Wednesday

  We buzzed through northern Ill and Wisc today, seeing hundreds more of the wind generators. Ironically, many of them framed a nuclear plant in the distance. We landed at my mom's place mid-afternoon. She is doing great following the up-or-down surgery of a few months ago. The dr. who gave her a stainless steel artery told her she should live another 40 years (so she'd be about 124), so my sister Cindy and I are trying to get her to take up sky-diving, with or without a parachute.
  Cruel? You don't know my mom. She has a marvelous sense of humor, some of which rubbed off on me. She intends to live her life and not curl up in a corner. She's already planning another road trip. I've met nearly all of her 10 siblings and they were all the same. Pity parties are not allowed.
  We're tucked away in a hotel that used to be a train engine repair shop. Tracks still run through the cement-floored lobby. Neat place.
 

Normal Illinois

  We're in Normal this evening, which begs a serious question. If this is Normal, then is Philadelphia abnormal? We have some comfort that, at least for this evening, we are normalized.
  If you have not experienced the plains, consider this. There sure is a lot of sky here. Tooling up I-57, there is nothing for miles and miles except miles and miles. Corn and soy bean fields. A few farmers do it differently: soy beans and corn fields - all green. And overhead, from horizon to horizon - bright blue sky. We also saw some wind farms; bladed turbines cranking away, one of which was more than a hundred generators spread across miles of flatland.
 
 

The Tree House

  6/27 - We trekked a coupla miles to a tree house. Dull huh? This particular tree house is about five stories high, quite sturdy, and has a 40' chapel in the middle of the third floor. It was built largely with scrap lumber and makes use of about half-a-dozen stout trees for support. It apparently has been a family project for at least two generations. I can't get the photos from camera to computer for a while, but imagine Frank Lloyd Wright on LSD.

 

The squirrel brigade visited today. Linda chatted
with them and they posed, but finding no handouts,
headed for other decks.

NJ-ites - Regular gas is about 3.33/gal. Hmmm.
   The NJ legislature bill on state pensions is a topic of discussion here also.

Emily loves me

  Our nephew, Jason, and his family live in Knoxville. Emily, their boxer, and I are now best buddies. She thinks I'm cute and I think she has a funny nose. We spent most of the day with Jason's family and his sister, Lisa, and her family. It was fun in lots more ways than I can list.
  I've noticed a few more things about this area. 1) there are Cracker Barrels on every corner, 2) Kudzu creeps over trees like the Blob, literally eating the trees, 3) There really is something we call southern hospitality.
  Back on the home front, our sensational daughter, Malayna, ran a triathlon yesterday. Oddly, she was tired afterwards. Nice goin' sweetheart.
 

Sights we've seen

The country side is beautiful - and the weather has helped in that department!  It's interesting to see what people dream up to put on their license plates!  Some of the "best" we've spotted - ICUR4ME  LV2STEP       BXCITED       PNUTZ2        AKROCKY    MEFRODO    and on pick up trucks in VA - HDHUNTR and HRNHTR.  There were many more but those were highlights.  We've spotted plates from 16 states so far. 

In Knoxville, we finally found the building where our boss used to visit - it was a company but is now a federal court building!!!!  We had to visit the historical society to find out which building it was. 

Deep in the woods

AJ - "When you hear the whistle blowin' eight-to-the-bar,
          then you know that Tennessee is not very far ----"
If you don't know the quote - too bad.
We passed tornado damage today along I-81. Trees broken like politicians' promises. NJ looks a tad better, wherein nobody is really sure if tornadic winds actually occurred. Mighty-purdy country hereabouts.
We're in our lodge among the hardwoods; quiet.

Yes, Santa, there is a Virginia

AJ - My gorgeous wife and I tooled into southern VA this fine day, accumulating a couple of observations.
1. I-81 in VA is a very nice rd.
2. VA is a beautiful state. The drive was a tour of lovely mountains and countryside.
3. We saw the remains of a horrific accident on the north-bound side of 81. Rubber-neckers had the south-bound lanes tied up for about 10 miles.
4. Outside our window this evening we see one of the aforesaid mountains. Mayhaps we shall wander about a bit in the gloamin'.
5. We are aware of some who disdain chain restaurants of all stripes. I am not one of that ilk, for a standardized menu and processes yields reliable products, which is not all bad.
6. We penned some ideas for another jaunt to our memories, perhaps to engage in their exploration at a future date.

day one - ups and downs

 We got up early so we left early.  As we crossed into Delaware, we saw a rainbow - really cool.  Then it rained on us.  Oh, well.
 The rest of the day was great weather.  Traffic ground to a halt along 81 - but we got off almost right away and took a few scenic miles on Rt. 11. 

Packing

June 23 - Why does packing for a trip take longer than the trip? I has to be something like Spenser's algorithm, which states: any object dropped in a barthroom will always end up behind the toilet.