Honestly, I can't give much of an update regarding yesterday's drive. I wrote down the highlights so I wouldn't forget them:
The abbreviation for Missouri is MO, so they have Mo' Everything! Seriously... Mo' DOT, Mo' road crews, I saw Mo' cars, Mo' towns... That's the highlight of Missouri, getting to say Mo' before everything. It's pretty much the same as when you pass a dam on the road, and then start calling everything the 'dam road' and the 'dam trees'.
The other cool thing in MO was crossing the Mississippi. But only on principle. The Mississippi is wide, and long, and dirty.
In Illinois I stopped at the Blue Springs Café for lunch, and ate a pretty decent BBQ pork sandwich. That lunch stop consisted of all of 12 minutes...
And Illinois is muggy.
Oh, and I didn't realize when I was coming up on Indiana, so I didn't get a picture of getting into that state :( There goes my one road trip tradition!
As you can imagine, with such an uneventful (but still smooth) day, I was just ready to get to Columbus and relax. Little did I know I was going to what is likely one of coolest little towns east of the Mississippi! Seriously, even just pulling into town, I felt familiar with the place. There were neighbors chatting in their front yards, families walking around, people out walking their dogs. I was expecting to arrive in Columbus, which is about pop. 1 million, and I wound up in a welcoming little neighborhood.
Matt and Allison are great people (and pretty much exactly who I'd expect Susan to stay in touch with after college)! Sadly, I didn't get to meet their daughter, who is two. Matt works in the web marketing department of a local university, if I remember, and Allison is an Italian teacher at the local Catholic high school. Not only is that kind of funny and badass in and of itself, she is also fluent in German, French, and Latin, and I think another one that I forgot. No joke. These people are ridiculously smart.
Chatting with them was great. They're easy to get along with and are very intellectual (which means it's actually intelligent conversation). Matt and I decided to walk down to a local pizza place for a late dinner, so on the way he took me all through the neighborhood then to their little main downtown strip. I wish I had more time to hang out in the town; I want to take pictures of all the neighborhoods, the park I found down the street from their house, the new Jewish Temple, Capitol University's campus (which is beautiful). This town reminds me of something from The Wonder Years :) Oh, and still a little of Spectre from Big Fish, 'cause now I don't wanna leave.
However, I'm going to finish up this post and hit the road. I believe I'm about 9-10 hours from Long Island, with no time zone change today! To be honest, I'm a little sad the trip is ending. It's been a lot of fun to get to adventure and see new places and meet some of these people. I think I'll be bored for a couple days once I get there, 'cause I won't be unpacking and packing my car and getting ready to drive half the day!
I'm also a little anxious about being there. I mean, I've only been gone from Oregon for five days now, it's not as if it's been a long time. Arriving in NY and unpacking will finalize this decision for me and finally make it real, I think. Leaving Oregon was a little sad, but as soon as I spent an hour or two on the road, I was focused on the trip. I think getting into NY and finally slowing down is going to give me some time to simply ponder the decision again and what it means.
But, before I can do that, I do have to finish today's drive. I checked the weather in Port Jefferson, and my app says thunderstorms. So maybe later tonight instead of doing another update, I'll watch the thunderstorm from the beach in NY...
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