On The Road: Indy to Illinois

Diary

Coffee with Meggo, and a run with their young whippet at the Eagle Creek dog park. It was great, 30 dogs running and mock-fighting and splashing in a muddy pond--dog heaven. I notice the trees are bare.

Michael returns from singing at his church, and then the three of us brunch somewhere corny. I promised to come down to see them and take in an opera in three weeks. Goodbyes, and I fold myself in one last time, between all those boxes.

Rolling from Indy, past downtown Chicago's skyline glimmering in the late sun, to Hoffman Estates, in only 3 1/2 hours. A good omen for future visits with my Indy friends. Unpacked the car (I wonder what the front desk thought when I wheeled the large cart past them for a fifth time). Too much pasta and too much chianti for dinner. Some paperwork that I had forgotten to do for my first day at work--tomorrow morning! Then sleep. Not enough sleep, but sleep. Sleep, every bone aching, but sleep.

First night as a resident of Illinois. Right--me and worm-eaten Jimmy Hoffa and Dishonest Abe.

PICTURES (ca. 450KB, 1 1/2 minutes by phone modem) of the wonderful drive from Florida to Illinois, by clicking just below.

An example of the unexpectedly lovely houses lining the main street (US 441) in Madison, Georgia.
 

The Confederate memorial in the park, Madison, Georgia. These men died, too, and calling the Yankee invasion a "Civil War" will never make it one. The memorial inscription reads: "TO THE SOLDIERS OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY WHO DIED TO REPEL UNCONSTITUTIONAL INVASION, TO PROTECT THE RIGHTS RESERVED TO THE PEOPLE, TO PERPETUATE FOREVER THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE STATES." And rightly so.
 

US 441 through the western tip of North Carolina.
 

My car is totally confused. 24 hours before this photo, it had never been outside Florida--"Can we go back home now?" Sorry.
 

Pointing the camera up, from a nice stop in Tennessee...
 

...and pointing the camera down at exactly the same spot.
 

Romping with the dogs Sunday morning. How many different personalities in this picture?
 

Passing through northern Indiana. I don't think we're in Florida any more.
 

All this stuff fit in my car.
 
1. The car rides much higher now.
2. I'm waiting for the hotel floor to start sagging.