Magical country roads

One of my favorite forms of therapy is driving up and down country roads — for hours at a time. There is so much I see during these drives and so much I would miss if I simply sat on the couch every night.

The long, winding roads of Lyon County have become my second home, where I go to recharge, where I go to, connect with nature and unplug. It’s like a mini, one-evening vacation.

In my many years driving these roads, I’ve seen many interesting things. I’ve seen sunsets that will blow your mind, about every kind of animal possible in the area and interesting landmarks.

The other day I came across a slightly disturbing sight: a random scarecrow placed on the side of the road with no homes nearby. Of course, my writer mind went all kinds of places. But it was quite funny that it was just hanging out there. Perhaps someone had a sense of humor or perhaps someone just thought it was a nice place for it to hang out.  But I just found it plain creepy.

Another drive led me all the way to the Waverly Wind Farm. It’s incredible how much beauty wind farms hold. The towering turbines grace the landscape as far as you can see and on the country roads you can get pretty close to them to get some pretty nice photographs. At night from a distance red lights from the turbines blink in the night sky.

Other quirky things I’ve seen is a burned-out stump that looks like a rooster. It’s interesting it burned that way, in that shape. Speaking of fire, spring in Kansas is a great place to take drives in the country as farmers and ranchers burn off grasslands to make room for new, healthy growth. It’s an amazing sight. This post explains an experience I had last year with fire.

So, my advice to everyone is to get out, hit the dirt roads and see what you come up with. You’ll be amazed at how much there truly is to see.