Last week I returned from a cross country train trip. My husband and I hopped on the California Zephyr train in Davis and rode for three days to Chicago.
Then switch over to the Capitol Limited train which took a day to get to Washington DC. After a week in Maryland we took the same trains back across the country.
The American landscape that passed by my train window was beautiful, it was hard to do anything other than stare out the window, there was so much to see. The train takes you through urban, suburban, rural, and wilderness areas. I of course was interested in spotting farms.
I saw many different working farms throughout every landscape. I also saw a lot of old barns falling down, farm houses that had long been abandoned, and surrounding acres overgrown. I can’t say that I was surprised by these sights, over 150 years ago 90 percent of Americans were farmers and today less than 2 percent are involved in agriculture. But I still wondered what happen to that farmer that once built that grand farmhouse and large barn. As a farmer you need a long term view of your farm business and it takes a lot of work and dedication to build it. So these quick glimpses I caught of the past out my train window reminded me of the farmers that came before and the farmers that will come after me.
Love your photo of Harper’s Ferry.