The day began in Wheeling WV and ended in Terre Haute, IN. In between were 382 miles of gently rolling (mostly) farmland in both Ohio and Indiana, and an occasional manufacturing concern. I thought about a drive I made a couple of years ago from Rome up into Northern Italy, and with the exception of the language of the signs and the trees, it sorta looked similar. Quite a bit of rain for the first two thirds of the drive, but I find that chilling in the right lane with adaptive cruise control on and being pretty much not in a hurry makes for laid back driving. I don’t know why, but I was kinda surprised at how uninhabited the region around I-70 is in Ohio. I mean, it is a big powerful state that we all puke all over ourselves about every four years, but from this (admittedly limited) perspective, it might as well be Kansas.
As I’ve mentioned, this trip will feature a lot of podcasts, but it could potentially wind up being a lot of one podcast, “The Age of Napoleon”. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m still loyal to my friend Jack Henneman’s “The History of the Americans” as my absolute favorite-est pod, but I’ve had the luxury of being with Jack from the get-go, so I’m all caught up. The Age of Napoleon is a deep vein of wonderfulness with scores of hours of content delivered by a bright, easy to listen to fellow. Now, I’m glad I’m not tested on the material, because my mind will sometimes wander a little and I’ll wonder what it was that I missed. This is one reason I don’t do books on tape very much, because I feel like I miss whole sections of books while I daydream about my lottery payout, or winning a Senate seat, or Haagen Dazs Cookies ‘n Cream ice cream.
I am a creature of habit when it comes to travel. Marriott properties. United flights. I am using a ton of points (“Bonvoy” points—what was wrong with “Marriott”?) for my lodging on the way across, some Springhill Suites, Some Fairfield Inns, and a proper Marriott. I get the whole concept of branding, but there are some differences that boggle my mind. Specifically, why Springhill and Fairfield use different coffee makers with different coffee loads. Both use single cup coffee makers. But one comes in a little plastic tray (so not woke) and the other—well, doesn’t. You’d think with the total number of these things purchased, they could use buying power to get the price down on one or the other. If anyone from Big Marriott is listening, you need to tell your franchisees to make sure there is more than one regular coffee next to the machine in the room, mmmmkay?
Daughter #1, on whose behalf I am making this trip, is at this point, unsure of the exact logistics associated with her return to the East Coast when her job is over. There are rumors of friends coming out to drive back, her mother (The Kitten) has kicked around the possibility of flying out and driving back with her…it is all up in the air. Solidifying my status as parent of the decade, I told her to exhaust her options, but I won’t leave her hanging. So I could very well be making this trip again in August, but backward. Actually, if I do have to do it again, it will be far less of a meander. My average drive is 361 miles each day, but on the way home I’d undoubtedly plan 500.
Terre Haute (this is a link)
Please don’t ask me to pronounce it, I won’t be here long enough for it to be of concern. From what I can tell though, this is a fine, small, American city of 60,000. After dinner—(French Onion Soup, Ribeye, Veggies) at a Stables Steakhouse, I drove around a bit in some of the neighborhoods close-by. A couple of things stood out. First, a lot of American flags. I like that. Second, a smattering of small businesses including neighborhood bars. I like a good neighborhood bar. Next, I saw a TON of really quaint little craftsman kinda houses and so I hit the real estate web when I got back to my room. A nice assortment of places from $200K to $400k and a couple of possibilities between $100K-$200K, including this lovely (sorry, contract pending), which is only 8/10 of a mile walk to Stables Steakhouse!
Stables was a great call. This place would be reason enough for me to move to Terre Haute if the Lady of the Manor threw me out. An old school steakhouse and bar, sorta right in the middle of a neighborhood. I was urged to take on the 22 oz. Cowboy Ribeye, but settled for the 16 oz. Everything was really good, and my waiter (Spike) was a pro. Just after I sat down, I pointed to my ear buds and told him I’d be listening to a podcast and won’t be terribly social. He said no problem. They all say that. And then they spend a good part of the meal actually trying to communicate with you. Not Spike. He used non-verbals incredibly well. He’d walk over (at appropriate intervals) and give the “thumbs up/thumbs down” signal, to which I produced the proper counter (“thumbs up”). After the initial order (which was made when he first approached, as I had done my homework—although I did give him a chance to tell me the specials—there were no words passed until on one of his recons, I took a bud out, told him I’d like coffee and a check, and thanked him for understanding my anti-sociability.
I returned to my room and decided that I need a massage. Getting a short notice massage from a place where the FBI doesn’t have hidden cameras is not an easy thing. I’ve got a call and a Facebook query in for Tuesday evening (Columbia, MO) and the Wednesday in Hays, KS, so I’m hoping one of them hits, though I am not confident. Next stop, Columbia.