Holiday Road...

Well, on with the trip... Friday, June 19th was The BIG DAY. A two week vacation. Nothing felt better earned or more deserved. Scott had been working like a mad man at work for the last few months and the semester was finally over for me, so we both felt like the best medicine for all the stress was to get going on the road. The morning was spent cleaning the house and making our final preparations for the trip.

Our friend Brooke agreed to stay at the house while we were gone- which was such a relief because this was the longest trip we've ever taken and had some "quirky" things around the house that needed to be overseen... Mainly Sly, the pool, my little vegetable garden and my worm compost that I have set up in the kitchen... That is an entirely separate post, but I'm so proud of my Vermicompost! Those little guys have helped to make my little garden 100% organic!!! Anyway, Brooke was fantastic and agreed to feed the worms our scraps periodically and to ensure their bedding in the tub was moist. Phew!

We left in the late morning after all was taken care of; loaded up our own Family Truckster, monster dogs (which I lovingly like to call the pooches!)and headed on our way. Our trip led us through familiar highways and byways... we had made this tip before to visit Scott's parents in Indiana, but never during the summer.

Here's a quick run through of the first 36 hours or so of the trip (because the fun doesn't start till we get to Indiana!!)

New Mexico:

Don't get me wrong. New Mexico is an absolutely beautiful state with lots of majestic desert landscape. In fact it's somewhere I'd like to explore more than I have (I've only been to Albuquerque and Santa Fe). However. Being the early part of the trip combined with our excitement to get on the road and to Indiana to see Scott's family it TOOK FOREVER. One thing I've learned from this whole experience is that whoever got together to plan out the Interstate system never really gave much thought to how scenic they were. I know for sure that it has to be the lesser traveled roads that meander through the good stuff! The most notable part was driving through Las Cruces. It's a city built near White Sands during the height of the Atomic Age. All of the buildings in the city seem stuck in a time warp from that era, with some wonderful examples of Jetson-esque architecture. The strange thing was that much of it was deserted, testimony to times past. It was really a trip to drive through the heart of that city!

Texas:

Ugh. Again. I was driving when we made it to Texas. And it was dark. And raining.

Oklahoma:

We finally stopped to sleep once we made it to Oklahoma. I like Oklahoma. With it's rolling hills, picturesque farmland, and genuinely nice people, it's really pretty this time of year. And Oklahoma City seems like a pretty interesting place to explore (mental note!) By this point the dogs had pretty much settled into their new life on the road. Brea passed out in her usually spot, vicariously perched on the back seat (that cannot be comfortable, but that's always where she lays!) and Milo periodically perched on the cooler so he can inspect the landscape and comment on Scott's driving abilities (always the backseat driver!).

Missouri:

I'm conflicted about Missouri. The terraine is beautiful, and wonderfully green in the summer. But humid. Oh so very humid. And we've noticed something also very peculiar the last few times we drove through the state. It's littered with a ridiculous amount of "Adult Shops." Which are usually either across the street from, or (even more peculiar) right next door to churches. It's very strange. Oh well. They must go hand-in-hand. Interstate 44 runs diagonal through the state from Oklahoma City, through Springfield, and up to St Louis. The Mississippi River flows through the center of the city, and it's really something to see (and luckily we get to cross it again later, but in a different state!)

Again, I was driving when we hit St. Louis. I'm usually a pretty good driver when it comes to traffic, however at this point I'm still not used to driving the tank that is Scott's van. It's just so big- my little car could totally fit inside of his van, with room left over for the dog's to catch a Frisbee. I get nervous, especially passing big semi's because it's hard to judge the width of the van, especially when I'm so used to being in a compact car that hugs the road... And it was hot. And oh so humid. And a number of other things. But somehow I missed our exit for I70. And ended up lost.

St Louis is such a strange city. From the highway you can see glimmers of it's once grandeur... with it's victorian houses, brownstones and factories. But once deeper into the city it's apparant that so much of the once beautiful city is dilapidated and abandoned. So making a wrong turn kinda sucks.


Also notable is that it was Scott that finally got us back to the highway, but only after some exploring of the city...After driving past many, many abandoned buildings with barely a person to be found, we came to a roadblock in a little neighborhood where there appeared to be some sort of Biker's BBQ... we saw hundreds of motorcycles and their leather-clad riders eating, drinking, etc... I think Scott wanted to stay and hang out. :)

Illinois:

Due to me missing our exit for I70 (which would have brought us up through Indiana via Indianapolis) we decided to opt for I55 through Illinois up to Chicago. Illinois is beautiful. Lots of rolling fields of corn. The oppressive heat and humidity in St Louis carried up into Illinois, and as we hit the interstate we could see a gurgling, churning storm to the west of us. Only then the highway shifted and the storm was in front of us and we were driving right into the epicenter. I have always heard of "Tornado Alley." But mild excitement and curiosity at seeing one and actually driving through one are two totally different things. Before we actually hit the brunt of the storm, we saw the clouds ahead, and noticed 3 little funnel clouds forming. Then we hit a crazy storm. The rain was so heavy that it was almost like a white out during a snow storm. All of the cars on the highway slowed and moved into the right lane to fallow each other out of the storm. One strike of lighting was so close Scott felt the vibrations through the gas pedal. It was pretty hairy. (And boy am I glad he was driving- even if he got a good laugh out of my overly cautious freak out!) Eventually we muddled through and it cleared up almost as quickly as it had appeared. From there it was smooth sailing through Springfield, Illinois (birthplace of Lincolin). We stopped at an absolutely beautiful reststop so that the dogs could run out some of their stress from the storm (They HATE thunder and lighting- almost more than fireworks!) and we had a nice little picnic. I really like Illinois. It's really beautiful!