Lascauxcaveman 

Very likely a Steller's Jay. All over western North America.

steelbikeguy

The weather has been great lately, with sunny skies, moderate temperatures and minimal wind. It seemed like an ideal time to get out for an evening ride and take a few photos.

There hasn't been a lot of rain recently, allowing the corn to dry out and be harvested a bit ahead of schedule. Since the corn fields provide cyclists with some shelter from the wind and a bit of privacy when answering nature's call, I hate to see this time come.




The back roads are usually pretty quiet in the evening, but the harvest season has the roads busy with trucks and tractors. In addition to the corn getting harvested, the soybeans are mostly harvested, and the pumpkins are being organized into rows in preparation for loading into trucks (as seen here).




out among the crops, you don't see a lot of trees. Most are around the farm houses, such as this beauty...




the season for harvesting the corn and soybeans lasts just a few weeks, but we harvest wind energy every day. In the 20 years since these wind turbines were installed, a few more clusters were added in the nearby counties.




and to wrap up the photos, a sunset shot.




Steve in Peoria

iab

Bald eagle, just chillin', in a recently harvested soy field. Odd to see them on the ground without prey.

4Care 02 by iabisdb, on Flickr

iab

Harvest time in Illinois gives you plenty of opportunity to draft combines at 25mph.

4Care 22 by iabisdb, on Flickr

iab

Just a lovely day to ride in October.

4Care 13 by iabisdb, on Flickr

JohnDThompson 

Around here, it's tank trucks full of liquid manure from CAFOs about to be spread on fields. No way I'm drafting those.

thinktubes 

Miss Central Illinois sunsets - I used to live down in Urbana. Almost (and maybe better) than sunsets over the ocean.

stardognine

How about a Bianchi in front of the world-famous “drive-thru” tree, in Leggitt, CA? I rode through it, but didn’t trust anyone else with my phone, to take a pic of that, lol. 😁

I’m in Del Norte County now, about 20 miles from Crescent City. There’ll be more pics, I’m mostly charging the phone for now. ✌️

stardognine

BTW, it rained good here yesterday, and I’m taking credit for it. 🙄😉😁 I’ve carried turquoise across the Eel River several times now, and that’s rainmaker mojo. 😎😁

I also froze my posterior this morning, lol, even setting up the tent didn’t save me. I got pretty wet before I got in it, last night. 😩😉

thumpism 

Not the best photo, but if you find yourself in France at harvest time you'll have plenty of opportunities to draft these. Lovely aroma and you can generally see over/around them, and when one pulls off the road you aren't far from the next one.

steelbikeguy

.... and there's no question about who wins the game of chicken.....



Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

Sunsets and sunrises are definitely the times of day when you are likely to stop the bike and dig the camera out of the bag or pocket! The colors and the dramatic lighting just don't happen at mid-day!

The midwest does get some fine ones, maybe due to the lack of big stuff obstructing the horizon. Sometimes it is due to the clouds.....







of course, it's not just the midwest that has sunsets and clouds or even a lack of tall stuff sticking up. Here's a sunset from a deployment to NAS Fallon in Nevada, while I was in the Marines....



at that time, I was based in Yuma, AZ. It was a great place for pilots to learn to fly because there was so little rain to ruin the flying conditions. As such, there weren't many clouds, but the sunsets were consistently colorful!



While I was in Yuma, I did have a variety of opportunities for sunset photos. I think my favorites were those that I took during my first flight in the back seat of our trainer jets... the TA-4 Skyhawk. So scenic and so much fun! ... other than the issue of air sickness..


Steve in Peoria

SpeedofLite 

You're right!
I was born and raised in a small midwest farm town.
You just get off the road and salute these guys for many reasons.
How many times when approaching a tall chassis, self-propelled crop sprayer did you think "I might just be able to ride under that"?

Lemond1985

Unless it's one of these tall tractors used for spraying:




I once saw a "Get Smart" episode that included a car chase, where a small sports car drives underneath one of these to get away.

steelbikeguy

yep, I always do what I can to not get in their way. They are busy at work, trying to feed the family, while I'm just out enjoying some recreation.

ah yes... the crop sprayers with the tall wheels so they can cruise above the corn. It's natural to wonder if you could fit under it, and when I'm riding my recumbent, I'm pretty sure I could! However, I've still got sufficient sense to know that it's not a good idea. I've got plenty of scars from stuff I thought actually was a good idea to make me steer clear of stuff that appears to be dumb. In other words, I'm smart enough to know that I'm an idiot.

Steve in Peoria

stardognine

Amen. I also like to wave to tractor drivers, just to be friendly. And it doesn’t hurt to make SURE they see me. 🤔😉

They just might have a small bird problem here in Crescent City. 🤔 If not, it’s a big one. 😁😉

And one of these pics is a cool tree fort I found, about 7 miles South of town this morning. Perfect for smokin’ some OG Rolex, while it was raining most of the morning. 😎

stardognine

There’s a dispensary on the South end of Humboldt County, just past Leggitt, on 101 right after you get past CA20. I got some OG Fire & OG Rolex. I didn’t care much for the Fire, but LOVE the Rolex. 😍😁😉

Then several miles into the Avenue of the Giants, I found a big ole bag of weed, on the side of the road, where it had no business being. 🤔 I had to think & act quickly, because the baggie it was in, had a hole the size of a quarter, and I had gallon-sized freezer baggies,but buried in my pack somewheres. 🙄 But it worked out great, that weed is also very good, so I came out way ahead, you could say. 😁

I threw in a dead-but-not-messy turkey vulture for yas. 😲😉

stardognine

Apparently, the birds were just warming up, earlier. Can anyone count them all? 🤔😁

I rode through Yuma, earlier this year, I believe. I was tripping on the hummingbirds, but saw even more, in certain parts of California. ✌️

thumpism 

I was riding around my old Air Force base decades ago and in one of the warehouse areas was a semi trailer parked across the road. I got up some speed, swung my right leg back over and crouched on the left pedal while leaning the bike to the right and rolled under the obstacle. While successful, it was probably unwise and I've never tried it again.

curbtender

That explains the hole in the bag...

krakhaus 

Took the Faggin for a nice cruise out to El Paseo, which is a street in Palm Desert. It's considered like the Rodeo Drive of the Coachella Valley.

bOsscO

I already posted this in the 'Photo of the day/week/whatever' thread but since you're all posting harvest pics, we're harvesting cranberries up here.

Flooding the fields is the easiest way to harvest cranberries.

Here you can see the floating boom that corrals the berries.

rccardr 

Very much so.
We make sure to grab lunch at Pacifico whenever we’re in town.

skier

pretty bird

WGB 

Things get parked and next thing trees are growing through them.....