Something in the Air

I couldn't put my finger on it, it was intangible. I was in Western Illinois, approaching St. Louis. The freeway climbed into some low wooded hills. If there were differences in the surrounding flora than what one would find back in Indiana I couldn't see them. I was at the same latitude so the quality of light shouldn't have altered, yet there was something, some elusive quality that told me I was closer to the Great Plains. I can't explain it but it was so, and I've felt it before as well. If it were just that I knew I was further west and so concocted the experience then why did it hit me all of a sudden, while my attention was on something completely different?

So autumn is all but over and I all but missed it compared to the last two years. But hey, it's my job. During the peak I was sent to the same place that I'd gone when I detoured through the woods along the stream, but knowing that the detour was there I was bound to take the southern, faster route, a four lane divided highway through an industrial zone along the Ohio River for most of it. I'd have rather gone the scenic route, and nobody told me that I couldn't, but I was bound to complete my task as quickly and efficiently as possible. The rest is just fringe benefit,