"Central America" - Mid-West and Great Lakes States
	Day 6:  Thursday, October 10, 2002

I know you've all been dying to know if everything here is corn fields and people who talk funny.  Well, no, I've yet to hear anyone talk funny.  (Sure, there are some that pronounce Illinois with an "s" at the end, but those heard weren't while we were in Illinois.)  As for the corn... there's is a bit of it around.  Why, just this morning, leaving the motel, we encountered large quantities of it, not 10 feet from our location.

After setting up the bill (Super 8 makes you pay at the end, Motel 6 at the beginning... and those are the only two we've stayed at this trip so far), we were on the road.  I was a bit surprised at how alert Baldie was today, but then again, he'd been up since 3:56am for reasons I can only guess.  (The tossing and turning between 4am and 6am didn't help him sleep, nor I... we were both pretty much awake from 4am forward, although I got to nap as we drove.)

A few minutes past 7am, the sun broke free of the horizon.  If you care, look at it.

About 8:30am, we popped into Bloomington, Illinois to have a look see.  We found a catholic church, and across the street, a catholic school -- where traditions of applying toilet paper to your friend's house have extended to your school, too.  I figured in celebration of this being October, we should spend some time in cemeteries, and this was to be our first.  And, well, it was.  And lo and behold, we bumped into the grave of Adlai Stephenson, former Vice President of the United States.  Statesman, scholar, friend to all, and the center of the Harlem Globetrotters from 1973-75 -- he is sorely missed.  Noting I miss him, too, we left.

At 8:10am, we touched down in Lincoln - colorful sign, by the way.  Illinois is the Land of Lincoln, and naturally, there will then be the city of Lincoln, here.  Which is not to suggest he was born, lived, died, or was buried here.  Onward.  Using the name of the Lincoln our President as part of your business name is quite common; this was one of the more vanilla instances of that use.  The small little place here is the local ISP (Internet Service Provider) -- and very likely the only ISP here.  It's also a good place to stick granny in a home -- where the people are the difference, it seems.

We were back on the highway a few minutes later, but not the right one, of course.  To read the signs to verify that was beyond what Tubby would do.  I wanted to turn around immediately, but there were no exits.  There, we, however, the U-turns in the middle, posted as "Authorized vehicles only."  I told the boy to turn, but he refused.  While we argued the merits of posse cometatus and my ability to deputize him as my agent to make the turn in an authorized manner, we came across a proper exit and re-entry on the other side, and make the U-turn through licit channels.

Whatever.  We managed to pass through four construction zones, to the point where the next one was starting even before the last one had put up the "End Work Zone" sign.  My favorite, though, was the only project that hired older men to stand at the edge of traffic with the SLOW signs at arm's length.  So, what's the deal, really?  You can retire and wear a blue vest and greet people at Wal-Mart, or wear an orange vest and hold out a sign... but I'd bet the orange vest guys get paid better (fat government road contracts and all), and they get to smoke without being on break (we seen it).

We rolled into Springfield, the capital of Illinois, about an hour later.  We stopped by the state capital building, and then wandered down to see the house Abraham Lincoln lived in, and the grave where he continues to make his presence (in principle, anyway).  And in the spirit (no pun intended) of going away, we hit Interstate 72 bound for the state line, and Indiana.

Danville is a bit larger than its sister city in California, by the by.  This here city is upwards of 40,000 people, versus whatever it is in California (it's really a town, so I guess it's a poor comparison and such).  I was sure we were going to get tagged for going too fast down the street with the two cops sitting right there, and driving in our direction at the time, but the boy has been driving a bit fast the whole time, and has so far been untouched.  A bit annoying, though, if you ask me.  But you didn't.  (Yes, I took other pictures, but you're likely tired of water towers and downtown shots, so I've skipped them.)

At 11:50am, we passed into Indiana.  Yea Hoosier State!  (And yes, that's corn off to the side.)  We headed south to Terra Haute first, but for what purpose, we didn't know.  (And when asked a few hours later why we went to this part of the state, the boy not only lacked a good answer, but challenged the person as to why they'd ask the question.  Nice tactic.  But then again, he was rude to the person -- without meaning to, but it's still rude, as is his nature at times -- so I guess his stock had already plummeted beyond recovery.)  Within Terra Haute, we did see Indiana University at Terra Haute (a bit of it), found they always have room for us, saw a cluster of folks several days late for last Sunday's demonstrations in Nebraska, and a rather fancy local government building.

We drove to Bloomington, which is actually when the boy was talking to someone and seemingly rude to them (unintentionally, of course, but it still sounded rude), to find there was little of interest, and we began heading north on state route 37 to Indianapolis, which we arrived in a little after 3pm, just as the afternoon commute traffic was picking up.

The first order of business was the state capital building for Indiana, and we managed to park right in front, with 24 minutes on the meter -- a double win!  It only took a few minutes to settle on the right position for our picture, and then [poof] we're off again.  We didn't bother to stop for a better picture of the RCA Dome.  I figured you can see the dome fine here, and besides, I prefer Sony to RCA.  I also give them points for installing the count-down crosswalk signs... they're just so much more informative than the older style.  But you can't escape the skyline shot.

From there, we sat in traffic for about an hour to get to the point where we could travel at 30 MPH away from the city, but before too much longer, we were clipping away at 75 MPH along the 55 MPH highway.  Again, the boy assured me this was legal, somehow.  (Yes, this is the same boy that challenged my authority to initiate posse cometatus this morning.)

We arrived in the general South Bend - Mishawaka - Elkhart area at 6:09pm.  Due to a highly detailed map in the Motel 6 guide (it was about as detailed as a crude line sketch to describe a skyscraper), we landed at the motel at 7pm.  It seems the reason we couldn't find a hotel for the rest of the weekend is a Notre Dame home game versus Philadelphia on Saturday, where this motel, for example, will jump from $35.99 per person to $89.99 per person for the weekend.  (We're staying in the other direction.)

Which probably poses the question, why a stationary visit in one place?  It's done for several reasons.  

1. The first, of course, is not really important to the rest of you.  I'm a duck, and I do things a particular way.  
2. The second, is to try and see if staying put for a few days will make the trip less intense on me (nuts to how the boy is dealing with travel -- it's his job, not his choice).  
3. The third, is to see if a wagon-wheel approach will be more effective in seeing stuff... in other words, the center (or hub) of the wheel is the motel, and the spokes are the various day trips we'll be making away from and returning to the hub.  Given Michigan's generally surrounded by water (or Canada), the through-state trip would be a giant loop anyway.  And, this will be a good testing ground for the Pacific Paradise tour for this time next year to complete the last of the 49 states to visit, when we'll be traveling to Hawaii.  (Space on this trip is still available, be sure to log any travel requests as soon as possible.)

We managed to go out and seek food, and get lost in both the trip there and back.  But we were alone and not in a hurry, so it was okay.  My first impression of the place is mixed.  I like the low density design of it, but it doesn't have the "home" feeling that I sometimes get in places.  Tennessee (the suburbs and rural areas) exuded that sense, but this city doesn't.  I'll sleep on that notion, though, and see how I feel about it this time tomorrow.  Until then.