Not Your Ordinary Travel Journal

Solitary Tree

follow link Solitary Tree in Iowa © 2008 Bo Mackison

source link As we drove the roads guiding us westward earlier this fall, I scribbled thoughts into my journal as they passed fleetingly through my mind. I’m sometimes fascinated, and a little disconcerted, at what I choose to document for future consideration. Here is a sampling of the notes from the beginning of the trip, as we began in Wisconsin and headed west towards Denver.

Purchase Ambien Online “West of Des Moines the country grows drier, though surprising to me, it has a distinct roly-poly-ness, rather like a split-second capture of grassy waves.”

https://drbatayneh.com/post-operation/There is a Las Vegas in Nebraska. Now what would the Spanish translation be for las vegas?” (I later Google the word and find it means “the meadows” – understandable, I suppose, in Nebraska, but does the Las Vegas in Nevada really have meadows?)

Zolpidem Buy Online “Thirty miles west of Des Moines, the land suddenly flattens, the plains appear and seem to be infinite. I-80 narrows, in anticipation of less traffic. Suddenly it feels really out west.”

Buy Valium Online Without Prescription “I’m hungry. What I’d really like is a toasted pimento cheese sandwich. Craving a toasted pimento cheese sandwich. Really craving!”

Vicodin Online Purchase “There is a town in Nebraska called Republican City. I wonder how many people living there are Democrats.” (Research tells me it is the only so named city in the world, named for the Republican River, not the Republican Party, but I haven’t been able to determine the percentage of citizens who are registered Republicans versus Democrats.)

source link There are sandhills in western Nebraska. I didn’t know there were sandhills here. Is there sandhill country like this in other places in the United States? In the world?” (Again, later that day I Google sandhills. I rely on the source of all sources, Wikipedia, to inform me that there are sandhill regions not only in Nebraska, but also in the Carolinas. I learn the Nebraska sandhills are the largest and most intricate wetland ecosystem in the United States, and never having been farmed, it is an intact eco-system with huge diversity. Wow! Way to go, Nebraska! Apparently the less fortunate Carolinas’ sandhills have been domesticated, and seem most famous for their golf courses.

https://geneticsandfertility.com/services/sperm-testing/ “Came upon the first of many cattle feedlots as we approach the Colorado border. Horrifying. How can this be tolerated?”

https://www.wjsmithconstruction.com/general-contractors-winterville-nc/ “Such noticeable changes as we pass through the states – in Wisconsin and Iowa there were prairie wildflowers growing on the roadsides. In Nebraska, lots of tall, brown dried grasses. Now that we are in Colorado, there is a mix of sagebrush interspersed with the clumps of grasses.”

see Such were my musings from Wisconsin through Iowa and Nebraska and finally into Colorado.

https://geneticsandfertility.com/patients/ It re-affirms my daily task of journaling. These aren’t the kinds of things I would easily recall, nothing very noteworthy, but they add a little more dimension to the trip. They give me the opportunity to research and follow up on questions I might otherwise leave unanswered. And who knows what kind of inspiration they may provide in the future. Never can tell what kind of inspiration I may draw from a toasted pimento cheese sandwich!

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A Halloween Treat

Good Enough to Eat

https://www.thephysicaltherapyadvisor.com/mta/ Yummy! Taffy Apples ©2008 Bo Mackison

https://thesentinelgroup.com/harmful-drugs/ Anyone remember (you know – back in the good ol’ days) when homemade goodies were the norm for Halloween treating. I wasn’t allowed to wander too far in my trick-or-treating adventures – just a few neighbors and relatives – but I always came home with taffy apples, orange food-colored popcorn balls, and caramels fresh from someone’s kitchen. Yum!

The Red Maple Tree Vs. The Gusty Winds

Buy Soma Overnight A few days ago I spent a long part of the day watching the outside from my window. Framed, there stood my red maple, not a big tree, but not small either. We planted it a decade ago, and maybe then it was 8 feet tall. Now it’s as tall as our two story house.

Order Ambien Online It was a gloomy day and the wind was twisting the tree every which way. Hard wind, gusty. Gray skies – a taste of what’s soon to come. The darn tree just stood there, and took all nature had to blow her way. Didn’t drop a leaf. Not one. I watched as the leaves all clung tight. I watched that tree for hours – it was that kind of day.

see url Yesterday the sun was bright, the skies blue and there was barely a whisper of breeze. As I looked at the tree, not a leaf was even rustling. The sun glistened on the leaves, highlighting their cinnamony-red color, and it was quite the resplendent image. But not for long. The leaves began to drop like crazy, gently twirling into a big pile at the foot of the tree.

Buy Online Soma Was nature offering me a teaching moment? What to make of the fact that with it so beautiful and quiet – now it was time for the tree to start shedding her finery?

source link Maybe earlier I needed to see an example of strength (the tree holding tight to her leaves) versus adversity (the high winds.)

Purchase Tramadol Without Prescription And yesterday, the time was right to watch the leaves just let go and fall.

Life’s lessons are all around us, if we only pay attention.

Glad I’m Not a Rural Mailbox

crumpled

Crumpled Mailbox ©2008 Bo Mackison

…though sometimes I sure feel like one.

Tribune Tower – More Rocks from History

Moon Rock Window, sans Moon Rock

Moon Rock Window, sans Moon Rock ©2008 Bo Mackison

This is the second in a series of posts on the Tribune Tower on the Miraculous Mile in downtown Chicago. The moon rock is supposed to be in this front window facing Michigan Avenue. It is always here, wired to an elaborate security system. But the Friday I happened to be in Chicago, the moon window was filled with promo stuff about the Tribune newspaper “new look.” Unhappily for me, the moon rock was safe in the building’s vault and not available for public viewing. Agghhh!

But it does give you an example of how the numerous historical stones are placed in the exterior of the building. Some 140 rocks, bricks, and even pieces of coral and metal, are embedded in this architectural wonder.

Coral from Fortress at Cartegena Colombia

Coral from Fortress at Cartegena Colombia ©2008 Bo Mackison

This piece of coral is from the walled city of Cartegena, Colombia – one of the oldest cities in the Western Hemisphere. It was founded in 1533. Its walls, built in the 17th Century, are 50-60 feet thick and 40 feet high.

Twisted Metal from World Trade Center

Twisted Metal from World Trade Center ©2008 Bo Mackison

Part of a steel beam from the Twin Tower site, this was added to the building as a permamnent tribute to the victims of the September 11, 2001 tragedy and their families.