Mid-West Travels

Most of our trip was on country roads (except around Chicago). We drove through eastern Colorado and much of Nebraska. Many solar panels in Colorado. In Nebraska the few we saw seem to be small, replacing windmills for pumping water to cattle. Norfolk, NE, does have a large solar array on the edge of the city, which started in late 2021. It is built centrally, but leased out to individual homeowners. It is the largest in Nebraska and covers 60 acres. (Taos’ project is 3 times as large and serves the whole county.)

The cropland parts of Nebraska seem much more wealthy than Colorado (and certainly New Mexico) — big, fancy houses with extensive gardens.

We traveled mostly country roads. Even Google suggested that we zigzag on two-lane roads rather than travel the interstate highways. Without the heavy traffic on the interstate, the driver has more chance to see the countryside.

We stopped at a little diner for lunch, sat at a long table with the locals, and they told us of a sculpture garden in Bartlett, NE, which has 40 marvelous bronze sculptures. Took a bit to find it in the town, but we met Bob Nichols who grew up with the artist and got the full, personal tour. The bronzes are widely varied in subject matter and quite detailed.

“Lunch” was a huge ice cream cone at the Ice Cream Museum in Le Mars, Iowa. Then we slogged our way to 1000 Lakes (Mille Lacs) Minnesota, finally passing a few solar farms and a few wind turbines.

Duluth/Superior harbor is large, but much more spread out than the Seattle harbor. Here there are ore-loading docks, which are built high in the air, so they can dump iron ore (and coal) into the ships. We took a harbor tour.

The North Woods are aptly named — this is forest country, not prairie. Here are mixed hardwood/conifer, with several kinds of conifers and hardwoods. And lots of water. Ponds, cattails, and red-wing blackbirds everywhere.

Lake Nebagamon has an old Dairy Queen which has recently been out-done by a local ice cream shop — hard ice cream, real shakes and malts, and lower prices — but no grille. Nevertheless the local-owned shop is always busy, day and evening.

From Nebraska to Michigan we noticed these house numbers in rural areas — provided by the state. Very helpful. In some places the street name was on the sign — but much smaller than the number.