Road Trip 2009: End of Phase Two, Start of Phase Three

Leaving the Gary, Indiana area we had a full day to get to Peru, Indiana so detoured east into Amish country. It was a bit dissapointing; more commercial than I expected but Abby found the horse drawn carriages worth some serious barking. Overall she has toned it down, you can only bark at so many cows when they have practically lined our route but the horses on the road, that was something new.



Jim's first cousin Mimi. Their mothers were sisters.

We arrived at Jim's cousin Mimi's home late in the afternoon and within minutes Abby was in the pool. Weather was perfect for sitting on the patio, drinking wine and eating tasty munchies while Jim and Mimi compared notes and caught up. Mimi's husband Jim arrived home and their son and daughter-in-law joined us for a wonderful dinner along with more conversation. The conversation continued past when I went to bed. Sound familiar?

Abby never did join us in the bedroom but we assumed she had settled on the leather couch in the family room. In the morning we found she had claimed the white sofa in the more formal living room. Once again the princess; Abby charmed her hosts and the house cat was delegated to the basement, outside when Abby was in, or locked in a bedroom.


This morning when we were ready to leave Abby seriously hesitated as if thinking that if we are on a search for a place to stay; this was the best we had found. She really saw no reason to move on. I think it was the pool.

Today we crossed Indiana, Illinois and Iowa farmlands. Jim was going along with my "off the beaten path" itinerary until today. When we crossed the country going east the towns in Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota were fairly far apart and the roads were mostly good. Across Indiana and Illinois the small farm towns were as close at 10 miles apart and speed limits would go from 55 to 45, 35 then 25 through town then return to 55 and then start again. We also ran into road construction; a result of the time of year and perhaps Obama's stimulus efforts. Roads narrowed to a single lane and we often had to stop to wait our turn. At one point we ran into a road closed sign; no detour, nothing. We had to ask for directions to get past the closed road and ended up on narrow dirt roads; a bit more off the beaten path than Jim expected for our primary driving route.

Fortunately in Iowa the towns seemed to spread out a bit more, the country became more rolling and Jim calmed down so we will continue on the backroads.

A few farily worthless observations:

• There seems to be a movement among modest roadside motels to install the bowed shower curtain rods to get more elbow room in the shower. Just about every hotel has the newer shower rods with the old screw holes still evident from the old shower curtains.
• Home of the "Cougars", the "Pirates", the "Bears", etc is the welcoming sign to just about every town as we crossed the northern states. Not so much with this return trip.
• Babies, babies everywhere, but that is a given in the spring. We have seen calves dotted across the landscape in every state we're passed through.
• Branding efforts across the country are hit and miss at best. I should have taken pictures of the signs and banners in each town with a slogan/tag line or other branding effort.
• Scenic, historic, circle routes and byways are far overdone. We seem to be on one or the other almost all the time. I did plan the trip around some of the scenic byways but at times we have been on up to four "signed" routes at one time. If it is not truly a very special scenic or historic route; well signed and easy to follow; forget it.

We're in Osceola, Iowa tonight and will hit the Missouri River tomorrow and take the scenic byway north along the river for a good part of the day. Beyond that, not sure.

We have completed Phase Two of our trip: Friends and Family. Thank you so much to our wonderful friends and family who so graciously hosted us along the way. We would have loved to spend more time with each of you and we have wonderful, warm memories. Each visit was priceless. Our invitation to stay in our guest house is always open and we hope to see you out our way one of these days.

Phase Three has begun: Homeward bound as we wander along scenic byways visiting favorite places and looking for new favorites while avoiding the Interstates.