Definition of a long day of driving:
Mornings:
“Let's Go!!”
“Leaving Massachusetts, woo hoo!”
“Look, an adorable wood chuck on the side of the road! Slow down so I can take a picture”
Singing along to every song with gusto
Graciously letting other cars cut into my lane
In traffic: “Well, at least we’re not at work!”
Afternoons:
“Will this day never end?”
Me: “What state are we in?”. Passenger: “No idea.”
“Friggin’ wood chuck, stepping into the road and making me hit the brake! Who the hell does he think he is??”
Skipping one song after another, and then riding in silence for an hour, because all of them suck
Traffic speed drops to 65 MPH: “What is wrong with you people! Doesn’t anyone in this state know how to drive?”
And in our case, multiply that by 9 days. Yup, that’s right. In our infinite wisdom, we decided to drag this road trip out for 9 whole days! Today is day 4. I’m grateful to say that it’s been 4 uneventful days, but I’ve got to say, it’s getting a little tedious.
I’m a bit disappointed at the lack of diversity that this country has to offer so far. Granted, the scenery has changed, but not as much as I expected.
At first, we enjoyed the sharp tree-lined hills of Massachusetts and New York. On our second day, those gave way to the open fields of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and then to the vast expanses of farm land in Indiana. But really, those three states are very similar: mostly flat and full (FULL) of corn fields. Pennsylvania: “Look, a big corn field!”. Ohio: “Look, a REALLY big corn field”. Indiana: “WHOA, now that’s a BIG corn field”. And then there’s a big soy field. And then a big corn field, followed by a big soy field. Corn, soy, corn, soy. Repeat, ad nauseum.
I gotta ask: exactly how much corn do we really need, people? Cuz there’s a CRAP TON of corn growing across this country. An absolutely mind-boggling quantity of corn. We may be corn addicts in this country, if this trip is any indication.
Yesterday we explored Indiana Dunes National Park. It was a great park… if you love sand. You know how you go to the beach in New England, and by the end of the day, you’re pretty sick of the sand being on everything? Well, that’s the story of Indiana Dunes. The whole park is just a massive quantity of SAND!
I guess we’re spoiled, living in New England. Massive quantities of sand are just not all that appealing, thanks to our frequent trips to the shore. I thought the dunes must be an impressive thing, since there is a whole national park devoted to them. But really, it’s just a vast quantity of sand, with park rangers to point it out to you.
Still, despite not being excited about a massive quantity of sand, we decided to explore the park anyways. I mean, I spent a whopping $6 for admission to this park, so I wanted to get my money’s worth! We decided to hike a trail called “Diana of the Dunes”, which was described as a 1-mile easy hike, mostly on a boardwalk and wooden stairs. This sounded perfect, since it was a super-hot day, and I was in a hurry to get back into the air-conditioned car. So, we found the trail head and headed off.
Now, here’s where we got into trouble. Being smart New Englanders, we knew that wearing sandals in the sand is a lot more comfortable than ending up with your sneakers full of sand. So we wisely both wore our sandals. Of course, since it was a hiking expedition, we were both smart enough to wear supportive, buckle-up sandals – aren’t we smart? Spoiler alert: No, we’re not that smart.
There’s one thing we didn’t count on. You know how sometimes you go to the beach, and it’s a hot day, and the sand is so hot that your feet are burning as you hop across to your beach blanket? Well, that’s the type of sand we had to cross over to get to the wooden boardwalk trail. At first, we thought we’d just tough it out and cross quickly. A few steps in, we considered turning back, but decided to press on, picking up the pace. And about 10 seconds later, we both turned and started RUNNING back the way we came, with a chorus of “Ow ow ow” as our feet were scorched by the hot sand, which was not deterred in any way by our flimsy footwear.
Yeah, so that was fun. Instead of hiking any trails, we walked on the pavement to the edge of the beach area, where we were able to view Lake Michigan. As advertised, it’s big. As I’d been told, it looks like the ocean. In fact, it’s even got waves. If I showed you a picture of this beach, you’d swear it was taken in New England at Salisbury or Hampton. It’s EXACTLY the same.
We did get a hazy glimpse of Chicago over the lake, which was cool. And then we took a self-guided tour of the Century of Progress houses, which was the best part of the day for me. I love architecture, especially when it comes to homes, so it was fun to see these concept “futuristic” homes that were designed for the 1933 World’s Fair. One was round and made almost entirely of glass, and has an airplane hanger in the basement! Wonder why that never caught on, LOL. All were interesting to look at and read about.
So that’s was our day at Indiana Dunes National Park.
Today, we got back on the road, and passed from Indiana to Iowa, before landing in Omaha, Nebraska for the night. Tyler and I have been ranking the states as we pass through them, with our criteria for ranking being:
Prettiness, as viewed from the highway while passing by at 70 mph
Interest, as determined by how many times we’re inspired to google something
Annoyance, as determined by the number of billboards and construction sites, and the monotony factor (corn, corn and more corn).
Our rankings so far are:
1. Massachusetts
2. Iowa – DISPUTED
3. New York – DISPUTED
4. Illinois
5. Pennsylvania
6. Indiana
7. Ohio
Iowa and New York are disputed, because Tyler and I disagree on them. Tyler prefers the sharp hills and winding roads of New York. I fell in love with the sweeping ranges of farmland in Iowa, topped by gently spinning wind turbines. We haven’t ranked Nebraska yet, because we only saw 3 minutes of it before we got to our hotel.
Boredom had definitely set in this afternoon. We started keeping track of which side is winning the billboard war - right now Jesus billboards are slightly outnumbering Adult Superstore billboards, though its close.
We had a protracted discussion this afternoon about whether or not Iowa is hilly. I maintain that it is. Tyler argues that those aren’t real hills, mostly because they are not as steep as Massachusetts hills. I say they are just as high, but drawn out over a longer area. Tyler says they are mini-hills. I say they are just about mini-mountains, nearly the size of Mount Watatic. Tyler says they are bluffs. I say bluffs are only on the coasts. The conversation went on in this vein for over an hour. Yeah, we’re a bit bored.
But that’s to be expected. It’s part of the package on a road trip. Not every spot in the country is breath taking. Tomorrow we push on toward Colorado, where we’ll see what the Rockies have to offer. I just hope its not more corn.
G'night all.
Kimba
State signs, Mississippi River, Odometer milestone, Century of Progress House.
© Kimberlee Martin, 2021. All rights reserved.
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