This morning I find myself waking up on the floor of my cousins flat in Albuquerque. We have come a long way . . .
Monday: I woke up and felt like crap. I managed to get some antibiotics and see a few people before leaving town around 5pm. The trip to Cleveland was uneventful and we rolled in to my home town (North Olmstead) around 1am. I drove by my old house and found my way to a hotel
Tuesday: We slept in late and set about taking care of all the things I usually do when I visit my home town.
The first stop was at the local Dunkin Doughnut. Usually, I would not touch that much sugar in one sitting, but an exception had to be made. Every Sunday for years my dad and I would come in after I finished my paper route for a doughnut and hot chocolate. Since he was always a busy guy, this was the majority of the time I spent with him growing up. This was the easy part of the day.
After doughnuts, I drove over to the cemetery where my dad is. It had been over four years since I had been there and this time it was not easy. A lot has changed in my life since the last visit . . . many things I wish he could have been there for . . . and it all came back in one giant flood. Fortunately I was there with a good friend, and that helped.
I wandered the cemetery a bit to find another friend that was there. There were more, but already visiting the graves of two people I was close with was more than enough for one afternoon
Wrapping that up, we wasted some time stocking up on a few minor diversions (toys and tunes), picked up some food and left for Chicago.
We made it to the outskirts of Chicago around 8:30pm and caught up with a car-related associate we had never met. After checking out his Nova drag car, we wandered around trying to find a hotel with little luck. Eventually, we had to drive 45 minutes back toward the city due to some special training event that was going on at some nuclear power facilities in the area.
Wednesday: We got up and drove in to Chicago proper to catch the very beginning of Route 66. A quick stop at Lake Michigan let us dip a finger in (it was frozen so we just melted some ice) and be on our way. We made about 10 minutes on route and hit traffic. One hour and 6 miles later (ugh) we were free.
We jumped on and off old Route 66 along the way to St Louis. We saw a covered bridge and stopped off at Chain of Rocks Bridge, even though it was closed. The rest of the night was spent hammering it through Missouri, where we stopped just over halfway through.
Thursday: We spent most of the morning on what remained of Route 66 and saw some strange rotting modern log cabins that are soon to be lost due to a realignment of I-40. We drove the short length of the route through Kansas (scary!) and in to Oklahoma. We pressed on to Oklahoma City but found the lodging more expensive than we wished to pay. We ended pushing on late until we made it to Clinton, where we spent the night.
Friday: This was a full day that deserves an entry all to itself. I will write up the rest of my adventures (along with pictures) when I return to California.
Hope everyone is doing well!
Monday: I woke up and felt like crap. I managed to get some antibiotics and see a few people before leaving town around 5pm. The trip to Cleveland was uneventful and we rolled in to my home town (North Olmstead) around 1am. I drove by my old house and found my way to a hotel
Tuesday: We slept in late and set about taking care of all the things I usually do when I visit my home town.
The first stop was at the local Dunkin Doughnut. Usually, I would not touch that much sugar in one sitting, but an exception had to be made. Every Sunday for years my dad and I would come in after I finished my paper route for a doughnut and hot chocolate. Since he was always a busy guy, this was the majority of the time I spent with him growing up. This was the easy part of the day.
After doughnuts, I drove over to the cemetery where my dad is. It had been over four years since I had been there and this time it was not easy. A lot has changed in my life since the last visit . . . many things I wish he could have been there for . . . and it all came back in one giant flood. Fortunately I was there with a good friend, and that helped.
I wandered the cemetery a bit to find another friend that was there. There were more, but already visiting the graves of two people I was close with was more than enough for one afternoon
Wrapping that up, we wasted some time stocking up on a few minor diversions (toys and tunes), picked up some food and left for Chicago.
We made it to the outskirts of Chicago around 8:30pm and caught up with a car-related associate we had never met. After checking out his Nova drag car, we wandered around trying to find a hotel with little luck. Eventually, we had to drive 45 minutes back toward the city due to some special training event that was going on at some nuclear power facilities in the area.
Wednesday: We got up and drove in to Chicago proper to catch the very beginning of Route 66. A quick stop at Lake Michigan let us dip a finger in (it was frozen so we just melted some ice) and be on our way. We made about 10 minutes on route and hit traffic. One hour and 6 miles later (ugh) we were free.
We jumped on and off old Route 66 along the way to St Louis. We saw a covered bridge and stopped off at Chain of Rocks Bridge, even though it was closed. The rest of the night was spent hammering it through Missouri, where we stopped just over halfway through.
Thursday: We spent most of the morning on what remained of Route 66 and saw some strange rotting modern log cabins that are soon to be lost due to a realignment of I-40. We drove the short length of the route through Kansas (scary!) and in to Oklahoma. We pressed on to Oklahoma City but found the lodging more expensive than we wished to pay. We ended pushing on late until we made it to Clinton, where we spent the night.
Friday: This was a full day that deserves an entry all to itself. I will write up the rest of my adventures (along with pictures) when I return to California.
Hope everyone is doing well!
VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
koala:
Wow! Sounds like you are having an awesome time! I do hope you have pictures! 
jj_r0x0rz:
oh i think so too