Well we tried to make it to Indiana from Massachusetts, and after 12 1/2 hours we are now in a lovely roadside motel amongst the bright lights of Mansfield, Ohio. The town boasts a lovely restaurant--at least in the outdoor decorum--called Salsalita, my guess is that it's offers a wide selection of quesadillas, tacos, burritos, salsas, and perhaps a side of guac. Other than our motel, there are three others, each with a two hundred foot tall sign, flashing free breakfast and vacancies, sadly no HBO. I was surprised and a little impressed with the free wifi, which is incredibly fast. Other than two gas stations, the only other attraction to this small town is a large white rectangular building with no windows and a purple flashing sign that says "Adults." Fascinating, but I think Wendy and I will pass.
Many long stretches of highway today through Pennsylvania and Ohio. Both have a lot of road construction, so kudos to those states for keeping alive in this economic down turn. However, I'm not sure who is doing better. Pennsylvania had miles and miles with lanes cordoned off for work to be done with no workers what-so-ever. Ohio on the other hand had long stretches of one lane road with crews working well into the night, perhaps working overtime. Only time will tell I suppose.
This of course is the slow part of the journey as we try to reach our deadline for the wedding in Arizona this weekend. Then we can meander around. We are trying to make it to Tulsa tomorrow to see our friend Andrew and his wife, but we didn't make it as far as I had hoped to day, so we might have to break up the journey with a quick camping expedition in Missouri, any ideas? And Andrew if you're reading this before I talk to you, call me. In other news I'm working on a thesis for regional fm radio and what a traveler can expect of the people there, for instance Massachusetts runs a lot of 90s grundge stations, and the people seem a bit up tight and a little moody--lots of middle fingers, lots of horn honking--like I said a work in progress. My apologies to the people of greater Mass, for now happy trails and see you along the way.
Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri is beautiful. It would depend where you're going through, but the areas around Columbia/Fulton/Jefferson City are nice. You could also camp at the Lake of the Ozarks, but it is sort of like Disney World for drunk, redneck, lake-goers.
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That would have been awesome and actually was the plan, but after laughing at all the Jesus Is Coming To Judge You billboards, I think God got a little miffed, rain ensued and lightning ensued.
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