thoughts and other happenings

We've been in 16 states - and will only repeat from here on home. 
Out mid afternnoon stop on Saturday was to Winona Lake, IN.  Yes, it has a lake and other neat things but the reason we stopped was to see Jessica and Daniel.  Our planned 2 hour visit turned into 4 hours as we chatted.  Jess and Linda spent 2 years working on math and other fun subjects. 

We spent Saturday night in a Travelodge in Lima, O. Right location. The free breakfast on Sunday included biscuits and gravy, among other delicacies. I can safely say that the biscuit I attempted to ingest was the toughest I had ever run across, snapping the knife in an attempt to cut it.

Sunday was spent going up and down - mostly for miles and miles.  We debated whether to take the slightly longer route that was mostly interstate or to take a more direct route from Ohio, across WVa and into Va.  The direct route won but after crossing 3 mountains, Linda was done driving so Al took over for the next 4 or was that 44, it was hard to keep track.  Lot of 9% and 10% grades. You may recall our comment about lack of curves in South Dakota. This day more than made up for them. At one point we rounded an upward curve only to meet a doe tip-hoofing across the road. She seemed somewhat put out by our presence. Interestingly, Verizon does not cover those mountains - no service at all.  The bad part of that was we didnt' have a good address for our destination - and couldn't call!!  All ended well and we are relaxing in our second floor condo. We have a nice view of the mountains (duh) out our windows.
  This morning we decided to hike to the top of the mountain to the "observation point." We made it all the way to the top; it was worth it. We measured it about a mile of steepity.