Does this make my country look ugly?

As we traveled across the US we saw very few wind farms.  We actually expected to see many more, especially in the Plains states where the wind blows virtually unobstructed.  In past travels to California I have seen the massive wind farms outside of Palm Springs.  I always find those windmills to be beautiful, especially when their graceful blades are turning as they nearly always seem to be.  Many communities fight the wind farms saying they are ugly and destroy the viewshed.  Here are some farms we saw.

Washington

Pennsylvania

We also saw many old-fashioned windmills on ranches all over.  Does this windmill improve or detract from the landscape?  Does it evoke any feelings? 

 An old wind mill stands in the shadow of the new wind turbines in a still developing wind farm. 

North Dakota

All across the country, those who have moved from country to town erect little faux windmills in their yards.  What are they trying to recapture?  The romance of the open range?  Maybe it's the beauty of making nature work for us without destroying the planet at the same time.  

Will future generations buy faux wind turbines for their yards?  Will artists paint them as the Dutch did?  Or do wind farms make our country look ugly? 

The numbers you've been wondering about...plus more from Ptown

...from our coast to coast and back again collecting trip, these just in, drum roll please...

nights in motels                    23
nights camping                      2
lodging costs              1,361.20

miles driven                     7,539

miles driven by Marie            0

breakdowns                           1

accidents/tickets                     0

mishaps on levees                  2

fuel costs                    2,326.37
food costs                      965.26
cheapest motel                 52.08
most exp motel                99.51
bed bugs                                0
arguments/snit fits                  0
and best of all...
specimens collected           724!

...and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

And now, some more roadside floral attractions in Ptown.

This doesn't belong but I just had to include it.  No retouching, this is for real.  No lie.

                  

Not exactly roadside, but..

...you understand.  These are from a supermarket bouquet.

From the garden...

A lady down the street puts out a little table of cut flowers and a small cooler of herbs with an honor box to pay for them.  Here is $4.00 worth.  (I still owe her 50 cents but I am good for it).

A friend's dreamy chamomile lawn,

And this, just down the street.  We should all love our homes the way these owners do.

Greetings from Provincetown, MA.

We made it!

It was an easy fix to the transmission, so that was good. 

The highlight of Warren, PA was a used bookstore.  Then owner had made these wonderful paper sculptures of great authors.  He called the collection Mount Readmore. 

We left Warren, PA and headed home feeling kind of bittersweet.  Collecting was over for the trip.  It was all about getting home.  I'd like to say it was great seeing the GWB at 8:45 last night, but truthfully, I'd be happy staying on the road, camping and collecting for a while longer.  But we both have work to do in NY.

Over the next few weeks we are going to go through photos.  We have a few more stories to share.  And I will be going to the Cape for a while to just chill out.  Daniel will be going to Maine and may blog from there.  As the specimens make their way through the NYBG process of identification, mounting and storing there will be more stories to tell.

And, no doubt, Daniel and I will be back on the road this fall for some weekend collecting trips. So this is a way of saying that the blog is not over, but there won't be daily updates until our next big trip.  We have had more than 1500 page views so that means that you stayed with us through the journey.  Thanks for that -- it made us feel connected to something bigger than where we were at the moment.

The blog has been really fun for us so I know we will keep it going.  Several of you wrote to say the photos are good.  Daniel shares credit for that.  He took many of them.  

So the cris-cross country trip is complete.  In the next few days I will make a final accounting -- miles driven, specimens collected etc.  Maybe a recap on all the glam motels.  Check back in once in a while.

Now I leave you with this thought,

There are no wrong turns when the journey is the destination