Nothing half so much worth doing…

To paraphrase a famous quote from The Wind and the Willows:

Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply taking a road trip. 

Even though the weather was abysmal, as you can see from this one-handed phone photo, my spirits were high as I took to the road towards my first night’s stop in South Dakota.  Illinois had its usual wonderful combination of lots of traffic and toll roads with the rain and construction thrown in just for spice.  I whiled the miles away listening to a book on CD and wishing I could use cruise control.

I make two stops during the ten hour drive.  The first is always a combination cheese and fuel (and bathroom) stop in Mauston, Wisconsin where I stock up on cheese and a bag of fresh, squeaky cheese curds.  It amuses me each year that I buy cheese in a town whose first part of its name, Maus, means “mouse” in German, although the city’s website gives this as the origin of the name:

Mauston’s unique name originally was “Maughs Town,” named after its founder Milton Maugh.

Missing Person

Stopped at a rest area during a trip, I found these glasses, but no one with them.  I hope they weren’t needed for distance or that the person who left them wasn’t driving!

What do you take on the road?

It’s Friday and the alarm will be sounding very early for my 13-hour trip to Philadelphia, with a side stop in Akron, Ohio to take on a chair.  To maximize the possibility of a great trip, there are certain things I have to have.

Driving through the French countryside

One of the joys of my trip has been our daily drives through the countryside near (and a bit farther away) from my s-i-l’s house.  Here’s a sampling of photos from the trip we took the same day we saw the travail.  The roof of this church’s steeple show the classic colorful Burgundian tile.  Even the smallest villages often have a large church.  I imagine it was a place where people who were often far from neighbors could get together at least once a week.

One of the things I like about France is that they remember history.  Everywhere you go, you see monuments to the soldiers killed in WWI and WWII.  Sometimes there are only one or two names, sometimes many; sometimes the surnames are, sadly, all from the same family.  These are men killed by Germans in WWI.

Rudes of the road

Having done quite a lot of traveling in the last year, I’ve once again been thinking about driving:  what makes it pleasant and what doesn’t.  You’ve heard about “rules of the road”.  Well, put that on its head and let’s look at some “rudes of the road.”  I’ve seen all of these much too often recently and perhaps you can identify with one or more.  Here they are, in no particular order.

For the rude driver wannabe, here are my suggestion, based on a much-too-close
study of drivers over the years:

1.  Never ever use your blinker/signal or if you do, don’t use it until you’ve actually made the move.  Why let anyone know in advance?  That would spoil the surprise.

2.  At night, when approaching another car, be sure to use your brights as long as possible.

3.  If I’m not driving fast enough for you, please get as close to the back of my van as possible.  That really makes me want to go faster.  In fact, if you just get into the back, you’ll save gas!

4.  Be sure not to use your cruise control if you have one.  It’s so much more fun if you takes turns speeding up and passing me, then slowing down so that I have to pass you and speeding up as I attempt to do so.   Then drop back almost out of sight before hitting the gas and steadily getting right behind me.  I especially like it if you try to pass (but not too fast, mind you), right as I approach the back of a truck, forcing me to either pull out or hit the brake.

5.  If a sign says that your lane is going to end in a mile, be sure not to move over until you have 10′ left before crashing.  Of course, everyone already in the correct lanes will be happy to have you push in front of them, again preferably without signalling.  If there’s a crash, it couldn’t possibly your fault.

6.  If driving in town, please crank your music up as loudly as possible, then open your windows so that we can all hear.  It’s even more fun if your bass not only shakes your car but mine, too, and drowns out what you might think consider melody and lyrics.
(I have to confess to several times turning up classical music as loudly as possible when next to someone doing this (without looking at them, of course), much to the chagrin of our younger daughter.)  🙂

Addendum:  7.  When you pass me and no one else is around, please pull in as soon as possible, preferably less than a car-length away, so that I have to hit my brakes.  To make it even better, slow down just enough that I have to pass you and start the entire cycle over again.  (Thanks for the reminder, Adam.)

How does your driving make me feel?  Here’s a hint.

On the road again

When I was growing up, we’d leave for vacation early in the morning when the air was still cool.  The traffic light at our corner was changing, but no one was there to see it except us.  That was always the start of vacation.

I got a new attitude.

“You’ve got a real attitude” is not generally considered to be a compliment. But you can have an attitude if you want…a good one (or at least, a better one than you woke up with.) It’s easier than you think. 

Orange season in Ohio

Bet you didn’t know we grow oranges in Ohio at this time of year.  Really.  They grow everywhere.

Road trip, southwest style, day 2

I wake at 4 again this morning, eye the clock, then decide, “No, too early”, considering my later night last night and the faint caffeine and brain buzz that kept me just this side of the edge of sleep for awhile.  Besides, today I don’t have to cross two time zones, losing two hours in one day.

Road trip, southwest style, Day 1, expanded

As I leave the Phoenix area, the sun comes up behind the mountains, making them look black and one-dimensional.  Driving a new car makes life interesting as I don’t know automatically where all the controls are.