Travel Tales

As we visited family in Indiana last week, a few thoughts on traveling . . .

Ohio truly seems to be the land of milk and honey. We had torrential rainfall through Pennsylvania which stopped completed for the entirety of Ohio, while birds flew overhead and unicorns pranced in nearby glens, and then picked up again immediately upon entering Indiana. Really, it was bizarre. Of course, on the way back, we got pummeled badly near Cleveland in a thunderstorm which included hail. So I guess it evened out.

The entire trip takes about nine and a half hours so on some trips we stop for the night, and on other trips drive straight through. On our way to Indiana on Saturday night, after we secured our cherished Cottage Inn Pizza off the Ohio turnpike in Toledo, we stayed the night in the nearest hotel, a Hotel 6. The room had no closet, substituting a clothes rack with a shelf at one end of the room. Carol decided to hang her coat on the rack and put her purse on the shelf above. Consequently, I woke up several times during the night to see a figure standing beside the bed. I started every single time before realizing that it was Carol’s coat and purse. In the morning, when I told everyone about what I dubbed the “Scarolcrow”, Rachel and Carol herself reported having the same scares during the night. Nothing like a little family-induced terror to keep you at your peak.

While visiting family, we go out to eat a lot. I enjoy it because we've cut back considerably on our eating out here at home and there are several places in Indiana I like to go. The side effect, of course, is that I gained four pounds during the visit.

Having a well-organized travel kit makes me feel content and happy.

Ben caught his first fish, a rather large catfish. In fact, he caught two while fishing in the Elkhart River with his Grandfather. That was really cool. In fact again, he caught his second fish during the "two minute warning" I gave him to stop fishing. That was cool too, but I'm still considering grounding him for waiting until the last second.

And now a political note to some in my family: Just because you have no curiosity, always vote Republican and haven't done the least amount of research, it does not mean that Barack Obama has NEVER ARTICULATED WHAT HE STANDS FOR. Sheesh. Do some basic research. It's not hard. We have something new called the Internet. It has all kinds of information on it. Or, you could have watched one of the fifty-four Democratic debates.

Oh, and there are other issues in American politics besides taxes.