Corn to the max: a drive through some of Iowa's farm country
I can't help it--I like corn and the countryside. I felt right at home along roads such as the one you see below, for I spent many formative summers outside Niles, Michigan, where the roads were a lot narrow than these. I drove tractors before trucks, and trucks before cars. I did all those things that farm kids do, and loved every tough second of it. So scenes like this suit me just fine, thank you. In fact, I sought them out. I decided to just drive the back roads of Iowa and see whatever I saw. Here are a few photos taken on the way from Iowa City to Dyersville. Relax and enjoy some scenes from the later summer of 1999.
The countryside was more rolling than I had expected. I was looking for flat plains and got gentle hills instead. No problem. I think it's more beautiful this way. My eastern friends will ask how Iowans can get along without the ocean. The answer is also, "No problem."
Cornus infinitus.
Isn't this just beautiful?
Like a picture postcard.
Alas, but in the years since Niles I have developed a pair of atmospheric eyes. Here they spot the presence of that whitish summer haze that means sulfate aerosol from coal-fired power plants somewhere within a few hundred miles, or possibly more. But it didn't stop me from savoring the views
One of the flatter places I saw.