The Drive...

Monday, I went to pick up Katelyn for a visit. This means I drove from Sadieville, Kentucky to Muskegon, Michigan on Monday and returned home on Tuesday, via LaGrange.

While I have no pictures of this lovely journey, I did have some fun along the way.

I left Monday morning about 9:45am stopping in Dry Ridge to get my usual biscuits for breakfast from McDonalds.

There was a huge slow down in the traffic as I headed through Ohio. At a curve in the road I could see a patrol car with lights flashing driving in the left lane. In the right lane I could see a pilot car with lights flashing to warn of the extremely large load on a truck in front of it. Eventually the patrol car pulled in behind the pilot car and we were able to slowly pass these mammoth objects being transported down the Interstate via truck.

I needed to get some gasoline and found a station that was the least expensive to that point. I pulled in and got my gasoline and a snack and headed down the road.

Amazingly, I happened upon another slow down in the Interstate traffic. At first I was stunned that all the oversized vehicles seemed to be on Ohio highways that day. Then, as I passed the slow down, I realized they were the same ones I managed to get past before and they just passed me while I was filling up my gasoline tank. Oh bother...

I made it to Muskegon by 5:30pm with only a few rain showers during the day. I stopped at Walmart on my way to Nissa's to get crayons and coloring books. Did you know they just don't make plain old coloring books anymore. Really. Katelyn posted on Facebook that she wanted to color. I forgot to bring colors from my home, so I was trying to purchase what I needed at Walmart. I did get a big box of crayons but I didn't get a coloring book. I headed for the Dollar Tree in that same shopping center. They only had coloring/activity books. No plain old coloring books with just pictures. I picked up a few books and headed to Nissa's clearly feeling life is passing me by. Also a bit of longing for simpler days.

Nissa was outside preparing a wonderful dinner of grilled BBQ chicken and pork chops. Aubrey Anne and Paul were there for lots of hugs and some coloring, picking the guitar, and talking while dinner was prepared.

After dinner, I scooped up Paul and Aubrey and we headed to the grocery store for ice cream. Then back to the house to have a little dessert and some visiting before bedtime.

Katelyn got home later and shared her workday with us. Then we were off to bed for a good night's sleep in preparation for our long drive on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning, Katelyn drove my car to take Aubrey and Paul to school. Then back to the house to pack upKatelyn to take her to Kentucky. Hmmm...one minor problem. Katelyn left her house key in the house thinking Todd and Nissa would be there and they were already gone to breakfast before work. KT called them and they graciously came and gave Katelyn their keys to unlock the door.

We packed and finished Katelyn's chores, drove by work to say a final good-bye to Nissa and Todd, then we were off on our journey to LaGrange. Ooops, we did make a stop at McDonald's for my biscuits and Katelyn some breakfast.

Now, our direction, carefully laid out for us by Claude, was to take Hwy 31 to Indianapolis, loop around the outside of Indianapolis on I-465, then go south on I-65 to Louisville and out I-71 to LaGrange. He even took an atlas, highlighted the route, and put sticky tabs on the 3 pages we needed to look at. Simple, Simple, Simple...let's see if we can complicate that just a bit.

Somewhere in the southern portion of Michigan, we got to mile marker zero. That should be the border of Michigan and Indianan on Hwy 31. Picture LOTS of construction and what may have been missing signage. Not sure. We had followed the Hwy 31 signs and did drive over I-94 to Chicago. I was sure we were going okay with the exception of the highway markers starting in the 30's.

If you read maps and highway signs, you know that going south on the roads the mile makers start at zero on the southern border and then increase mile by mile as you go north. So, crossing the border into what we thought was Indiana should have given a mile marker with a number in the 200's. To see one in only the 30's made us wonder. That and there was no "Welcome to Indiana" bill board anywhere.

We kept plugging along and then we got to zero and I determined to wait a bit more to get gasoline so we would be sure we were in Indiana and the prices might be a little less that Michigan. Now the mile maker only started at 45. Hmmm...that was just NOT right. There was also still no bill board welcoming us to Indiana.

I felt like I should press on till I found something familiar and it came up in pretty short order. It seems we were on I-94 headed to Chicago. How and where that happened I have absolutely no clue. The good news was that the signage also told me the exit for I-65 was coming up. I knew we were way west of where we should be but I also knew for sure that I-65 was the highway that goes through Indianapolis and to Louisville. We would aim for I-65.

It felt good to know where we were and know we were on a good highway going where we needed to be. We found a gas station and paused for a bit, read the map of Indiana I keep in the glove compartment, got some snacks and headed down the road. I assured Katelyn that, while we were off course, this might be as quick as it was Interstate with no stopping and Hwy 31 would have taken us through towns with lots of stop lights.

Next portion of our adventure was a search for a lunch spot. We were both hungry for Applebee's. We diligently watched those exit signs that tell you what gasoline, lodging and food businesses are by the Interstate. NO Applebee's signs at all. We made it all the way to Indianapolis and never found one. We thought there surely would be one as we went around the outside edge of Indianapolis. Nope, nary a one. We headed south on I-65 and found one at mile marker 55 on I-65. Yippee!!  The lunch of our choice at 3pm. Katelyn and I are very persistent it would seem.

The other cute thing was Miss Katelyn. She wanted to get a trucker to blow his horn. As we passed each (and there were many) truck, she would make that sign requesting them to blow their horn, you know, like you are pulling down a chain with your hand. By the end of our run through Indiana she had 20 honks to her credit. She was one happy young lady and I was a very amused and happy gramma.

We got to the Marx home and deposited Katelyn. Hayden and Bailey had been giddy with excitement all day knowing they had company coming for a visit.

Then I pointed the Buick toward Sadieville and headed for home, my hubby and my warm bed. Such an exciting life I lead!!