Illinois & Ohio

The corn in western Illinois

is much higher than what we

saw earlier last week.

Traveling Rt. 24 East in

northern Ohio.

Finally have come across some

winter wheat!

Ran into another John Deere dealership

and just had to stop and take another

photo.

How can you not stop take a

picture of this!?!?

Dubuque, IA

This is the River Walk along the

Mississippi River in Dubuque.

The Route 20 bridge over the

Mississippi River that connects Iowa

and Illinois.

A grain barge and a pleasure

craft on the river.

According to Indian legend, the birth

of a white buffalo is a sign of

good fortune and prosperity.

A John Deere combine at a

dealer somewhere in Illinois.

John Deere Museum, Waterloo, IA

We were here two years ago.

Welcome!

I love this place!

The Waterloo Boy.

John Deere is celebrating

its 100th year in business.

This was run on kerosene.

The John Deere Corn Binder.

It was used to combine cutting

and binding of the corn stalks.

Bill is pointing to the step used

to get up on the tractor.  Guess I

won't be climbing that any time soon!

One of the more recent models.

We were told that the museum

borrows models form owners

for a year to rotate presentations

in the museum.

Had to stand next to the largest of

the tractors they have in the museum.

By using stairs on the other side, I was able

to climb into the tractor.

This is the GPS the farmer uses to

plant seeds.  I was going to have

Bill take a picture of me driving

this, but my camera battery died.

He used my phone instead.

This is Bill in his famous "go west, young 

man" pose with the Cedar River behind him.

Iowa

Last night Bill was highly entertained

watching three workers at dusk in Sioux

City prepare a water tower for painting

at dusk.  He estimates the water tower

was about a quarter mile away

from the hotel.  They worked into

the night wearing helmet lamps.

Saw lots of wind turbines in

corn fields today!

Corn was starting to grow in some parts

of Iowa.  It's amazing to think that the

farmers use GPS to plant the

rows so precisely.

 

"Freedom Rock" in Sac City

is dedicated to all military

branches of our armed forces.

World's Largest Popcorn Ball!

Here is the building that houses the popcorn

ball.  It was hard to get a picture

due to the reflections of the glass.

 

Large ethanol plant on Rt. 20.

Corn granaries also along Rt. 20.

The left field was planted first.  The one

on the right somewhat later.  This way 

the harvest is spread out over time.

 

Nebraska

Welcome to Nebraska!

No mountains here.

The rode winding through

arid western Nebraska.

I was surprised to come across

these interesting rock formations.

Another group of rock formations.

Lots of windmills and cattle from

central Nebraska on east.

Stopped in Bassett and found this

Livestock Auction.

I finally came across a couple of

real cowboys at the Auction!

Found an old service station 

as well in Bassett.

Central Valley Ag has several sites

like these in Eastern Nebraska.

Corn is trucked in, fermented and

distilled into ethanol.

The yellow you see is a huge

pile of corn!

Rawlins, WY to Douglas, WY

A Rawlins, WY sunset 

from the hotel window!

The next few photos show the changing

topography of the Wyoming landscape.

 The snow fences seem to go

on for miles and miles.

 

A geological uplift.

The reds have begun

to be introduced.

Rolling sage brush of the 

High Plains.

This is a park dedicated to the

pioneers who rode west on the

Oregon Trail.

 

Independence Rock is behind me.

One of the landmarks that early

pioneers used heading for Oregon

was Independence Rock.  If you

look closely, you can see people are

climbing the rock!

When I saw this, I immediately thought

of Flaming Gorge in Utah and

Wyoming!  This is Alcova

Reservoir on Rt. 220.

This is the sign for the restaurant whnere

we had dinner this evening.  It truly 

was an authentic western eatery.  I think

the original floor boards were still

 in use!

 

 

Steamboat Springs, CO to Rawlins, WY

Heading off to Rabbit Ears Pass, you

can see the valley below near

Steamboat Springs, CO.

Rabbit Ears!

This picture shows the devastation

caused by the pine bark beetle.

The beetle gets under the bark, lays

its eggs which hatch and burrow

into the tree, hence killing it.

Severely cold winters would

kill the beetle.

Welcome to WY and cloudy weather.

Beautiful horses along the way.

I found it interesting to see how

the clouds hung so closely 

to the mountains in the distance.