Friday, June 17, 2011

Friday, June 17^thAs we leave on this sunny morning, ready to put some miles behind us we head straight to the Interstate. After several miles down the road, we remembered we were going to purchase gas at the station near the motel. At $3.37 per gallon, it was the best price we had seen on the trip. By the time we purchased gas we had to pay $3.45,but that was much better than the price we saw three hours later, $3.87!!
It has become my habit to photograph the states’ welcome signs upon entering each state, as a “souvenir” of our trips. My first attempt to photograph the welcome sign coming into Illinois failed as we were crossing a bridge, could not pull over if we wanted to, and my timing was off. However, I got a nice photo of the
bridge span overhead.

After crossing the bridge...

The weather changed from sunny to cloudy.  By 1:00 we were ready to stop for a picnic lunch at the Rend Lake Rest Area in Illinois.

                 

These were some of the plants we saw. The one that looks like red-leaf lettuce was in the flower bed.
This is a lovely rest area with full facilities: an information desk, vending machines, restrooms, about 10 picnic tables (some covered and some out in the open) and a nice paved walking trail around it that incorporated a lot
of the natural plants and trees. The setting was nice and the temperature was probably in the 70s…very nice. In the distance we heard thunder. We decided it was time to end our break. Lunch was light but filling and we were ready to continue. This has been a pleasant trip. About two miles down the road we encountered something neither of us had experienced in quite a while…a rain storm! Not just a few sprinkles, but an actual downpour! This lasted about 1 1/2 hours!! I had mentioned to David earlier that the next time we stopped for gas, we needed to wash the windshield. We both decided we no longer needed to do that. The windshield and the car were washed very nicely. It was raining so hard that several people, including us, pulled to the side of the road and waited until we could actually see what was ahead of us. It really was a downpour! We finally passed through the rain to a cloudy day. Upon entering Indiana I was looking for the state welcome sign. Never saw a welcome sign upon entering. Then after driving two miles into the state, there it is. Due to construction on the highway, traffic comes to a stand still. Therefore I am expecting to get a good shot of this sign once we get closer to it. Well, my camera said, “battery too low to take photo.” (Note to self: make sure the camera has new batteries before leaving home on next trip.) I wasn’t expecting this to happen as I had no problem taking photos of some of the flowers at the rest area where we had our picnic. David chuckled at my failed attempts and mentioned it wasn’t meant for me to have these sign photos on this trip. Tomorrow I shall purchase new batteries before we set out on the road. There will be a welcome sign as we enter Ohio and I intend to get a shot of it. I shall persevere. As for Indiana, we will be entering this state on our way home so I shall have one more chance to get a photo, even though it will not be the same sign we passed today. It’s these little things that enhance the memories.

I saw two deer today, one was feasting in someone’s field and the other was along the side of the highway. Yes, it was alive and enjoying his evening meal. Also saw one rabbit in Indianapolis as we took a small side trip when the driver did not follow the navigator’s suggestion as to which way to go. We still managed to avoid Indianapolis traffic and made our way closer to Ohio. We found a nice quiet motel to spend the night and prepare for tomorrow’s journey.
One thing we do as we travel is to look at the different license plates. Of course we are not surprised to see fewer Texas license plates the further north we travel. Besides seeing the plates of the state we are in as well as its neighboring states, we saw Florida, Massachusetts, California and New Mexico. It seems that Indiana, like Texas, has a variety of designs for the license plates. Our favorite Indiana license plate is one that incorporates “In God We Trust”. We saw a lot of these.
Another we thing we saw that was interesting is a number of billboards proclaiming the Gospel. Fantastic.