Driving Thru the Biofuel Belt

One interesting note about our journey so far: apparently, we've just barely missed both presidential candidates.  Barack Obama was in Elkhart, IN on Thursday and John McCain was at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines yesterday, which we passed by about 4 p.m.  Unfortunately, no sightings of Secret Service SUVs or the Straight Talk Express...  Also, we happen to be driving through many of the so-called "battleground" states, where no candidate has a clear advantage: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa.  Oddly enough, I haven't seen one yard sign or bumper sticker for either candidate....

Our route on day 2 took us mostly through the endless corn fields of Illinois and Iowa.  We're talking hundreds of miles of nothing but cornfields, scattered trees and a few herds of cattle sitting in whatever shade they can find.  This is what I call the "Biofuel Belt," because a very large portion of this corn is going not to food production, but as raw material for ethanol and biodiesel (which is mixed with petroleum-based diesel and used in conventional diesel engines, no modification required). We passed a very large ethanol processing plant and wondered whether more of those will be popping up in the Midwest.  It's interesting how this area is, in the popular imagination, home to the "family farm"; if these are family farms, then they must have some darn big families to plow, plant, irrigate and harvest these vast fields of corn! (No wonder Mormonism was popular here in the 19th century...)  I would wager that there are more "family farms" in Pennsylvania and New Jersey than in the corn belt.

We also passed the Amana Communities, a relic of a German religious movement that was somewhat similar to the Amish in beliefs and practices. Apparently, it's not a "living" community any longer, but is a major tourist attraction, selling crafts, etc. 

Two other notable bits: 

• We passed several wind turbines. Mostly, they were in small groups of two or three. No major wind farms...yet.  One turbine was being constructed, and the blade assembly was on the ground.  Until then, I hadn't realized just how big the blades are (Anndria says they are about 200 feet long). 
• There are very few towns or places to stop along I-80 in Iowa.  There are vast distances between farms and communities.  It really drove home the fact that many Iowans must be really hurting from the increased fuel costs.  I complain because my drive to the grocery store is 10 minutes.  These folks have to drive ten miles just to reach the end of one cornfield!

That's it for day 2.  If I can focus Adam and Matthew for more than a few minutes on something other than playing in the pool or watching cartoons, I'll have them post their thoughts and pictures (they took several yesterday).