Travelogue ~ Along the Ridge

I live in southern Wisconsin. The best summer days in Wisconsin are extraordinary days, with moderate temperatures, relative low humidity, and blue-saturated skies punctuated with puffy white clouds. Yesterday was one such day, and I was on the road. When I travel for work, I generally don't stop to take pictures. But it was such a lovely day, and I was on an interesting bit of road, so I indulged. Overall, it added maybe an hour to my four hours of commuting time. The area through which I traveled is called the "Driftless Area," which essentially means that glaciers never came here. Precisely because of the physical geography that protected this part of the state from glaciers, the topography is different from other parts of the state. Running mostly east to west are many long ridges separated by deep green valleys and spectacular rifts. When you are high up on one of the ridges, you could almost believe that you are in Montana, the sky seems so large.


This is one of the valleys. I photographed this from a wayside along a US highway that runs mostly along the high ridges until it drops suddenly down through the bluffs bordering the Wisconsin River as it flows down to meet the Mississippi. A photograph simply cannot do this vista justice, especially given that the view is slightly obscured by haze. I had thought that it wasn't very humid, but these photos seem to belie that assumption.

By Divine Ms. Moon

Maybe we're just getting used to it. But the photo does give you some idea of the breadth of sky above these high ridges. The photo below looks in the opposite direction, where the ground dropped away just as steeply. It might not look that way because of the zoom length of my camera, but for those who think Wisconsin is flat, views like this can be a real eye-opener.

By Divine Ms. Moon

As I continued along my way, I kept my eyes open for other characteristic rural views to photograph. It's not easy -- or usually safe -- to stop a car for very long along a US highway bustling with truck and auto traffic, so I missed a few things that I will eventually go back and get. But one thing I did manage to capture in digits was a little antique/flea market, located along the highway in one of the many picturesque little towns that dot the road between my origin and destination points. This is quintessential rural Wisconsin in the summer.

By Divine Ms. Moon

By Divine Ms. Moon

By Divine Ms. Moon

A few miles beyond the village where I found the flea market, I passed through another small town. As I turned a corner downtown, I noticed the abandoned duplex pictured below. The structure has a camper embedded right into one wall under the main roof. I only saw this house for a moment as I initially passed by, but I knew I couldn't miss this opportunity, so I turned my car around and drove back to photograph it. Once again, this was a quintessential Wisconsin farm town that has obviously seen more prosperous days.

By Divine Ms. Moon

Standing across the street as I photographed, I couldn't help but wonder what the trailer looked like from the inside, and what the little "lean-to" at the side of the trailer was used for. Do you suppose, as I do, that it was mighty cold in that camper during the winter?


Down the road a piece from that little town, I encountered yet another rural Wisconsin icon -- abandoned farm equipment. You can't tell this from the photo, but I was standing at the edge of this field, and at the same time in the driveway of a relatively modern gas station. The contrast between old and new was rather striking.

By Divine Ms. Moon

In another small town, I saw a quaint, orange-painted, antique tractor marked "for sale," parked under a tree in the front yard of a large, somewhat dilapidated Victorian house.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a parking spot along the highway, and I didn't want to startle the homeowners by suddenly invading their private driveway. Another time perhaps, if they don't sell it first.


On both ends of my journey, I stopped to photograph these amazing wind turbines.

By Divine Ms. Moon

Wind turbines are not a very common sight here, and as I was driving home I got to thinking that it's really too bad. These particular turbines, springing up suddenly from the newly greening farm fields, remind me of wildflowers in the spring.

By Divine Ms. Moon

In this close-up photo, the turbines seem to be saying something -- YAY, perhaps? It occurred to me that if I stood there long enough and snapped enough photos, I might eventually see the turbines spell out every word in the dictionary. Although we might need a few more for "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." An audacious alternative energy plan, don't you think?