May 28, 2013. Wisconsin Countryside.

 

May 28, 2013.  Wisconsin Countryside.  Between 7:00 and 8:00 AM the traffic on I-35 in Kansas City is three lanes of bumper-to-bumper cars.  I see the same billboards, the same businesses and the same exits.  I sometimes see the same people in the same cars.  The congestion and the gas fumes create a tunnel for the imagination and my thoughts turn to duties and daily chores. 

But, in the countryside of Wisconsin, fields and homesteads roll away from the highway carrying my imagination with them.  Abandoned homesteads create wonder at who lived there.  What were their lives like?  What filled their days and nights?  Occupied farms appear fresh and attended.  Farmers and ranchers use modern equipment to feed America.  Freshly worked fields tell a story of an innovative and energetic population dedicated to family, work and country. 

We are in Peninsula State Park following two days of traveling through the restful countrysides of America.  Today the skies will clear and the temperature will be in the seventies.  We are ready to work hard at doing nothing.  I predict success.