Day 2 – June 6, 2015

I think how I will approach each day is simply a random list of what I learned.

Starting off at the top of the heap, I would like to congratulate Pennsylvania on actually doing something with the tolls they collected from me.  Their road wins the prize, if there was ever one to give out.  Dead last, at the bottom of the barrel, equivalent to driving on the surface of the moon, would be Ohio.  I really feel like asking for my money back because that was rough.  Indiana was pretty bad as well.  But nothing, I mean nothing, can compete with the bone-jarring status of the Ohio Turnpike.  It just hurt.

You know those windmills that are supposed to generate power that you hear about on the news.  Well they are big… like huge.  They look other-wordly in their size.

Pennsylvania is mountainous.  I would have to say I felt like I was in the perpetual state of climbing today.  And I never felt rewarded with enough descents.  Just up, up, up, and up some more.  I did learn that the Allegheny Mountain tunnel is a wormhole.  When you enter, life is all bright and sunny.  When you exit out the other side, you literally have entered a new climate.

I hate toll roads.  And I think service plazas are a racket.  But at about the 2nd stop I was beginning to like the fact that I didn’t have to fuel up, find food, and find my beloved Starbucks at different spots.  Nope.  All right there for the taking.

Chicago is big.  And Chicago has a lot of people.  Most of which are very inconsiderate drivers, taking into account that driving this rig isn’t like stopping a Yaris.  I could only imagine myself, if I happened to rear-end someone, not letting off the gas just for spite.  Then I realize I can’t just be Jesus to people in Fredericksburg.  I have to be Jesus to people everywhere.  They are fortunate.  Another thing about Chicago is that driving up to, through, and out of is just plain – not sure how to phrase this – ugly.  I’ve been in Chicago and love the downtown area.  But outside, it looks like a scene from ‘I Am Legend.’

The boys are great travelers.  You just have to have snacks, license plate bingo, books, more snacks, an endless supply of wet wipes and patience, movies, a good play list, and more snacks.  They enjoy seeing all of the new sites.  I am reminded that practically everything they see is new to them.  That alone is worth the trip.

All of the trip today it has snowed.  We couldn’t figure it out until the host here at the campground said it from cottonwood trees.  I have heard of cottonwood trees and read about them in my Roosevelt biographies.  But the white cotton coating the grass is something to behold.

Route: Bedford, PA to Morengo, IL

Campground: Lehman’s Lakeside RV Resort  (Not sure where the lake is)

Time: Left 7:30AM ET.  Arrived 5:45PM CT. 11 Hrs 15 Mins