There’s something exhilarating about BIG skies – when I can stand in one place and see it from horizon to horizon, I think I can imagine how that hawk feels soaring above these Iowa cornfields. This morning’s sky is filled with pillowy clouds rolling in great waves across a background of October blue. Stretching in every direction is an endless sea of corn stalks swaying in the breeze, golden brown now, their work completed. At distant intervals, farmsteads dot the sea like emerald islands, with house, barn, sheds, and garden surrounded by trees, their tips showing the first tinge of fall. It seems to open up my chest, letting me stand taller and breathe deeper.
High in St. Louis: Roadtripping with a Raindrop Moment #7
“Well, which one, dammit!?” I snarl at the GPS when it tells me to take the left exit and the traffic demands a quick and irrevocable decision. (Yep – on a long, solo road trip it is perfectly normal to have conversations with your GPS!) After weeks of dawdling on back roads, the downtown St. Louis rush hour traffic is hitting my nervous system like a splash of cold water in the face! Thankfully, the little machine isn’t programmed to get in a snit in the face of my bad behavior and she continues patiently directing me to my hotel.
Raindrop News
In case you haven’t had a chance to see this yet, Juliana Goodwin at the Springfield News-Leader did an awesome article and video about the 90-day journey of a raindrop. She captured the spirit of it perfectly! Here’s a link Springfield News-Leader Story on Gayle Harper’s 90-day Journey Following the Mississippi River
BIG thanks to Juliana!
The Birthday Surprise: Roadtripping With a Raindrop Moment #5
It has rained incessantly since I arrived in Galena, Illinois, 48 hours ago. Just as I am leaving, I am granted a 10-minute reprieve, so I scurry like a crazed squirrel grabbing a few shots of the beautiful downtown historic district.
Galena, Illinois
Back on the Mississippi Great River Road, after stopping at a river overlook and watching a pair of bald eagles spiral up from the misty valley below, I pull back onto the highway and surprise myself by turning north instead of south. It’s not confusion and it isn’t really a decision, it’s just my way of aimless traveling while on this 90-day journey of a raindrop – it’s just “surrendering to serendipity.”