One of the things I love about long drives on country roads is that you get to see the long lost places. There are remnants of really old gas stations, businesses that never really made it, half built barns, and barns falling in on themselves. Growing up in the suburbs, old buildings are generally torn down to make room for new ones. But out here in the middle of nowhere, I suppose they just have so much land that they can afford to let old buildings bury themselves.
I really wish I'd gotten a picture of the line of rusting tanker cars left on an abandoned siding. There were dozens (we couldn't see the end of the line) - trees had even begun to grow around and through some of them. The contrast of seeing these long lost places in the same view with futuristic windmills is jarring.
Cows munch contentedly enough below these behemoths (of course, maybe they are content because they aren't in the "feed lots" we drove by). Old style windmills, like the one above in the bottom right corner, spin along smoothly, still doing the job they were created to do. The large windmills are so huge it is hard to show their size. We could clearly see the above windmill flock from at least 15 miles away. People who live near them even complain of headaches, possibly caused by the windmills' constant vibrations.
Somehow a fallen barn has beauty as it tumbles down, but what will these sci-fi giants add to the landscape as they age?
In the next days we'll see so many more lost (or at least old) places . . . and I will be able to take pictures of them standing still instead of from a moving car! We added more photos to the web album (just click on the mini slideshow at the top of the page). Let's hope for a good night's sleep tonight, and then it's on to Durango, Colorado tomorrow. The forecast is for rain, but we'd sure love some sun.
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