And We’re Off…
It’s Tuesday as I type this. We’re heading east on Interstate 74, 50 miles outside of Indianapolis. We’re listening to the Eurythmics’ “Here Comes the Rain Again”. We’ll be giving our friend, Dave, a call once we get a little closer to Indianapolis to arrange to meet him. We just stopped at a wayside rest near Hillsboro, IN to use the restroom and to give Jake a chance to “find a spot.” While walking Jake behind the wayside rest building, we spotted a few different kinds of wild flowers – very pretty. And, there are many flowering (cherry and crab apple, maybe?) trees along the highway.
We spent last night in Rock Falls, IL, visiting my grandma. My real grandma on my mom’s side passed away when I was about 4 years old, and my grandpa re-married a couple years later to this grandma (Nadine) that we visited. She’s 95 years old, and is doing pretty darn well for her age. Her memory is slipping, but she remembered both me and Dan. We last saw her in 2001 when we visited her on our way home from our trip to southeast United States (Indianapolis to visit Dave, Great Smoky Mountains, Florida, New Orleans, St. Louis, MO). She did seem a bit more frail and less talkative than what we remembered, but we did see quite a few moments of the usual joking and kidding grandma. For example, she apparently doesn’t like taking her pills, so she stalls, re-arranging them on the table. Then, she says, “You mean I have to take all of these?” and looks my way to give me a wink.
We had a fun time visiting with Grandma and her daughter, Barb, and son-in-law, John. Since Barb is allergic to dogs, we set up our tent next to their driveway on the side of their house. We had originally planned to pitch the tent in their back yard, but it was too wet from the heavy rain they had last Sunday.
It’s now Wednesday, and we’re sitting outside a Panera Bread in Indianapolis. Both yesterday and today have been beautiful days, weather-wise. Jake’s near the table, soaking in the sun and — I’m sure — enjoying being out of the truck for awhile. After we got into Indianapolis yesterday, we went with Dave to a restaurant with an outdoor patio so that Jake could hang out under/near our table. After having dinner and a few beers, we drove out to Dave’s friends, Jennifer and Justin, who live about 20 minutes from downtown Indianapolis. We hung out in their back yard, drinking wine for awhile and, then, went inside and watched the movie, “Walk the Line”. Jennifer and Justin seem like really fun people and are very generous to let us camp in their backyard. We’ll be staying one more night in Indianapolis and then be continuing on tomorrow morning.
Tags: Dave, grandma, Indianapolis, U.S. Segment 1
timdan2
Hey guys, glad to hear the trip is going well. I’m having a good time checking in on you every few days!
Its nice you were able to stop in and see Grandma. They probably told you that you just missed Becky and Glen….they swung through town last Friday on their way to Milwaukee.
Continue to have fun and safe travels….I’m looking foward to reading more!
Chris