Hello, friends! It has taken me a few days to catch up on sleep and food after that two-day, six-state, cross-country marathon. I wanted to share with you some scattered notes from my journey.
Day 1
Last time I traveled to New York, I was in the back seat of the car. I was so overwhelmed by Lake Michigan and Chicago that I fell asleep and missed all of Indiana.
This trip, my plan was to catch some sleep ahead of time so as to test a hypothesis. If Indiana is “the Crossroads of America,” as the state license plate proclaims, is it true that everyone just drives through – as one of my people maintains – or, do folks really live there?
I have concluded that people do live in Indiana, and it is a fairly cool state. I saw farms, homes, schools, hospitals, and more. My person would not stop for photo ops so I was forced to snap these while standing on her lap at 75mph.
The people of Indiana are on the cutting edge of some cool wildlife stuff. This blurry photo shows a radar detection system along the Indiana Toll Road. (And you thought it was an art shot.) If an animal comes within a few yards of the highway (it is set up for deer but I’m thinking a raccoon or a marmot might also set it off?), lights begin to flash and signs (the yellow blurry thing) attached to them tell drivers to slow down, as an animal may be on the road. Indiana State has been testing this system with the support of the Humane Society of the United States and others. It is going so well, they are expanding the system.
So, as darkness fell and we progressed eastward toward Ohio, the moon rose and I tucked into a satisfied snooze knowing my person’s perverse hyperbole (a relic dating back to her home state and the Hoosier/Show Me wars) about this lovely state had been put aside for good.
