Days 15 & 16
Yesterday we took a trip back to the Oak Ridge Cemetery, still trying to find a grave good enough for some rubbings. Problem is they didn't use slate even for their oldest stones, they used limestone and such, which is very craggy and horrible for rubbings. Got lots of nice pictures, though. Then, being nosey, I lead us off onto some trail that headed into a ravine and, eventually, into the river flowing nearby. We found grave stones not more than a few dozen feet in. At first we wondered if we'd somehow stumbled onto a forgotten part of the cemetery, but it seems much more likely that they're the casualties of a mudslide from either heavy rains or ground saturation from thawing after a hard winter. No bones or caskets could be seen, but we found similar headstones on the ridge above when we finally emerged.
Back in the ravine, we continued to hike along through lush green underbrush, just carving our way through to we didn't know where until it suddenly occurred to me.. my knee stung. A lot. So we checked out the leaves we'd been wading through and discovered the entire forest floor was covered in knee-high stinging nettles. Thankfully we're not smart enough to turn and go back. No, we forged ahead! And found some abandoned structure in the middle of all this. It looked sort of like an aqueduct, but it was smooth as sidewalk up on top. Whatever it was, it served no practical function other than some pretty architectural shots for me and as something to climb on for Red. By then we had to wade twice as far through the nettle forest to get back to the ridge. It was a couple of hours before I could feel my right knee again, and then it ached from the poison.
Today we headed out to an abandoned insane asylum in Bartonville. Got a lot of great shots of the exterior, but some guy passed through to check us out, so we debated whether or not to come back later, once we'd found a way to get in. I'm sure he's the type to keep circling at random times well into dusk, waiting for us darned kids to try breaking in to get our heads cracked and ankles twisted, but unfortunately for him we got distracted by a local marsh and then decided to head back to Springfield, where we hiked aimlessly under some train tracks. I wonder how many times he circled the area, suspecting us of breaking into the place, before realizing we really were only taking external architectural shots.
For now, though, we must rest and eat. Tomorrow makes the mad dash back to Chicago to do last minute things before I fly back to Miami. Things have changed, though.
PS -- I feel it's my duty to inform you all of something I discovered while meandering about these highways and back roads. You know these little farming communities that burst with pride over having a population the size of a small town high school? Yeah, they put their cemeteries right next to their corn fields. No gates, no barriers, no ditches. No, one foot there's rows and rows of corn and next minute there's rows and rows of graves. And when they're not growing corn or letting the fields go fallow, they're growing soy. That's right, people, Soylent Green really is people. Yeah, Red and her mother tried to tell me it's industrial corn and soy, but I don't think so. That's not an ear of corn you're buttering it, it's the ear of dear old Aunt Emma. And the soy milk? Think about it next time someone tells you it's full of protein.
Back in the ravine, we continued to hike along through lush green underbrush, just carving our way through to we didn't know where until it suddenly occurred to me.. my knee stung. A lot. So we checked out the leaves we'd been wading through and discovered the entire forest floor was covered in knee-high stinging nettles. Thankfully we're not smart enough to turn and go back. No, we forged ahead! And found some abandoned structure in the middle of all this. It looked sort of like an aqueduct, but it was smooth as sidewalk up on top. Whatever it was, it served no practical function other than some pretty architectural shots for me and as something to climb on for Red. By then we had to wade twice as far through the nettle forest to get back to the ridge. It was a couple of hours before I could feel my right knee again, and then it ached from the poison.
Today we headed out to an abandoned insane asylum in Bartonville. Got a lot of great shots of the exterior, but some guy passed through to check us out, so we debated whether or not to come back later, once we'd found a way to get in. I'm sure he's the type to keep circling at random times well into dusk, waiting for us darned kids to try breaking in to get our heads cracked and ankles twisted, but unfortunately for him we got distracted by a local marsh and then decided to head back to Springfield, where we hiked aimlessly under some train tracks. I wonder how many times he circled the area, suspecting us of breaking into the place, before realizing we really were only taking external architectural shots.
For now, though, we must rest and eat. Tomorrow makes the mad dash back to Chicago to do last minute things before I fly back to Miami. Things have changed, though.
PS -- I feel it's my duty to inform you all of something I discovered while meandering about these highways and back roads. You know these little farming communities that burst with pride over having a population the size of a small town high school? Yeah, they put their cemeteries right next to their corn fields. No gates, no barriers, no ditches. No, one foot there's rows and rows of corn and next minute there's rows and rows of graves. And when they're not growing corn or letting the fields go fallow, they're growing soy. That's right, people, Soylent Green really is people. Yeah, Red and her mother tried to tell me it's industrial corn and soy, but I don't think so. That's not an ear of corn you're buttering it, it's the ear of dear old Aunt Emma. And the soy milk? Think about it next time someone tells you it's full of protein.