Tuesday, August 08, 2006

commute



I can honestly say my commute each morning is a joy. Twelve miles of rural roads and only one stop light bring me to my job at the newspaper, which lies at the outermost edge of what we'll call the civilized world known as Chicagoland.

There is some traffic to be sure, maybe a car or two at the juncture of the main road heading east. Other than that you'll need to be on the lookout for wildlife - deer in season, foxes, pheasant, a coyote late at night. Miles and miles of corn and soybeans have a calming effect.

The only time I didn't enjoy the commute was in the dead of winter during a white out. This road was a nightmare, with nothing close enough in the dense fogged out snowstorm to provide a point of reference. Snow and fog had obliterated the landscape. Snow was falling so heavily you could not distinguish the roadway from the field from the sky. The fence on the left was barely visible, it's faint outline giving me a point with which to mentally compute the location of the road on which I was driving! By keeping notes in my head about the distance the fence should be from the road, I was able to keep from driving into a ditch.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, I'd much prefer the road as you show it in today's photo. I once drove from Omaha to Kansas City in a similar white out. White knuckle the whole time!

Anonymous said...

What a gorgeous photo, Zanne. It brings back such good memories of home - only 6 more days of being in the grassless High Sierra Mountains, then back to good 'ol Rochelle, IL. Though it's beautiful here, I want to see how much the corn's grown since I've been gone!

Your photos continue to brighten my homesickened days, thank you.

Anonymous said...

It looks like a lovely bike ride. As long as there's as few cars as you say. :-) No shoulder to speak of.