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| Story ID: | 3142 |
| Written by: | Virginia Allain (bio, link, contact, other stories) |
| Organization: | none |
| Story type: | Travel |
| Location: | El Dorado Kansas USA |
| Year: | 2007 |
| Person: | October Road Trip - Florida to Kansas |
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Yellow drifts of wildflowers, clear wide rivers Logging trucks push past us Dothan, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa Two-lane road edged with red dirt Enticing pit BBQ shacks Alabama in October Empty roadside stands with faded signs BOILED PEANUTS, PEACHES, PLUMS Plain country churches, white steepled Mounding, creeping kudzu obscures the landscape “The heart of Dixie” – Alabama Route 82, divided highway stretching endlessly Columbus, Winona, Indianola, Greenville White clumps of cotton litter the roadside Dust blows across the fields from oversized farm combines Cotton fields spread across level delta land Blue, red, yellow tarps top truck-sized cotton bales Mississippi in October Muddy Yazoo River More kudzu covers fences, light poles Like topiaries gone astray Flat, blue-glittering fields for fish farms Few cars, few trucks to share the road “The Magnolia State” – Mississippi We cross the Mighty Mississippi Dumas, Pine Bluff, Little Rock City traffic, I-40, Conway This state could use some rest areas Arkansas in October Delta gives way to wooded mountains Unexpected wineries with French and Swiss names Deep red sumac catches the eye Clarksville, Fort Smith, Fayetteville I-540 north, the Ozarks with pretty valley views Lots of Wal-Mart trucks, Bentonville Compact cedar trees, rocky ledges “The Natural State” – Arkansas Neosho, Joplin, Carthage, Nevada Few trucks on divided Highway 71 Exposed layers of limestone, eroding, crumbling Open rolling hills with tiny white wildflowers High clouds, a skim milk white “The Show Me State” – Missouri Highway 54, two-lane Trees hug the rivers or follow a fence line Windbreaks planted since the Thirties A dust trail signals a car’s approach On a graveled side road Kansas in October Giant rolls of hay huddle in field corners Faded white barns, tidy red barns, sagging barns Cattle knee-deep in farm ponds Fort Scott, Iola, Eureka, El Dorado Oil pump jacks like giant grasshoppers Windmills silhouetted against the big sky “The Sunflower State” - Kansas |
