Through the carbonite hills of Southern Illinois to the flat cornfields north. It is rainy and chilly and we stopped for a bite in Champaign. Despite the alluring signage, we did not have burritos.
Working title: “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?” [In a sort of Andy Rooney whine] Do you ever wonder why anyone would waste their natural soundtrack by walking around with earbuds stuck in their head? For the most part I love my ambient sonic environment. Birds, of course. Conversations heard above the rhythm of the rails on the subway. I like the random bits of music you get in public spaces. (ASIDE: I stepped into the coffee shop on High Street during a morning stroll with Ribsy in Southampton to get a cup o’ joe, and while I was waiting for some passive/aggressive politeness and apology to play out – a young man ordered a small chocolate milk and after seemingly endless machinations, settles for a LARGE white milk…Sooorry! – I heard what I thought was an en français cover of Bob Dylan’s “Hurricane”. I leaned over the lad sucking discontentedly on his white milk to listen closely to a ceiling speaker and realized that it was Bob’s original version, but damn, he really does ha...
Two women at the bus stop at 103rd and 1st Ave. in front of the projects. "I didn't grow up here. No. I moved here in '66. I lived at 429. Then we moved to 446 and then 419, where I am am now. You like it back where you're staying? " "Oh yeah. Its real quiet back there. I don't hear no gunshots or nothing."
Sunday morning under grey skies with a hint of snow flurries. Went to a cafe for a bite then headed west to the Florrisant Fossil National Monument, one of the best places for carefully preserved fossils of delicate things, like insects, in the whole world. It was clearly getting colder and snowier as we climbed in elevation, much to our delight. Thought the park had been open for two hours, we were the first at the welcome center and were happily greeted by a very bored ranger who was glad to have people to talk to. We saw fossils, watched the informational video and then headed out to see the enormous petrified stumps and revel in the snow. We also took the opportunity to get our National Parks lifetime passes, now that we are both 62. Lifetime pass for $10! Bless you Teddy Roosevelt and all who have kept the flame burning.
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