Scenery

I found an alternative route back from Des Moines yesterday, up 65 to 330 from Altoona, then over on 30 through the rolling mostly harvested hills to Tama and home. It was good to look at something different and get away from the parade of semis and SUVs all in a hurry. Actually, the semis don't seem to be in a hurry, but the other traffic on 80 is often very rude and seem to view tailgating as mandatory. When one is driving a hockey puck sized sedan (albeit zippy) one begins to appreciate a little space between one and those laws-of-physics-defying maniacs.

I took this picture when Mom and the kids and I made our epic journey to Southern Illinois. The good thing about rivers is that they always change scenery and you just have to sit still. I used to love watching barges go by, seeing the men working through lighted doorways, or walking along the long decks purposefully. Once in a while a guy would take a leak over the rail into the river, as though we on the bank were just scenery, after all. No harm done. It's a wide river.

We pass, most of us, without giving much thought to the other. The pickup in front of me is mostly an impediment to me reaching my preferred speed. The farmer harvesting is a diversion to me, and I'm irrelevant to him, preoccupied as he is in quantifying his year's work in bushels. The trucker is thinking about his wife, the couple in the SUV are preoccupied with ignoring global warming.

Today I'll drive back and forth, to and from Iowa City. Maybe I'll take 218. Maybe I'll stop at a rest stop and have a meaniful conversation with someone. On the other hand, I could get busted for making an ill advised foot tap in the potty. Better mind my own business and hurry along.