings is costly. Tear the old things down and plant corn. When there is a house it is modern, well kept and not so photogenic.

I was fooling about in the back roads when I crossed into Indiana. I wasn't greeted by one of those "Welcome to Our State" signs. The little dirt road I was on gave no such consideration to its travelers. But there were tell-tale signs I was in a different state. Fields were suddenly smaller. Within a mile of crossing into Indiana I passed by two fields of Tomatoes. Illinois was just corn and soy forever. In Indiana the hills started bubbling again. There were more farmers and being smaller they were busier and didn't have time to plow under every old barn. This also means that there were more of the lovely wrecked things I love so much to shoot. the side view of the brick building

Where I was in Indiana, all of the ditches by the sides of the road were very well groomed. Mowed like an extended lawn right up to the edges of the crops. It was quite pretty, but I wondered who was responsible for all of this neatness. Certainly this was not county mowers taking such attention. I turned down another neatly groomed side road and saw a teenager on a riding mower. I could see the swath of his labor. He was a quarter-mile from his house and had another just turned around for the pass back. The ditches of Indiana are maintained with allowance money. A testament to the industry of Indiana youth.

I had a notion to go to Lake Michigan. I wondered if I could see Chicago across the water, at night the lights would be pretty. Ah, but this was Saturday, Labor Day weekend and I thought I would get a room by water? Not to be had. What's more, the beaches along Eastern Lake Michigan are resort towns. They seem to be reserved for people who own or are renting houses nearby. The closest road to the lake is always a narrow lane and there are houses between you and the lake most of the time. Then there are the signs that clarified beach access was for locals only. Dispite their effforts, I still caught a few glances of the lake and yes, you can see Chicago across the water, it must be pretty at night. But this was an upscale area where they want to keep riff-raff like me out. I turned away from the water and managed to pick my way through the labyrinthine streets that guard the beach from the inland byway. The byway took me up and to the right. I was quickly into Michigan, determined to stop at the next hotel, I drove on and on. is it a barn is it an elevator guess

I finally landed, exhausted, in Niles, Michigan. Niles is situated by a river and has a nice walking path by the river. Perfect for stretching your legs after driving all day. They have a massive hotel there called the four flags that Al Capone is said to have frequented. The town hall is a lovely and ornate Victorian building with green and maroon highlights.

Back at my Motel, I was sitting outside, picking on the guitar and enjoying the evening. I met one of my neighbors, an over-the-hill hippy chick. She had spent all of her life in the Niles/South Bend, Indiana area but now she and her fiance, Spike, were headed up to the Grand Rapids area because nobody wants them in South Bend. Her previous boyfriend was in jail for cooking meth. She was not too coherent. But I think she mentioned that she was waiting for him.

"Oh you know John Denver?" She asked me that about four times in our disjointed conversation.

"We got beer in our room, you want a beer?" Sometimes it is wiser to politely turn down someone's offer of hospitality.

"Yeah, I'm an old hippy chick, Were you are Woodstock?"

"No, I was too young."

"Oh, so you're a sprout. I wasn't there either, I was in South Bend. I'm an old hippy chick. You know John Denver on that?"

She talked of her Daughter and Granddaughter, offered me beer again and asked if I knew any John Denver. Eventually, she realized that her can was empty and would not deliver beer no matter how many times the tipped it up. At this point she got up and staggered to her room without excusing herself or saying goodbye, wrapped up in her own world, too numb to be joyful or sorrowful. Perhaps happy for the moment, can we hope for more? I quickly packed myself back to my room and propped my stick against the door, I had seen Spike and wasn't too sure about him

Music
Photography
Travel
      Bits of VA
      Wiggling the Adirondacks
      Washington
      Hey, Let's hit Idaho
      A Drive About (series)
          And We're Off
          more...
      West Highway 162
      A Jaunt to Nevada
      Coffee and Pie (series)
          Branson to Fayetteville
          Fayetteville to Lake Ouachita
          Mountain Valley Arkansas
          Ouachita to Stuttgart
          Stuttgart Arkansas
          Fooling About in Arkansas
          Drive to New Orleans
          My Brothers! Welcome to New Orle
          Evelyn's Place
          Hurricane Katrina
          New Orleans Second Line Parade
          Pictures of the French Quarter
          Pictures of New Orleans
          Leaving New Orleans
          Out of NOLA Two
          St Augustine Florida
          To Ferdinandina Florida
          Georgian Coast
          Through Charleston, SC
          Georgetown to the Beach
          Beach to Gastonia
          To Wainsborough NC
          To Jonesborough, TN
          To Charleston, WV
          To Gallipolis, OH
          To Elizabethtown, KY
          To Sikeston, MO
          To Springfield, MO
          to Booneville, MO
          To Kirksville, MO
          To Iowa City
          To Rock Falls, Illinois
          To Niles, MI
          To Newaygo, MI
          To Standish, MI
          to Onaway, MI
          To Wawa, Ontario
          In Wawa, ON
          To Schreiber ON
          To Ignace, ON
          At the Lone Pine Motel
          North!
          Sioux Lookout, Dryden
          To Kenora, ON
          Border Crossing
          To Grand Forks, ND
          To Valley City, ND
          To Aberdeen, SD
          To Pierre, SD
          South Dakota Badlands
          To Wall, SD
          To Rapid City, South Dakota
          Mt Rushmore to Bell Fourche, SD
          Belle Forche, SD to Devil's Towe
          Broadus, MT to Cohagen, MT
          Hell Creek, MT
          Glasgow, Montana
Misc

Coffee and Pie
To Iowa City
Aug 31, 2006
It was early, not too early, but early enough. I was heading North again.
To Rock Falls, Illinois
Sep 01, 2006
It was nice to wake up in Iowa. The rolling hills and broad fields of crops are lovely to drive among.
  To Niles, MI
To Newaygo, MI
Sep 03, 2006
I left Niles, Michigan. Once again the morning was cloaked in fog, thinner, more of a dense haze than a fog. Perhaps I was just getting used to it.
To Standish, MI
Sep 04, 2006
In San Francisco you learn to love the fog. Intimacy reveals its subtleties. You can choose to revel in those things you love about the inevitable while being prepared to endure the worst.
to Onaway, MI
Sep 05, 2006
It was an interesting conversation going on at breakfast. Two older men sitting at a table. Only one was facing in my direction and he had a louder voice...
To Wawa, Ontario
Sep 06, 2006
I'm chasing ignorance. Mine specifically. I see it everywhere and like a mad fire fighter I get dizzy with stomping it out, spinning like a dervish at 78 rpm.
In Wawa, ON
Sep 07, 2006
How do we choose where we end up?  When to stop? For some it is a personal choice. Others have it chosen through circumstance, work or other obligations causing us to be in one place or another.
To Schreiber ON
Sep 08, 2006
When one travels left and right, up and down on the map, certain things keep needing adjusting. Three days ago I could leave at 6:00am and it was breaking light.
To Ignace, ON
Sep 09, 2006
"Gravy," One fellow offered. The whole table assented
At the Lone Pine Motel
Sep 10, 2006
"I have good dreams..." The speaker was a fellow who repairs cameras in Missouri. He was showing me pictures of the propoerty where he lived. He had put in a lake and decorated it with lots of stone walls, docks, six-sided buildings and a waterwheel, actually three of them. Apparently, he dreamt of waterwheels a lot
North!
Sep 11, 2006
I was thinking North. Canada is big. If you look at a map of Canada you will see lots of towns with no roads to them. The Northern part of Canada is wide open with few, if any roads. The map I was using marked a number of roads that were winter roads only
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Indiana
Illinois
Michigan
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