One and a half miles south of exit #86 of Interstate 80 near Menlo, Iowa, there is a twelve foot high rock. Every year local teenagers would paint on that rock the types of things teenagers usually paint on rocks. In 1999 all that changed.
That’s the year one teenager, Ray “Bubba” Sorenson II, painted the rock white. Then he painted on it scenes of what freedom means to him as his way of celebrating Memorial Day.
Every May since then Bubba paints the rock white again, at least part of the rock–see details in the photo below. Then he paints new scenes.
I intended to show you what the entire rock looks like today, May 10, 2011, but the images painted on it are copyrighted. Fair use allows a reviewer to include small clips so here’s one of the photos we took of this year’s painting in progress.
You can see what the rock has looked like over the years by going to http://www.thefreedomrock.com/.
People from all over the world now stop along their drives through Iowa to see this wonderful piece of art. I hope you get to see it in person some day. It is worth the stop. And there is big rig parking at the museum across the street.
TTYL,
Linda