Uprooted, an eco/travel blog

Indiana is full of two things: cornfields and soybean fields. They line the roadsides, flashing past as you drive: cornfield, soybean field. Cornfield, soybean field. Cornfields with rusty tin-roofed barns; soybean fields with power poles marching diagonally across. Soybean fields with tree-shaded farmhouses; cornfields with peak-roofed silo towers like shiny agricultural castles. And then more [...]

SAD NEWS: This campground is no longer free. But it’s still lovely, and I still recommend you visit.

So I met up with Quiet Earp in Columbia, Missouri. I’d been staying in Louisville, and he was driving from Nevada to New York. Going to Missouri was a bit of a backtrack, but it turned out to [...]

When we last saw her, Jessica was stranded in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Read on for the inspiring next installment…
(3) …In which Things Get Better.
Till now, I’ve left out an important part of the story: Pete. He’s a Hot Springs resident, and a couchsurfing.org member. My main goal in Arkansas was to camp and hike alone, [...]

(1) …Our narrator arrives.
I’ve always wanted to visit Arkansas. Maybe it’s just the name. Maybe it’s the backcountry, down-home Americana imagery associated with that part of the world. Probably it has a lot to do with the Ozarks, that oddly-named bed of mountains promising lush greenery, clapboard shacks, crawdads and moonshine. Whatever the reason, once [...]

It was a hot day, and the Housewives of Travis County were on a mission. Swimming was the goal, and on a day like this Krause Springs was the perfect destination.
They call themselves housewives, this set, but it’s really a posse of unemployed professionals, welders, artists and cooks (okay, and one real housewife) who were [...]

Let’s get one thing straight: I’m spoiled, having grown up in California. There, springtime means flowers, sunshine, cute little rainclouds, maybe some fog. Here, it’s… well it’s exciting.
My first night at Zephyros Farm, I set up my tent as usual, and went to bed early like a good farmworker. It was quiet and breezy as [...]

Yes, that’s right: it’s time to talk about irrigation! WHOO exciting! IRRIGATION YEAH!
Okay, calm down all yous. It may not be the most fascinating topic, but it’s more interesting than you think. And it’s necessary: in places like Paonia, which gets less than 20 inches of rain a year, it’s next to impossible to farm [...]

This summer’s dust storms in Utah were so fierce, their red, dusty winds reached as far as the Rockies.