Moving - Across the Country (or at least across half of it)

Driving out of Illinois had it’s own little twist.



Just outside of Chicago not long after the town of Gary, Indiana you will find a crisscrossing of highways. There amidst road construction 80, 90 and 94 cross each other is subtle and significant ways. I figured this out at around 9:00am when suddenly while the roads were lined with distracting trees changing colors all around me a sign telling me that I should feel welcomed to Michigan hinted to me that I was not on highway 80.


We (me and my father, who was riding along) stopped off at the “welcome” center where they had small maps that outlined exactly how I missed the connection and how to backtrack. Amazing how money is invested in these little maps to give to unexpected visitors, but not on better road signage.





Back on the road we proceeded through Indiana and Ohio. By early Indiana we were ready for some breakfast, but wanting to “make time” we grabbed food to go and hit the road again.



By mid Indiana I had been awake for about 30 hours with a 2 hour nap (I am calling the sleep on Wednesday night a nap at this point, because I was completely exhausted!) A few more hours of napping and I was ready for the road again (my father drove for a number of hours to accommodate.)

Ohio in the fall is beautiful but surprisingly wide (you might not realize that by looking at a map.)

By the time we hit the edge of Pennsylvania on Thursday evening, we were both ready to call it a day. Here is the thing about Western Pennsylvania. It is hilly.



And it is also very beautiful and when you first cross the boarder, there are a ton of places to stop and catch a nice hotel. Have you ever been out West in the United States? You know how they have those signs telling you that it’s the last stop for automobile fuel in hundreds of miles and if you don’t stop now you will be using the name of the state as a swearword in a few hours? Well, Western Pennsylvania should do the same thing about hotels.



Well on into the dark we drove looking for a hotel and a number of times we talked about turning back, but after an hour of driving it feels like such a waste to do that. At about two hours of driving, you really want to turn back but you know it is a complete waste of gas and time.



Finally, we came to this Oasis of a community where we found a Super 8 motel.



Outside of being a very welcomed hotel experience, I found two things worth mentioning. One, it was around Halloween and so notice the ornamentation on the door picture below. “Stay Out” exclaims the message. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I would put up holiday messages that invite people to not enter your business. Hello!?



The second interesting thing was the supposed apartment. At first I wasn’t sure if it was an apartment but then I noticed the little garden associated with it. Interesting. It is stuff like this that makes me want to know the back story.




We got up early (before the sun) and hit the road again. I am really glad I drove this, at this point. How often do you get the time to listen to good music and chat with your father about a million things as an adult? Trust me. It doesn’t happen and I am thankful for that opportunity.