Favorite Drives

On my way home from home a couple of weeks ago, I travelled late in the day after 6:00pm like I used to do when I was in Grad school and would rather spend the day at home than at school. It's a north/south route, so that late puts the sun to the west. Any incoming weather is from the west as well. Driving in the midwest affords you the uninterrupted view of the sky and the weather.

The beginning of my drive was an unobstructed view of the storm that passed over. It was one long rather thin really strip of darkest gray thundercloud that brought with it a 15 minute downpour and then was on it's way. From the car, I could literally see three edges of the cloud and the bright blue sky all around it. I could see exactly the path it was on as well. It looked a little as I would imagine a funnel cloud to look, but was only rain.

Because it's a three hour drive, I was treated to the entirety of the sunset around 8:45 or so. All oranges and pink streaks against bright white and silver clouds. Magnificent really. It made me nostalgic for summer and for a different time when I was freer with my time - unconstrained by duty, fatigue, age or whatever.

Finally, on this same drive, I passed two semi trucks hauling loads of turkeys. At first I thought they were those trash trucks and they were losing bits of paper, but it turned out to be feathers. The semi trailers consisted of stacks of cages with 2-3 turkeys per cage piled the height and length and width of the shape of a semi trailer but without walls. It was so odd. And disturbing. Every turkey was white. The marvels of modern agricultural engineering I suppose. Anyway, an oddity for sure as I have never in all the years I have travelled that route and at all the different times of day I have driven it seen the turkeys. Too bad my camera phone doesn't focus at 80 miles an hour!