the great lakes tour, take two

Ohio is made of Jell-o and clouds and beautiful arts-and-crafts period bungalows. Also, Lakewood, OH (a suburb of Cleaveland) has cobblestone streets and a coffee shop that makes mochas with chocolate milk!

Michigan has lots of roadkill. Possibly even more than Oregon. Mostly I saw dead raccoons. Raccoons are charming and cute unless they are eating the eggs out of your cooler when you are camping. Or dead and gory on the side of the highway. Sad dead raccoons. Also, I drank copious amounts of Folger's Coffee while I was in Michigan. I think when they put the bad taste in that stuff they take the caffeine out, because it didn't do much to wake me up.

We stayed in this awesome little cheap road-side motel. I've been a lot of different little cheap road-side motels... not for any illicit reasons, just because I am cheap. This road side motel seriously took the cake. It was scarier than the one I stayed in in a random town in Wyoming that had shag carpet and dark wood paneling and mattress that was probably of the same vintage as the decor. The motel in Michigan did not have a deadbolt or a little door chain on the inside of the room. Instead, it had a little loop of vinyl-coated cable (think like a skinny bike lock cable) that you could put over the doorknob to keep the door closed and secure against any intruders. J tried to tell some jokes about chain saw murderers and Hitchcock films, but I stuck my fingers in my ears and refused to listen.

The water where we were staying was so luxurious and soft! My hair was flat, but my skin felt like I had been to a hot-springs spa.

All in all, I think I like rural Michigan.

Indiana wants you. Don't go back there. Specifically, Indiana seems to want you to Make Babies For The Lord. Drive through as fast as possible. If you want to make some babies, make them on your own terms.

Chicago is still the only part of Illi-noise that I know. oh, except for Rockford. We pulled off at Rockford to go pee and switch drivers, and wouldn't you know it, I got discombobulated and lost trying to get back on the interstate. Specifically, I got on the interstate going in the opposite direction that I was supposed to. Super embarrassing. On the other hand, whatever. At least I know how to plunge a clogged toilet.

The "Welcome to Wisconsin" sign is made out of rusticated logs - very faux Northwoods. It was oddly comforting and made me hungry for some cheese and summer sausage, although to be honest, at that point in time I was pretty hungry anyways, so it might have just been a fluke.

Did you know that East of Illinois on the Great Lakes Tour, they don't have KFC, they have Popeye's chicken? I wonder if they are owned by the same company or what the deal is. Is it too close to Kentucky for people to purchase something that is advertised with Kentucky?

Nevertheless, something about driving through the small towns, truck stops and fall colors made me crave chicken strips. I resisted, but only because J agreed to get pizza when we got back safe and home.