Leaving behind the steel mill, I headed north on Maryville Road. I had no idea where I was exactly, but later analysis of maps revealed I was in the northeastern reaches of Granite City.

Like so much of the Metro East, you can be driving along and it’s suburbia, and then there’s just farm fields for awhile, and then there’s suburbia again.

I liked this geodesic dome on the church over in Pontoon Beach; you pass over into this community without even noticing it. I didn’t see the street sign.

It’s like a normal suburb; farmhouses stand next to later houses built in the post-World War II era as people moved further and further out.