I-44, Missouri

I love south-central Missouri. the landscape is folded and crumpled with smallish hills that remind me of southern Madison County in upstate New York. There is a wildness to the landscape here that is gone from Central New York, though, I can't define it yet. We'll have to come back.
Hazy smoke clings to the earth, creating a dreamy effect. Always visible at the side of the Interstate, is route 66. the nearly empty two-lane rolls up, over, and back down every hill, full of off-camber sweepers and almost no shoulder. Easy to imagine crossing the country on that road, though someone couldn't make nearly as good time as today. Certainly plenty to look at though, from old billboards and abandoned businesses to forgotten vehicles. You don't have to listen too hard to ear the call of old 66, either.