june 28
day 50
28 miles
total 1,310
lots of big landmarks today.
i crossed the mississippi.
something that leaves me agog.
that puts this journey in the realm of things my heroes have done.
no matter how slow i am,
just to be on the same page as them feels special.
i also passed 1300 miles.
it doesn’t sound like much
but it is really far.
still, until you reach 1400
you ain’t done nothing.
so i have been learning things about the culture here in the corn belt.
there are two kinds of people who live here.
green tractor people
and red tractor people.
right now i am in green tractor country.
john deere hats are the ticket.
don’t be wearing no international harvester gear in these parts.
yesterday i took my afternoon break under a shade tree in front of the main house at march farms.
patriarch richard came out and talked a while.
luckily i was accompanied by people with cultural knowledge,
and we broke the ice talking about the merits of green tractors.
richard did admit later
that his grandson had bought a red tractor….
“we’re not sure what we’re gonna do about him.”
you have to feel bad for a family
when a good kid goes renegade.
laz (glad i am just wearing a straw hat)