Sighted

While driving home today from a family getaway at a resort in Utica, Illinois, we decided we needed espresso. So we looked up "coffeehouses" on our car's GPS and found the nearest shop was in Ottawa, the next town over on our way home. As the GPS often seems to do, it directed us to take a local highway (U.S. Route 6) instead of an expressway (I-80, which we drove to Utica). Figuring we weren't in much of a hurry anyway, we decided to take the scenic route and go with Route 6. Along the way, in a farm field just outside of Ottawa, my attention was grabbed by the sight of a dozen large birds grazing in the corn stubble. Canada geese are such a common sight in our area that those were my first impression, but I quickly realized that these birds were much bigger than geese. "Pheasants?" Julie, who was driving, guessed. "No," I said, getting a better look. "Wild turkeys." And huge ones, at least to my non-hunter eyes.

If roast turkey was a Christmas tradition for us, I would have seriously considered stopping and hurrying into the field with a heavy stick and a burlap bag, in lieu of a Butterball from the store. But we drove on, awed (at least me, anyway) by the sight, and enjoyed our brief visit to Ottawa and what turned out to be pretty darned good espresso.