Today I got an email from my friend and fellow artist, Pamela Allen, saying that a former student of hers visited the Transitions exhibit in its second (of three) venue (Cary, NC) and has posted pictures of both our pieces as well as others.
Check out photos of the Page-Walker Arts & History Center, a lovely old restored hotel & what Jeanne McBrayer has to say
http://allthingsquilty.blogspot.com/2009/08/all-things-quilty-field-trip.html
A few folks have mentioned that I haven't posted anything on my blog for some months. So very true, but soon to be rectified. I shall be posting pictures of my latest creations inspired by medieval-gothic illuminated manuscripts (or book of hours as they are also called) and also by my oldest son's upcoming wedding.
Stay tuned while I try to remember how to assemble the description & pictures in some sort of cohesive order. Oh yes, one has to do everything in the opposite direction. Maybe if I had a website it might be easier, but I don't so ....
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Friday, February 2, 2007
Pat's Excellent Adventure
Feb.1 and Day1
Up at 6am. Still dark. Check email while eating my cereal & having my ‘light’ therapy. Note from Sean confirming his trip to Canada and telling me the price of his ticket as I am paying. Can’t open the attached document giving his travel arrangements. Delimma: he doesn’t want to retype the info; I don’t want to download the Japanese plugin. I figure I win unless he plans to hitch hike from the airport to Merrickville, about an hour’s drive.
By 7am we are off and running, albeit at a slow speed while listening to our favourite radio station, CBC, discuss the difference between two weather forecast terms – snow and flurrries. Whatever the term, it is snowing lightly enough to make highway 43 very slippery, not so good for us novice trailer pullers. A snow plough escorts us into Kemptville, past my Curves outlet (5 cars outside, I wave but no one sees me) until we pull off into the Canadian Tire parking lot to readjust one of the stabilizer bars. A little cranking and then some persuading and the right bar is raised to the 3rd link like the other. I begin to wonder if a Hensley hitch would be easier.
From there we turn south onto the Veterans’ Memorial highway (#416) going south. The border crossing is uneventful with the usual questions about destination, how much money (cash, travellers cheques), hiding people in the trailer, and the presence of firearms, beef, dairy products or fruit. I am surprised by the latter two and start to imagine the lunch I never got around to making being confiscated. My cleaning lady will do the honours for me
“The State of New York must take great pride in their crows” I comment as we pass by 3 giant crow statues sitting in a highly visible promotory overlooking the Interstate. (Buffalo is also proud of its name as the city features three large statues of buffalos in a similar fashion. But then I get ahead of myself in this story-telling)
Stop #3 involves the usual ‘pit stop’ with Al & I using the indoor conveniences and the 2 dogs (Gypsy & Leila) choosing a special snow bank.
At 253.6 km and 10:57am we need gas. Price is $2.29 per US gal. Back on I-81 the highway is now dry and 3 lanes wide each way. It is a beautiful day with clear skies and the sun pouring into the car. My feet are now toasty warm. Al continues driving at roughly 90kph doing his best to reduce the inevitable sway as transport trucks continue to overtake us. His only comment in the last 2 hours is: “At this rate our trip will cost us $500 in gas alone”. I don’t ask if he is counting in American or Canadian dollars; I just return to my book, Quilts: A Beautiful History, a gift from Barbara, a fellow sewer who just happens to be the president of the Merrickville Artists’ Guild.
Folks not interested in reading quilty stuff should skip this paragraphassuming of course that someone IS reading this.
I learn several things from this book. Crazy quilting, popular in the 1900’s was used not just for quilts, but also teapot cosies. That surprises me as I am currently making one out of brown striped ties for a Brown Betty. Still, I prefer my oxymoron. Working with fabric on the bias is difficult enough (for me anyway), but I just had to add the challenge of creating a pleasing design that doesn’t scream – TIE! Not as easy as I would have thought due to scale, striped design & limited colour values. My Christmas tree skirt has been put on hold as a result.
Our travels continue without significant event, my lunch being 3 wonderful homemade-by-me oatmeal/cranberry muffins; Al is not hungry. Good thing too as I had a quick look at the gas stop menus providing abundant evidence as to why we’re rapidly becoming a nation of overweight & obese folks.
5:28pm, exit 193 on the I-90 just north of Columbus, OH. Oooh! there are 4 different motels to choose from. Surely one will accept our four-footed friends as well. Al is looking for his reward for his10 hour driving marathon on our first day – a beer. First motel we stop at says on the Welcome Sign “We’re pet friendly”. The day is done, but where is dinner?
Feb 2, Day2
Up at 6am again. Before my coffee, but after cleaning my teeth, (nothing happens before I clean my teeth, no word, no conversation, no nada) I’m on the phone to T-Mobile to try and ressurect our email settings which got messed up last while accessing the wirless service. Success, but I’m not crowing too loudly as I still can’t remember my username for my blog! Al suggests I email Carman, but that implies he can decipher my cryptic notes on the bulletin board at home. Easier to set up another blog, but that will have to wait until tonight.
7:18am with very large café lattes in hand we join the Cleveland commuters on I-90.
