In St Louis Missouri, we are generally prepared for rapid changes in the weather. On my walk this evening, I watched the storm brood on the horizon, but I didn’t realize how fast it was moving.
A dark cloud was coming
Innocently, my dog and I meandered along the trail. I took photos, while Stash sniffed every shrub.
Ominous
The balmy 79 degrees F felt almost sticky at the beginning. Stash was so happy to be out on a walk.
Autumnal beauty Misleading Serenity Alone on the trails Same creek different directionIron determination to continue Unexpected in a bird nest – walnut? The colors of autumn barely hanging on in some places. Barely The wind picked up
The temperature dropped 20 degrees, the wind kicked up 20 mph, and the horizontal rain pelted us.
The leaves swirled like tornadoes Collecting data
Stash knew trouble was afoot, she dragged me back to the car. She was disgusted in me that I resisted too long and she was left to be molested by the swirling leaves.
I will have to regain her confidence. She just hasn’t lived through enough seasons in St Louis.
Since the Covid shut down all my vacations in 2020 I have been heading out on short trips to see parks, small towns, geological formations, and wildlife. On Halloween, I visited some of the most rural areas in the Midwest – central western Illinois. You can’t find any coffee shops, there aren’t any museums, there are barely any people. The land is glaciated and generally flat. There is lots of corn. And of course, colorful trees.
Illinois has an abundance of sweet gums and maples.
After the Mexican war and Blackhawk war soldiers were given land in Illinois. One gentleman, George Meyer, was given a beautiful piece of property in western Illinois near the Illinois River. This land had a spring and a small town grew up around it. The man lived to be 104 years old, so everyone believed the water was healing. After George passed on, a real estate man got his hands on it and sold the water for decades. Later this area became Siloam Springs State Park. This history is hidden among the picnic pavilions and hiking trails.
In the valley today. The spring is still there. The huckster who sold the water built this pavilion and a lodge. The park has also added a reservoir lake the sycamores are beautiful. The sycamore leaves fill me with awe – they are large and the patterns are cool A sunny day on Halloween is a treat indeed. We found a forgotten pavilion filled with mystery We saw no people. It’s like Western Illinois is abandoned. A ruin from an society long forgotten. Serenity or spookiness?
We left Siloam Springs for the biggest town in the region – Jacksonville: the county seat of Morgan county. When we arrived, it too was a ghost town.
Live Downtown with the ghosts of the…Trail of Death March of Death
Or…
Memorial to the Abolition of SlaveryClosed today…
I don’t know if the coffee shop was really closed today or everyday. I don’t know how it could survive with no people. I walked into the bakery to see if I could find a doughnut. The door was open but nobody was inside. I could see cakes and cupcakes – but no doughnuts. And no people.
The missing people of Jacksonville – at least had a cannon.
We wandered to another remote state park – Beaver Dam State Park. We heard there was people there.
But there were none. Not even ducks. Or Beavers. The observation deck was inaccessible and frankly looked like a good place for zombies. The concessionaires were gone but supplies were available. The people of western Illinois were simply gone
We drove across Illinois on one of the United State’s oldest highways – US 50. Enjoy a snapshot of fall in the Midwest.
Black gum leaf imitating a sassafras or vice versa? Realism collided with Impressionism MetamorphismThe Shagbark Hickory Forbes State Park shows offThe Lincoln Bridge to Vincennes over the Wabash Sweetgums all in a row at Beall Woods State Park Wanderings Food glorious food! Looking at Illinois from Indiana A geologic anomaly and first land ceded to the US by the native inhabitants of Illinois. Red Hills State Park.
The Dakota Sioux controlled this quarry from 1700 to the mid 1850’s before American settlement started poaching the valuable mineral. This red/brown stone was soft enough to carve and durable enough to last centuries. Ceremonial pipes carved from the rock for thousands of years. This stone made its way all over the Americas before the Europeans arrived. The one square mile site is a sacred place for the Plains Indians even today. The United States government protected this valuable commodity and gave exclusive quarrying rights to the Sioux. The rest of us can still respectively enjoy the stunning red quartzite cliffs, the flowering prairie, and the waterfall fed forest.
I am from Missouri, and I had no idea how much there is to appreciate about my neighbor state Kansas. With the Covid-19 running rampant my wife and I explored central Kansas. And it was lovely.
The Capitol Shines
Blazing Star? prairie purple.
The Keeper of the Plains
The Solstice Eye – Meet Me On The Equinox
Majestic Cottonwood Sentinels
Just A Simple Old Cow Town – Wichita
Lindsborg Kansas – Little Sweden
Amazing Smells – Coffee Roasting – Lattes Brewing
Concretions of sand and calcium carbonate – Rock City
This is the only National Park Land that uses the word massacre in it according to the Ranger. It focuses on the mistakes the US made rather than spinning the story to make it less bad. And this one is …bad. The US took responsibility for it and called it heinous. They promised reparations to the survivors. 155 years later – no reparations.
Captain Silas S. Soule, one of the two officers who refused to participate in the unprovoked killing of kids, women, elderly and the men, wrote a detailed report that was used by congress to figure out what happened. Soule was then killed in the streets of Denver. Even though the killers were identified. No charges were filed.
Hundreds of innocent Cheyenne and Arapaho were butchered and the soldiers took their scalps and genitals back to Denver to celebrate. They were given a heroes welcome. Down the road from the slaughter, the people named a city after the military leader in charge. Chivington, CO still exists.
I drove back to Missouri in a subdued mood. Saddened by all of this.
These are the true plains of Eastern Colorado – where the Buffalo once roamed
The United States Government decided NOT to sugar coat this story
The 750 Cheyenne and Arapaho were trying to live in peace on the little land that they had remaining.
They were told, fly this flag – you will not be harmed
Besides the death and mutilation, the entire Cheyenne and Arapaho nations suffered from the trauma
These letters resurfaced 135 years later.
No Charges for Anyone. No prosecution for a single person.
The sadness permeates the ground
The bodies are buried there – it is a sacred site
The flowers remember
The plants still mourn
It’s an ongoing tragedy still affecting people today
This area of Colorado was sheltered a large group of Chiefs and their people
I cannot imagine the horror as people tried to hide, tried to flee, and tried to fight
This chief and his wife survived
…changed forever…
This peace delegation was destined to die
I shed tears of sorrow centuries later
At least the Park Service has provided this memorial for us to remember. We must not forget.
I go for my daily walk at one of two lakes with my little chihuahua-lab mix companion. Stashy loves to interact with every person and canine. During this time of quarantine, I’ve noticed that I pay more attention to other people, and they notice me more, as well. I’m not sure if the dog is teaching me how to be a better human, teaching others to be better humans, or the quarantine is causing people to be more like people. Besides being more attuned to others, I notice more of the world around me. I am fortunate to have the free time to enjoy this. I know many others are barely getting by. I feel helpless in that regard, so I just walk.
In the age of Quarantine 2020, I have spent time studying my backyard. I have noticed the robins, the amorous grey squirrels, the carpenter bees, and even the shrew. I have an abundance of flowers I have forgotten about. Even pulling weeds has been engaging.
This National Park land is out of the way in the High Sierra country of California. You shuttle through the park with 10 stops with countless hikes. The short walk to the Devil’s Postpile is worth the effort.
Freshly "Pic'ed" 