Lost Bear, Hoover Nature Trail, West Branch, IA

Whenever I see a toy like this, I feel both hopeful and sad. There is something melancholy about the waiting, deliberate in placement by the one who found it, yet alone and abandoned without the warmth of its young owner.

Foggy telephone lines, West Branch, IA

Telephone lines disappearing into the fog across the fields.

Foggy cornfield, West Branch, IA

A cornfield becomes the edge of the world, seeping off into limbo in the dense fog.

Hoover Nature Trail in the fog, West Branch, IA

Fog seals in the Hoover Nature Trail, one of my favorite rail-to-trail conversions to go walking on.

Walking at dawn, Iowa City

Dawn breaking over the little hill near our house, as I go out for one of my early morning walks.

Davenport Skybridge

Another exterior view of the Davenport Skybridge, along its length looking outward toward the river.

Davenport Skybridge

Whatever the original municipal intend of the Davenport Skybridge may have been, during the winter one finds that it has been seized upon by the community as an sheltered exercise facility. The bridge is nearly 600 feet long and also heated within, and so has been taken over by a wide array of dog walkers, joggers, elderly strollers, moms with kids, etc., all happily cycling from end to end while avoiding bitter cold and winds outside.