On the Road Again...

June 19th, 8 a.m.

Retrospect is an interesting thing. Had I known how long this first day was going to last, I might have cried a little. We picked up our Chevy Cobalt at the local Enterprise place at 8 and by 9:15 were barreling down Rt. 77 headed toward I-79 in Meadville. Naturally, RTC hadn't bought my Diet Coke so we did a little stopping on the way for snacks and drinks and a box of tissues for the car. I mention the latter item because it will play into the long tale later.

We found Grove City and the I-80 exit and this would be our new home for 2,450 miles. The egress from PA was easy and relatively short, we found ourselves cruising past Akron in no time and the excitement of starting a new trip wasn't wearing off yet. We drove for about three hours and stopped for a bathroom/stretch break just as the first rainshowers began just east of Sandusky. We weren't sure how big the gas tank on the Cobalt was and the needle was on a quarter of a tank so we decided to get some gas. Gas at home was $2.60. Gas on I-80 in Ohio was $3.09. Ouch. We filled up, wrote down the mileage and headed back out into the rain. Traffic was a little heavier in spots and by the time we hit the Indiana border, it was a steady stream of people driving at about 75 miles an hour across a very flat, rather mundane landscape. We found out a thousand miles later that Indiana ain't quite as mundane as other places.

Life moved on in the car, talking, listening to our car song CDs, snacking on some trail mix, just happy travelers...until Illinois. Maybe it was the summer, the day, the month, the moment but we to this day are sure Illinois hates us. Gary, Indiana traffic became heavy and as we approached all the interchanges for Chicago, it became rush hour and rather obnoxious. We moved in tiny increments along the four to six lane highways and then stopped. There were many, many construction zones throughout Illinois and never, EVER did we see anyone working, however the lanes narrowed down and everyone had to do the merge dance over and over again from Gary to Joliet, Ill. After about two hours of this (nice entrance to the Midwest) we recognized the source of the hold-up. Not construction, not rush hour, no, a wicked accident with two semis and a car. One of the semis was a twisted burned mess. Both sides of the highway were nearly shut down to one lane and we quit whining, grateful it wasn't us.

Through Joliet, we picked up speed and started noticing how awful the sky looked. Slate grey and low to the ground, lightning started sparking all over the place and then the rain began. I learned the first lesson about my husband at this point. We stopped to get gas, I had been driving so we switched seats. Gas mileage...37 mpg....not too shabby. Back on the highway and within about ten minutes, the worst torrential rain that you could imagine. Lack of visibility was not a problem for RTC though. He kept driving as quickly as possible to make up the lost time. I nearly had heart failure. If you are reading this as a friend, you know my weather issues when it comes to driving. Snow and torrential rain are not my pals. I held on, put my brakes on and nagged him to keep slowing down for a good twenty miles. When the wind was blowing barrels from the construction zones across into our lane, I think he realized it was a bit hazardous and rather than see me fall apart any more, we took an exit off the highway. We parked in a service area and ate some things we had packed and hung out for a half hour or so until the rain slowed down. At this point, about nine hours into our trip, we realized it was going to be a long ride.

Illinois fell behind us and just as the sun was hanging in the sky toward sunset, we crossed the Mississippi in Davenport, Iowa and saw only blue sky ahead. In terms of beauty, Illinois on I-80 was not very stellar. Iowa however, became my favorite state up to this point. The crops were growing, the gently rolling land and large vistas were beautiful. They also have the coolest rest stops of all the states we visited. Free internet at all stops and the outsides are decorated with very cool sculpture type pillars and walkways. Clean, neat and informative with their radar screens and hi-tech maps, it felt like a nice place to stop. While they had vending machines, they did not have the fast food joints that lot of the states sport and no gas. We had a stretch and headed back into the car. My turn to drive. I'll save the fun stuff for the next installment. To be continued.....