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Today, I'm grateful that the longest leg of my trip is behind us!
When we woke up this morning in DuBois, PA, the idea had been to go take a quick dip in the pool. Unfortunately it was raining, so instead we hit the exercise room (equipment dating from approximately 1986). Then, I put our suitcases back up in the luggage rack. Very serious business. Good thing I knew where my rainjacket was in my mess of luggage!
We stopped down the road in Brookville, PA, for some breakfast at the Breezeway Cafe. We were the only non-locals, for sure: the breakfast special was $5.50 and the waitress was about as polite as possible. Brookville seems like a really sweet little town, full of patriots (flags!), cute old Northeast buildings, and a farmer's market complete with Amish farmers. I bought homemade elderberry jam from the cafe after having it on my toast.
Favorite road sign leaving PA: "Buckle up - next million miles."
Then we passed through Ohio. We miscalculated, thinking we were making great time - I looked at the map, and we were nearly at the fold, which I thought was the next state border. "Oh look," I cried, "we're nearly to..." (opening map, pause)..."Sandusky!" Sandusky (dead center of Ohio) is not nearly as exciting as the next state line (sorry, Sandusky). But Joliet was just over the Illinois border, so we'd be there in no time...
Then we realized we had forgotten to add in Indiana. The entire state. My mother went to graduate school in Indiana, too! We got a little down when we remembered Indiana.
This is pretty much what it looked like for seven hours today, plus crossing the Allegheny and the Cuyahoga and passing the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery and the College Football Hall of Fame (for real, did not make that one up):
We are definitely out of Bierstadt country and into the cornfields, where the stalks are tall and the vowels are flat. Downside: serving sizes are of the 800-calorie plus variety; upside: people are mindblowingly nice and pleasant (compared to what I'm accustomed to!) But I am enjoying seeing the land change. It is appropriate to me to watch the landscape change, to take this change in myself and this move very slowly, to not be abrupt but to see how things and places and people shift and grow and evolve into very different things and places and people - naturally.
Tomorrow we drive from Morris, IL, across Illinois & Iowa and then arrive in time for my dad to grill us some steaks in Bellevue, NE, and then have two days off the road.
I'm so grateful for my cats behaving well and not puking all over everything (Bruno was recently diagnosed with feline gluttony - true story - a feline version of bulimia, which he does when he is stressed and needs attention); for frequent "sleeper" points that have earned us 2 free nights in hotels; for hotel pools; for my mother's company; for sleep; for being on the road.
Biggest lifesaver so far: Feliway cat pheromone spray. Controlled substance in NYC. Apparently people were using it to get high. Cat pheromone spray. Yes.
State count to date: 6 (NY, NJ, PA, OH, IN, IL)
Truck partner: Werner the blue truck, headquartered in Omaha. Will we see him tomorrow too?
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