Decades ago Lynnae and I bicycled through a portion of "America's Heartland." We learned to count grain elevator silos from miles away to determine if a town (hopefully, one with lunch and ice cream) was ahead. Anything less than six silos meant no town... probably just a railroad siding.


Out of habit, I still count silos... even though the GPS mapping app on my BlackBerry tells me exactly where I am. This elevator had the original twelve silos plus additional newer storage structures. Definitely a town. Yup - Waterville, Washington, County Seat to Douglas County.