Adventures of a Road Warrior

After 3 days of driving, I am 200 miles from Rapid City in a little town called Oacoma, SD. I just got back from dinner at the iconic Al's Oasis (called that as it is the only halfway lively place between Mitchell and the Black Hills).

I started out on Tuesday am after spending Monday at Longwood Gardens in PA. Of course, I #@^%! forgot my new digital camera so we have no photos. I've been there several times before, but always in the fall and winter. It is just too beautiful for words with blooming plants around. Go if you have the chance.

Tuesday was uneventful. Drove from Jarrettsville, MD to just south of Toledo OH. Stayed in a nice Holiday Inn Express. Very tired at the end of the day, though. I was off kilter due to not having my own things in my own place and wrote a really whiny blog entry, which I took off the next day.

Yesterday I drove through Chicago. The big news is that I got confused when exiting off I-294 to I-80 and drove right past a toll booth. I was SO upset! I had images of huge fines, being arrested, etc. Taciturn was unhappy when I told him--we both immediately think of the worst that could happen. But I looked online later, and found that the Illinois Dept of Transportation offers an opportunity for atonement . I was so excited when T and I spoke today! He noticed in his travels in NJ today (day trip with his step father) blue signs after toll booths that gave a phone number to call if the toll is missed.

We both feel better.

I drove from Tomah, WI, known as the boyhood home of the creator of the Gasoline Alley comic strip I read as a kid, to central SD today. The speed limit in South Dakota is 75 miles an hour--I drove 80. Amazing how quickly one can get to where one is going at that speed. I passed many people with out of state plates like they were standing still. I'm sure they believed the signs were a ruse to make money for the government in traffic fines.

Tomorrow I arrive before lunch, get the keys to my friend's condo that we will housesit, then go dump a bunch of the boxes I have in the CRV into their proper places in the house. Freedom! THEN--get on the phone and start arranging for house stuff. Taciturn will join me next week.