I finally said my good-byes at 8:30am and was on my way back to Crown Point. A quick stop around Soldier Circle and the Wholesale District and the State Capitol confirmed one thing I noticed two days ago: Indianapolis is a very photogenic city. The downtown area has been totally rebuilt since the first time I went through it 25 years ago.
There is so much frontier history in Indiana, and sculptures in town reveal pieces of the state's past: fur trappers, farmers, industrialists all helped build this state, and all are represented in bronze form around the Civil War museum in the Circle. This is where city folk come to relax, catching some sun on the steps while pigeons fly down hoping for crumbs.
I could have stayed longer, walking the Canal Trail a bit for more architectural angles. But I wanted to get home, unwind, and unpack the van. I didn't want Sadie sitting down all day. She, however, is getting used to the van and city noises. More people made wide berths around her than the other way around.
I shunpiked the rest of the route back, taking IN32 west into Covington, IN --"The Town on the Wabash"-- where Brenda is from. There are perhaps more people burried in the town cemetery than there are alive; for a small town the cemetery was quite impressive. the Wabash River further south is the state line between Indiana and Illinois.
We stopped at the river for a short walk but the muddy trail along the river was too soft in parts. The shale riverbanks reveal more possible fossil beds...but instead of exploring I drove north on IN63 and US41 back to CP. US Highway parallels the Illinois border like a spinal cord; it never leaves the border.
Wind farms seem to be the new thing these days, as once again I drove through another large farm north of Fowler, IN. Huge farms dotted the highway here, and large red buildings brought back a desire to "search for the perfect red barn" in Indiana. Yellow fields also sprang up, but one thing that was missing was the lack of corn: the fields have been so wet this spring that farmers have not been able to plant this season's crops. Corn in Arizona is already over three feet high.
I alternated between air conditioner and open windows while on the road, listening to NPR's latest report of North Korea's sixth long-range missile test in the last week.
I wouldn't be surprised if we are in an air war with North Korea, Iran in deep shit with Pakistan before the end of this year.
But for now, while on the road, I will keep my thoughts elsewhere. Even a mind needs a vacation from time to time.
One more thing to add to my "bucket list": tour all four corners of Indiana and photograph all the courthouses. There may not be any mountains here in Indiana but today I saw some pictoresque pastoral landscapes that made me think of my dad and his sighs "This sure is beautiful country, isn't it?" Shunpiking the route back took me five hours. Had I taken the interstate I could have been back within two hours, but I wouldn't have been able to take any of these photographs or collect more images of this countryside for my memory (whatever is left of it!).
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