I was returning from visiting my parents in Arkansas on Wednesday. I stopped at a rest stop just inside the Iowa border and noticed that it apparently had been cool enough the night before to turn some of the leaves. They possessed the crispness of color only found the morning after the first frost along the prairie.
Here’s a sample of what I saw:
I took a moment to stretch my legs and walked along the path that ran along a fence line adjacent to a few picnic shelters. What caught my eye was a small, lone tree with yellow leaves framed by two taller trees displaying dark maroon leaves. It was about 10:00 in the morning. The crispness of the cold night air was still hanging just above the ground. Despite the noise level of vehicles passing nearby, the coolness of the view momentarily blocked out the noise so I could concentrate on the solitude of that one tree among the prairie grass. It was almost like I could reach out and touch the coolness of the scene much like I’m sure it looked like years before there was an interstate running by. The old fence in the background added to the durability of what I saw.
As I was traveling North of Des Moines,Iowa, the cloudy sky broke into what appeared to almost be a washboard pattern of cool blue sky and white clouds. It’s another view seen on a prairie. Sorry about the light poles and buildings but since stopping on the Interstate is forbidden, I pulled into the rest stop at Dows, Iowa to get these pictures:
It’s a Midwestern thing I guess, but the beauty of the open prairie is unique to the region and I always appreciate the chance to travel through this time of year.