Robert Swanson's photos with the keyword: usa

Taken through the windshield of our motorhome, as we passed through this interesting small town in Kansas. During our RV travels, we often stayed away from the interstates, and tried rural roads. Because of those rural roads, we often spent some time driving through some (very) small towns. Image processed with GIMP (yes there were many bugs on the windshield).

The "Arc" is a public art project in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The "arc" spans the river, but is not complete at the top, so it is not an "arch". This is my submission to the Sunday Challenge (art work). Image converted to monochrome and processed with GIMP.

Taken with the Panasonic Lumix GX85 at full 140mm telephoto, hand-held. (with Micro 4/3ds it is half-frame, so the 35mm equivalent here would be a 280mm telephoto) I used the same lens and camera settings when we experienced the April 2024 eclipse repeat in the USA.

A more general view of the base of Devils Tower. The PiP shows a closer view of a climber, working their way up this sheer wall of rock. Image processed with GIMP. (We tried to revisit Devils Tower this August 2024, and arrived the morning after a huge storm. Turns out that the place was completely closed, hundreds or more of trees down, roads washed out, buildings damaged, etc, etc. The rock, of course, is still there. I wonder about these rock climbers, however, and how they fared during that storm.)

Fortunately, I had my telephoto lens, and could capture this image of a rock climber, working his way up the sheer rock wall of the Devils Tower. The PiP is a more general view of the base of the Tower. For Sunday Challenge: striving, always striving. Image processed with GIMP.

Nachos at a local restaurant, Leland, Iowa Image processed with GIMP.

Mural in the post office, Forest City, Iowa. This post office was built during the Great Depression. The government paid unemployed artists to decorate the post offices with artworks appropriate to the locality. Image processed with GIMP.

A wall of the interior of the post office in Forest City, Iowa. These buildings were put up during the Great Depression. I am guessing that this wall had a mural on it, much like the one shown in another photo. Some of the buildings were re-furbished after the 1930's, and many of the artworks were lost.

I say "ours" because this is the same model of RV that we lived in for 11 years. We saw it on the used lot of a dealer in Forest City, Iowa. Forest City is the "home" of Winnebago, a major RV manufacturer.

One of the farms just outside of town has always had some sort of static decoration on their property, visible from the highway. In the 2017 time period, the "installation" was a very, very long trailer. They don't make them much longer than this, and you would probably have to get a special permit to pull it down the highway. Of course, it is not in the best of condition, anyway.

This is a museum-farm outside of Forest City, Iowa. I like their roadside sign. You can see the names of the original residents, primarily from Scandinavia (I'm guessing Norwegian.)

The small downtown of Thompson doesn't have many stores left. One of the banks was purchased by a gun store, so they call themselves The Gun Bank. The entrance has nice art deco glass tiles. Oh, and a bench. You can see the original bank's night deposit door just above the bench. I don't think that the bomb is anything they currently sell.

This small town doesn't have many businesses left in the downtown area (all of 2 blocks). The closed bank was taken over by a gun shop, so they named it The Gun Bank.

This wooden "fence" flag was on the front of a business in the small downtown.