Peg's Travel Advisory - Safe in Madison, WI

It was a very long day and there's much to tell, but it was such a long day I'm not going to tell it all. The best thing that happened (besides arriving here and seeing Phyllis and her doggies and kitty) was that I never had to see Chicago today. Howzzat???

I got away late from Columbus because Lenette and I went and did a few letterboxes first thing, including one at the Field of Corn sculpture in nearby Dublin:

This piece first struck me as ironic being as how it supplanted an actual cornfield, then I thought it was kind of weird and tweaky, and then I read the interpretive plaques about Sam and Eulalia Frantz who farmed that land from 1935 to 1963, and that's when I realized the setting of the sculpture looks just like a graveyard for their lost farm. So I had a lot of different reactions to this piece of art.

I picked up two other letterbox finds in Ohio and then moseyed into southeast Indiana and did three more, which took me to a beautiful falls hidden under a highway with no sign or anything to tell you it was there; to a covered bridge that's been relocated as the centerpiece of a public park (and learned about the Kennedy brothers who built nearly all the covered bridges in Indiana); and then to a bird sanctuary.

Finally I decided it was getting time that I actually drove somewhere. But the hour was so late I was concerned about going through Chicago during evening rush, so I called Phyllis for a little research on routes and calculating whether it might be to my advantage to keep pushing west into Illinois before making the pitch north. She called a travel agent who said the mileage increase was minimal and it was well worth it because (the part I didn't know) there was substantial construction on the interstate around Chicago. UGH. So I said fine, it's off to central Illinois and congratulated myself for being so smart, and a little later on I got confirmation in the form of a big orange highway sign that was surely NOT approved by the Indiana Department of Tourism:

AVOID
NORTHWEST INDIANA

and had every interstate number possible listed on the sign.

So I did, and in the late afternoon when the haze and humidity and heat ceased, I had a clear, lovely, pleasant drive through parts of Illinois that I'd not seen, including the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Bridge over the Illinois River in Bloomington. It was lovely and the traffic was almost nonexistent.

So I worked my way north through Rockford and finally late tonight just as I passed Beloit and thought I was home free to Madison, I hit the same interstate construction that was supposed to keep me out of Indiana and Chicago. The detour headed me east instead of west, and 30 miles later I learned that it intended to take me east on the interstate all the way to Milwaukee, and return me all the way back to Madison by way of a different interstate. Well THAT was just stupid. Luckily in my detour I passed a US route that I recognized as one that would (eventually, 50 miles later) go right past Phyllis's house. And when it also dead-ended into road construction, I recognized the second route that I knew would do the same thing. Damn it's a good thing I've got a sense of direction and occasionally a useful bit of memory.

Long story but basically I spent the late evening under a beautiful starry sky, mid 50's temps, driving on side roads through a bunch of towns until I finally got to Phyllis's despite the defense perimeter set by the state of Wisconsin.

Just winding down now, will unpack and repack the car in the morning and then be on our way. The name of our advisory will change tomorrow with the increase in personnel, but you'll have to read tomorrow to see that. We intend to make a brief stop in Minneapolis tomorrow to see Marilyn and her wolfhounds, and make Fargo by tomorrow night.

Peg (and Phyllis)

[Postscript: Here's a sweet pic that Knatolee took - top to bottom Phyllis, Ginger, Fred]

-----

Phyllis remembers:

Despite Wisconsin's every attempt to keep out of state travelers out of the state, Peg arrived in a remarkably upbeat mood. I would have been spitting and swearing at all the detours but she is a much more seasoned traveler than I am and is more adjusted to such realities. I am nervous because I have never undertaken a trip this long and am worried that I'm just going to be a drain on her by making her stop much sooner than she would otherwise. But oh well. Great conversation and safety is worth quite a bit on the road.