10/8/07 (Monday): Hello from Kankakee, Illinois. We enjoyed a day on two different Illinois tallgrass prairies today, and I have some pictures for you.
But first, I want to share some fall foliage pictures I took before we left Muskegon.
I tried to set them up as a slide show for you, but apparently there's not a way to do that on blogger.com.
This one was actually taken through my living room window!
That's a lot more color than we've seen since we left Michigan! It's still pretty green here.
Okay--now to the prairie pictures. We were a little disappointed. I'm not sure what I thought a prairie was going to look like, but it just looked like a big pasture to me! We went to Medewin and Goose Creek prairies. Both are tall grass prairies. The soil is very rich and up to 10 feet deep, so the grasses grow very deep roots to tolerate drought. This is bluestem grass, one of the most common kinds.
There were lots of butterflies and a few wildflowers.
This little blue butterfly seemed to be feeding on the dung!
This little cabin was reconstructed by high school students. It was originally built in the mid-1800's and nicknamed "The Palace" because it had two stories. The owners often played host to travelers passing through the area. The little pond was dug by glaciers 10,000 years ago. The boulders were moved along with the glaciers and dropped here when the glacier melted. There were similar boulders scattered all over the prairie. They're called "glacial erratics."
The predominant plant species on prairies is, of course, grass. The tallgrass prairies we visited had many different types of grasses--big bluestem, little bluestem, and cordgrass to name a few I remember.
Different species of wildflower are associated with different kinds of grasses. Unfortunately, almost all the wildflowers had gone to seed, like this milkweed. I'll bet it's gorgeous in the spring!
There were osage orange trees everywhere, both on the prairies and along the fence lines of farms in the areas. We used to find these trees every fall near our beach cottage. They're peculiar things--big as grapefruit. My father told me that the farmers used osage orange wood posts for fences, and they sprouted! Don't know if that's true or not, but they do seem to grow along old fence lines.
Here's one last prairie shot--the sky was quite dramatic!
The trip today was through farmland that was almost entirely planted in corn.
The barns were fantastic!
We watched many fields being harvested. A big machine gathered the corn, stalks and all.
Then this other machine brought just the kernels and loaded them into a truck. Don't ask me how it happened, but that's what we saw.
Wiley picked up these little stripped ears in the street after the machine turned around.
That's all for now folks. Tomorrow (if we can get an internet connection) we'll blog from the St. Louis, Missouri, area.
We made a lunchtime stop at Meremec Caverns, one of the oldest attractions on Route 66. It was very touristy, but we enjoyed it anyhow. Some of the stalagtites were lit, which were surprisingly pretty (although very unnatural).
A spring flowed through the cave. It was very shallow and clear. The reflections were lovely.
You could also see the spring outside the cave.
We arrived in Branson Missouri yesterday afternoon. The drive was beautiful, but a little stressful due to heavy traffic and the first big hills we've encountered. We're in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains, with short, steep hills (some of them approaching 1,000 feet). We're at a nice KOA campground. We had dinner at a barbecue restaurant right across the street and turned in early. It was very cool last night (40's), but we were cozy with our central heat.
This morning we had breakfast at the KOA restaurant and then took off for a drive in the surrounding hills instead of taking in of one of the hundreds of shows or attractions (Branson is quite the tourist trap!).
We were not able to take pics of most of the scenic views because there was nowhere to pull over. The roads looked as though old wagon trails had been paved as they stood. They tilted at crazy angles and waved up and down small hills like a roller coaster!
There was a little park underneath this bridge. Wiley isn't really taking a swing on this rope that hung 20-25 feet under the bridge. It's a trick photo--but kind of cute, don't you think?
We head out early tomorrow and will spend the night in Bernice State Park in Oklahoma (the Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise). We probably will not have an internet in a state park, but be patient and we'll blog again as soon as we can.
