Dirt Road Prairie

This is a post that keeps getting pushed aside in the queue........I must get it published before summer is completely over with!!!

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Not far from where I live is a testament to a bygone era.........a never-graded dirt road, one mile in length. Why was it never graded? I suppose because it has no houses or farmsteads along its length. Why has the county left this road open all these years? I don't know for sure, but I'm glad it IS open, although, truly, it leads NOWHERE. Maybe its kept open for fans of mudding.......there are some of those crazed guys around the area.......they thrash their pickups through here after heavy rains.

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This crazed blogger appreciates the dirt road's continued existence because of the prairie plants growing there. It isn't difficult to envision a horse-drawn wagon or buggy making its way through here years ago:

One day about three weeks ago, before my son's wedding, after running errands in our small town, I took the long way home by way of this dirt road. Oh, look, there's company up ahead........click the photo above to better see the rabbit!

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One of my great-great-grandfathers was a farmer/veterinarian in this area........he most likely traversed this road many times. He had received his veterinary education in Berlin, emigrated to the U.S.----to Pennsylvania----and later, to Iowa, to farm and work as a vet in the German communities in southern Bremer County. A very elderly lady, now long deceased, a lifelong resident in this neighborhood, once told me that she could remember his buggy coming to their farm when she was a little girl.......that would have been in the 1890's. I've been told that, although he was a veterinarian, he also did tonsillectomies........on HUMAN children!

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Along the road, there was a nice patch of Prairie Sage, conspicuous with its dusty, whitish appearance. When I did a Google search for Prairie Sage, this IonExchange website came up.......its a seed company from Harpers Ferry, Iowa, up along the Mississippi River. Cool! I had not heard of IonExchange before.

Here's their page for Prairie Sage.........the information detailing the uses of this plant by Native Americans and early settlers is interesting. It was used in ceremonies and burned like incense.

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Here's a white flower, unfamiliar to me........I'll have to look it up in the flower book........done.......that took about five minutes: It is Whorled Milkweed, I believe.

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Waving in the breeze was Big Bluestem Prairie Grass:

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Oh, wow! This dirt road prairie must surely boast the township's mother-lode of Queen Anne's Lace (AKA Wild Carrot)!

This old avenue with its prairie plant borders would be a lovely spot in the evening, cast in the sunset's golden glow.......or even at sunrise. If I one day find the gumption to drive over to this lonely place at dusk or dawn, you'll be the first to see the photo evidence.

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Hey.........this quiet, secluded old road would be a perfect place for "PARKING"......... in one of those vintage cars, for sure (wink,wink)! I'm sure none of you readers would step forward to 'fess up to ever doing that! Hahaha!! Although, "parking" needn't necessarily involve anything immoral........it might simply be about sitting in a car and talking.

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