The road goes ever on and on …
Shortly after posting last night, we pulled in at a rest stop, got one of the coupon books and found a el-cheapo motel (motel 6: It has a locked door and horizontal, slightly padded surface. What more do you need?). We got about seven hours of sleep and now we’re back on road and making good time. We stopped for coffee (of course), and other than that we’ve just been driving and driving. As of now (about 11:00am) we’re just through Toledo and heading for the Indiana border. Mother Nature seems to have a few plans of her own though. There’s a big “weather system” just southwest of us and heading towards us. If we’re lucky, we’ll just skim over the north edge.
Just as a special mention to one of our readers (and you know who you are!), we’re passing 40 miles south of Kalamazoo on Highway 80. And Mother Nature never did manage to get that “weather system” anywhere near us. Take that, M.N.
We’ve been playing with our Satellite radio. We’ve listened to Latin, which is naturally in spanish, which we don’t understand, but at least it has a rhythm, actual music, and words I’d be able to understand, if only I spoke the language. Question: When did performers decide they didn’t need to enunciate anymore? As Whoopi said in Jumping Jack Flash: Mick, Mick! Speak english Mick! I’m so sick of “mumble, mumble, curse word, slur, mumble.” Yeah, yeah, get off my lawn you damn kids! I know I’m old, I don’t care.
It’s now later (about 5pm). We’ve been driving and driving, but there’s nothing much that’s exciting to write about. The only exception would be the bright yellow crop duster we came across. It zipped and wheeled across the sky, spraying here, spraying there. And it was a very pretty plane to. I’d include a picture except: Gayle’s camera is in her purse, which she can’t get to as long as she’s driving. I can get to my camera easily, but the battery is still in the charger, which is stuffed into the electronics bag in the trunk. Next stop we’ll rectify that small mistake.
Okay, it’s a bit later in the day. The camera is by my side, and I’ve even taken a couple of pictures, which I’ve scattered throughout this post. You might be wondering why Gayle is letting me do these posts. Wow! That’s a great question. Thanks for asking. It’s nice that people pay so much attention here. Anyway, the simple, unvarnished truth is that Gayle is doing the majority of the driving. And, superwoman that she is, she finds it a bit difficult to type and stay in her designated lane at the same time. Why am I not driving? Man, that’s two great questions in a row. You people are the greatest! The reason I’m not driving is because every time I take over (and I have done a fair amount, don’t get me wrong), I start dozing off at the wheel. No matter how bright the sun is. And Gayle, rightfully terrified for her very life, has decided that maybe me driving isn’t such a great idea at the moment. The strange thing is, once I’m in the passenger seat, I perk right up and become a veritable bright-eyed and bushy tailed … well, not squirrel, that would just weird for someone with a cat motif to claim. And we wouldn’t want that! But that, in a nutshell (there we go with the rodent stuff again, I just can’t win), is the reason I’m typing this rambling, incoherent missive. Where are we? I haven’t got a clue, let me wait for a sign to go by. …. [time passing] … oh, there we go. We’re one hour east of Des Moines, Ohio. We’ve been dodging the weather all day, and our luck is holding so far. Des Moines just got hit by some heavy rain, but the system broke up and vanished before it could come as far east as we are. Oh, speaking of strange laws (we weren’t but just play along), did you know that Illinois and Iowa allow you to go 70 mph?
Hey, guess what this is:
That’s right, it’s the mighty Mississippi. We were driving along and saw this little blue bridge in the distance. We weren’t thinking that much about it until we came to the sign just before the bridge that tells you what river you’re about to cross. We got really excited, in that pathetic, geeky way some people do.
And another thing; here we are, driving through the heartland (or maybe, the liverland, since we’re a bit north of center), and we haven’t seen a single windmill anywhere. Lots and lots of farms, lots of corn fields, silos, cell phone repeater towers, and even a cow or two. But not one single, solitary, windmill. Hollywood promised us windmills. Could Hollywood have lied to us? They can’t have. All the movies about the central US have windmills. The people of Iowa must be hiding them from us. Maybe painted plaid and hidden behind a somebody-elses-problem field. Yeah, that makes a lot more sense. I’m glad we figured that one out. On the other hand, they do have some nice rest stops with very pleasant picnic areas.
And you know how traveling America is suppose to be such a broadening experience? You travel the highways and byways and see all kinds of true American Culture. Here’s a great example of one we didn’t stop at. It’s unlike others we didn’t stop at only in that we had absolutely no inclination to stop whatsoever.
Just to be annoying, we finally found windmills, but only within about 15 miles of the Nebraska border. Iowa just had to be contrary. After this thrilling find, we zoomed through Omaha and Lincoln and finally pulled off at a Comfort Inn. It’s only about $10 a night more than the Motel 6, but it 3 times larger and has a refrigerator and a microwave. Which would be good to reheat some of the cold food we packed in the freezer bag. Only problem is that the freezer bag is still in the car because we didn’t think we’d need it. I could just go out and get it, it’s not that far away. The problem is that every time you lock the car, the horn beeps. And, as with most hotels of this kind, we’re pulled up in a space right in front of someones room. And I accidentally hit the panic button instead of the open trunk button. So after the panic, plus normally locking the car twice, I really don’t want to subject the poor people in that room to even one more beep. It’s nearly midnight now. So, it’s going to be a cold sandwich for dinner, finish off this post and then hit the sack. We’ll be up at 7:30 tomorrow morning to complete the journey. The guy at the front desk says it shouldn’t take more than six hours to get to Denver. That pretty much agrees with my estimates, so I’m inclined to believe him.
More tomorrow!