Backroads of Texas

"Listen for the voice of the Father in the bounties and beauties of nature, in the gentle whisperings of the Spirit."  - Dieter F. Uchtdorf

I've been on a quest since we got back to Texas, to find something inspiring to take pictures of.  It was effortless to find things in Cache Valley because there is so much obvious beauty everywhere.  And my pictures were effortlessly beautiful, too.  I didn't take 100s.  I took 50...maybe.  And every single one turned out breathtakingly beautiful.  

But it's been harder to find those kind of landscape shots here.  The barns are hidden behind dense groves of trees.  There is more traffic on the roads, even the back ones, making it more difficult to pull over for anything.  And there are no mountains.  

So, I changed my plan and my perspective today.  

I got rid of the passengers in my vehicle because, for me, I hunt (and find) better when there is loud music, a clear head, and when I'm driving the car.  Sorry...I absolutely love the quality time with my beloved passengers (or that cute guy who drives me around occasionally) but it's just not conducive to photography expeditions.  

I also stopped looking for barns and landscapes like the ones I love so much in Utah.  Texas isn't Utah.  But there is still much to love about this place.  

I drove along the highway looking for those pretty bales of hay that I had seen a couple of days before.  And then I found somewhere to pull over and get a picture of them.  When you drive slow enough, you can always find a backroad.  

And while I was pulled over on that backroad, I kept following it, and found this...

It's an old withering field of cornstalks.  But I just loved the way those little sunflowers looked sprinkled in between.  And the perspective was so cool from my very low to the ground vehicle.  It was all cornfield and sky.  You would never know that there are thousands of homes just beyond that field, and a busy highway right behind me.  

I was overwhelmed with relief and gratitude that beauty exists outside of Utah, that Heavenly Father has filled this earth with stunning things, and that I had the time this morning to catch a few of them in some unlikely places.  

"It's not what you look at that matters.  It's what you see." - Henry David Thoreau