I take my first sip - a wee bit sweet. Do they use artificial ‘dairy’ or is this whole milk? Freshly ground beans though. I should be sighing ‘ah!’, but the highway is not ‘friendly’. Al has a ‘death grip’ (his description) on the steering wheel, coffee untouched & growing colder by the second. The concrete jungle gets worse. Al’s spoken lesson for today – “Always stop on the other side of the city”. The city of Cleveland reveals itself with taller buildings dotting the skyline. I catch a glimpse of Lake Erie. ‘Oh look!’ I exclaim. I quickly revise my statement: ‘Don’t look! I’ll look for you’. A marina passes by with what seems like acres of white plastic-covered boats up on blocks. The General Benjamin Davis High School of Aviation has runway lights blinking along the shoreline. Towering buildings aplenty, multi overpasses, mucho concrete. I count 3 massive bridges, one built years ago with lovely stone arched supports. Briefly reminds me of one I saw when hiking with Sean & Uli in the walking district near Shieffield, England. Two gorgeous stone buildings with round sloped-roofs, cathedral-like but much, much taller. An outdoor stadium. A massive TV screen with moving pictures … couldn’t tell, possibly advertising. Now the ‘burbs, houses and finally open visual space. Relax!
We’re driving the I-71; don’t know when or how that happened, but the right road thank goodness as I’m supposed to be navigating, not gawking and typing.
BTW Al will have to read this at the end of the day, if he wants to know what he ‘saw’
Down to 3 lanes with lots of very! tall sound barriers. Motels, motels, motels, all the same names as before. Al needn’t have worried so much. Pet friendly is a requirement; free WiFi would be equally welcome though we still have our $6 credit with T-Mobile from last night. To use we have to find another area where it is available.
8:30. Road sign says Mile 209 (To? From where? I wonder). Al speaks: ‘Trees again. This is nice”. He doesn’t say much while driving, but when he does, he says it all.
I-71 has a grassed boulevard; traffic is sparse. Great big YUK! Not a dead skunk as the song goes, but a deer which has been dragged up against the guard rail. However did it jump that height? Wow! 2 hawks (‘side-by-each’ as Al would say) in adjacent trees overlooking the field right next to the highway. They disappear in a flash, but it didn’t look like they were in hunting mode.
9:28am Low fuel warning bleeps again. We’re caught behind a salt truck prodigously
spewing a rotatating cloud of fine white granuals. As if we don’t have enough salt covering us already.
9:51am, 192 km so far. Gas is $2.18/US gal. Not bad as earlier posted rates were in the $2.29 range. Feed dogs. Discover someone has peed on her dog bed. Of course it just has to be the suede-covered one. Discovered the first thing we forgot – extra windshield washer fluid. We forget again at this stop.
Back on the road & it’s “flurrying” just a wee bit now. The highway is wet. Tiny gusts of salt rise up in the vaccuum created behind each passing vehicle. The transports leave us awash in salty slush. Windshield wipers are in ‘slow mo’, constantly requiring little bursts of washer fluid. Al drives with a ‘whiter’ windscreen than I would, but then he’s trying to stretch out the available supply. Visibility has diminished with a light misting of fog all around us. Reminds me of when we lived in Rot, Germany, a very dreary place at this time of year.
What of the dogs? Thank goodness someone asked. Leila, ‘where is that black one’ and Gypsy, aka ‘little one’ are tolerating very well their confinement during this 4?-day marathon. When an exit from the car is imminent, Gypsy puts good voice to her impatience even before the rear passenger door is opened. Not to be outdone, Leila sets up barking. Very hard on the ears in the confined space of the car. I can now leave the rear passenger door open while I put my jacket on. Okay, Okay, I frequently dive into the interior to wrestle Gypsy down thereby preventing a getaway. Listening to me is probably quite a treat to onlookers as I commence the ‘SIT’ ‘NO’ mantra while I struggle with the leashes. Everyone has to be sitting and still (well almost…have to give Gypsy some leaway) before I give the very quiet ‘OK’. I tense my body in preparation for the massive jerk of Gypsy’s leash. I’m still contemplating buying a spiked choke collar which is not harmful, but supposedly will ‘put paid’ to this kind of behaviour and do it ‘toute suite! I can hear the ‘oh no’s’, the chortles AND see Doris’ sympathetic grimaces as she appreciates the ‘ouch’ that follows the jerk.
We’ve settled into a routine. Al drives in silence, at times with the radio off thank goodness (news! News! News! Did I happen to mention that I hate news as well as talk shows, phone-in shows. But my ‘rule’ is - the driver decides)…I compose & type& delete & re-type…dogs sleep. Pretty quiet. Scenery remains consistently boring – tall trees, the occasional beech still with its summer leaves attached and motels, fast food joints & gas stations surrounding each exit overpass. Which book do I read now, as I finished yesterday’s? I don’t feel like knitting. I select a magazine, settle in and watch/listen to the big transport trailers as they whine past. Al comments that we are not moving as fast as he had hoped. I reassure him that he his driving speed (90 kph) is exactly correct for his comfort level. So what if we can’t keep up with S&T (Streets & Trips) LOL.
