Come Along With Me On A Fall Drive.. Without A Camera

We went to eat at our favorite restaurant yesterday.I didn't think that I would see anything to photograph...so I left the camera home. It was such a pretty day in between rain showers. I am going to try to describe the drive without benefit of my trusty camera. We headed out down the country road past the forest preserve. Piles of leaves were being burned and the gray smoke lifted slowly into the cloud laden sky. The nuclear power plant towers were puffing so much white steam into the already cloudy sky that was a mixture of gray and white puffy clouds.. moving fast.We noticed land that had been cleared of debris and a new fence had been erected all along the left side of the road....leaving us to wonder.. what will this be...more forest preserve? The Rock River was on my side of the car.When I first moved here, I loved the drive along the river...it is so beautiful in every season. We do live in God's country here in No. Illinois. It looked cold today,without the sun shining. A flock of ducks was swimming in a circle.The leader was off on his own.. with his head in the water. He pulled it up as the car passed and the other ducks joined him. I wondered to myself...is this the same flock of little ducklings that we watched earlier in the year...do they know the weather that is coming? Do they realise that they will be sitting all huddled together, to keep warm, on top of the frozen river?I noticed that the grasses along the way, in the ditch, were the color of raw sienna. Darker plants of burnt umber rose up out of the grasses with prickly burrs on them. We approached the old farm across the road from the place where we buy our vegetables in the summer. A red crumbling barn on the right side of the road. Broken windows and a sagging door a run down windmill...one of my favorite things to paint.The homemade sign advertising veggies had been taken in for the winter. The corn field with crispy, golden, dry stalks...hadn't been harvested yet. Nearing the State Park, was a sign welcoming hunters.Deer season opened on the 17th and the park and restaurants are catering to them this year. As we entered the park, campers were already gathering for the weekend. We only saw men today...they were there with their campers and just the basics. In the summer, families gather with their motor homes and campers. Volleyball, baseball, and badmitten games with kids roasting marshmallows at every site. Today little campfires were starting with wispy smoke trailing upward. Men in duck clothing and orange hats wandered about...coffee mugs steaming in their hands. The road winds upward to the Statue of Blackhawk through trees ..mostly bare. The understory is another matter. Wispy small trees were all through the forest...bright green and yellow leaves. It looked like frost had forgotten them and the colors were like sunlight in the shadows. I always imagine hundreds of eyes watching us as we stand there. I very seldom see an animal, but I know they are in there. Looking out across the river, houses lined the road with smoke trailing upward from the chimneys. Just last week we were across the river, sitting at our friend's kitchen table, watching a flock of turkeys that had come into the yard. The sun came out just then, and the scenery changed. Everything lit up like someone plugged in the lights of the world.Coming down the hill toward the entrance I saw mushrooms made out of tree stumps.... Made with a chain saw. Smokey the Bear said the fire alert was low today on a nearby sign. Turning right, we started down the hill with such beauty on both sides. It was like driving through the mountains. Fall colors on the floor of the forest. A blanket of leaves covered everything. On the left, an old school painted white. I can imagine the teacher standing at the doorway...ringing an old hand held bell...and boys chasing girls with pigtails. All of them with rosy cheeks...laughing and having fun ..lunch buckets in their hands. As we approached town, the dam on the right with tons of water gushing over it caught my eye. Tree stumps and branches littered the top of the dam in places. I remember Spring, when the water level was high and the water swirled so fast...it looked treacherous. Today it was just pouring over at a normal rate. We had arrived at our destination...did you enjoy the ride?
Balisha