The Road to Minnesota

Indiana

Wisconsin

Freeway Sunset. Who says you have to live on a tropical island to have knockout sunsets? You can see these right off of I-94! Granted a sunset walk here wouldn't be quite so peaceful. . .

Last Thursday Barbaras parents, Barbara, and I drove from Dayton, Ohio to Minneapolis, Minnesota. We were going to visit Barbara's newlywed sister Jenny and her husband Matt in their new home.

It was a long drive, especially for someone who's gotten used to thinking of the 40 minute drive up to Marpi as a long-haul trip. It took us 13 and a half hours! We could have flown to Japan in less time! Suffice it to say, while I'm all about enjoying the journey, I bet I would have enjoyed the journey more if I were flying! Still, despite the sore bums and cramped legs we managed to have a pleasant trip, and indeed as you can see from these photos there was plenty of beauty to see along the way.

Approaching Chicago: A Skyline Series








Bab's takes it easy in the back seat.

Me at the wheel. I drove about 8 of the 13.5 hours there. I had my trusty ipod (you can see one of the earphones in the photo. I didn't wear them both for safety reasons) to help me while away the hours.

I'm sure I'm a very annoying driver to have on the road. I usually average about 75 to 80 mph on the freeway, but I absolutely refuse to hang on someone's bumper. I don't even like to gain on the driver ahead of me. I like lots of distance between me and the next car--I know my reflexes aren't quick enough to respond to a sudden stop in time if I'm ten feet behind the car in front of me. Most other drivers, however, seem to like stay much closer the car in front of them than I do. So, if I'm in the passing lane and both the car in front of me in my lane as well as the car ahead in the right are going about the same speed, I will hang back. Which means that all impatient folk behind me, will pull around and rush ahead a few yards. . . .so they can hang out right behind the bumper of the next vehicle. A lot of times it's not that I'm going any slower than anyone else in the fast lane. The guy behind me just wants to get those few yards ahead. Ridiculous.


Another sunset shot

"I feel like there's someone behind me. . .Someone very large. . .with a block of concrete cheese in his hand. . ."

These last two photos were actually taken on our return journey, at a gas station in Wisconsin. I had to get a photo of this classic example of kitcshy roadside Americana.