I-70/71 split is just ahead & it’s 202.1 km to Cincinnati, or so says S&T. As we enter the foray, a collander of spaghetti looks better organized than this myriad of over/underpasses.
12:13pm 380.4km and 26 miles N of Cincinnati which is setting out another homeless shelter because of the freezing weather according to the news. I see a water fountain still in operation. Paramount Kings Island cinemas & amusement park appears on the left with a roller coaster. On the right side of the highway, a giant water slide as well as a tubular structure. CINTAS Services sports a giant American flag. ‘Retirement University’ is a sign on a multi-storied building This section of the Interstate is beautifuly landscaped on both sides, a real treat to the eye. I comment as much; Al responds with “and clean too”. I then realize that we have seen very little, if any, roadside debris on our trip so far.
I need a book of N.American trees. Very tall ‘eggs’ on stumps is the best description I can give of what I perceive to be cedars. For some reason I think of mushrooms, only on a very much larger scale. In the dim light they provide much-needed contrast to the lifeless & leafless trees and shrubs.
The haze deepens into minor fog conditions. Car headlights have been on for over an hour.
I eat lunch while Al drives; he’s saving himself for his beer stored in the very cold trailer. Approaching downtown Cincinnati I spot a little red Cooper. What a riot! Reminds me of Al’s dad’s mini Minor which travelled at only one speed – as fast as possible, just like this one. Lady driver with foot to the floor & in my mind praying that she can make it up the on ramp, cut in front of us and merge into the 3rd lane over. She does and quickly disappears. We continue at our stately 90kph in the slow lane.
The city of Cincinnati presents the usual number of lovely stone buildings, in this case several that appear to be interconnected with shorter buildings and the requisite skyscrapers which impress me again.
All of a sudden lots of police – state, local, sheriff, as often sitting curbside all alone with lights flashing as cruising. Even more are in view now as we pass by a digital roadside sign telling drivers that there is a transport truck blocking the right hand tunnel lane which is on the shoulder by the time we arrive. The long slow descent to the tunnel proides a quick sighting of 2 stadiums (Paul Brown) on our left on the Ohio River. Upon emerging a ‘Welcome to Kentucky’ sign greets us.
Much blasting was required to create the Kentucky portion of the Interstate leaving the sides lined with massive rock cuts covered in monster icicles. Probably quite a wonderful sight when the sun is out. Today they appear dull, lifeless, and dirty. Pity!
Both fuel and washer fluid indicators are sounding off so we take the next exit (175). It’s 1:09 and the 463.3 km mark. Pilot is the station name. Includes 2 showers, ‘smoking’ toilet stalls, super-sized (24 oz) cups for an amazing variety of non-alcoholic beverages. The trailer squeels as Al makes the sharp turn to mount the unexpectedly steep & short ramp. Then the noise of trailer hitting and dragging along the asphalt at the top. We repeat the process only in reverse upon leaving. The noises seem worse.
Exit 173 & still heading toward Louisville on I-71. Finally getting a grip on S&T’s way of using the term ‘exit’. Sort of means, take the right or left lane, don’t ‘really’ exit with the other traffic actually exiting the Interstate.
My cedar ‘eggs’ on short stubby trunks are less numerous. Compared to yesterday’s relatively flat landscape, we are now in gently rolling hills. At times our speed is reduced to 65kph as we creep up the long inclines.
2 dogs very close to the roadside apparently feeding on something – a rotty and a ? are a long way from home, assuming they have a home since there is no visible housing along this stretch.
Radio news flash – apparently NY is preparing to enact legislation prohibiting the use of the ‘N’ word, a word so heinious that it cannot be spelled in the legislation. No fines or jail time will apply. Followed by an interview of Annabel about her newest film on the topic of getting fired. Various rules were quoted: don’t answer the phone when Human Resources phones as they can’t fire you if they don’t talk to you; always have a piece of chocolate with you in case you get fired; or how about – if you can get a bunch of people fired along with you, the drinking afterward will be so much more fun.
OK back to the road trip.
The sun has finally burned off the haze. My giant cedars appear less ominous; my mind’s eye still sees mushrooms rising up.
2:01pm We crest a hill and are presented with a comical sight – that of very large lollipop signs sitting atop very, very tall skinny standards. Lollipop valley contains a wide assortment of flavours – in the restaurant & motel business.
The sun continues to penetrate the front window making it difficult to see the laptop screen. I am alternating between hand writing notes about the current landscape and catch up typing of earlier scenes. My poor brain is being greatly taxed by having to tune out the radio while I cast about for the perfect phrase or word to describe…
We’re now 10 km from Louisville. ‘Monster houses’, new construction developments, housing sizes drop marginally as we get closer then I am stunned by several ‘small’country estates with sprawling stone houses. Webster University sign, apartments, then the cityscape presents itself. We’re travelling at our usual 90kph so it’s difficult to take it all in. However I don’t miss Slugger Field somewhat tucked in between the two bridges crossing the sizeable Ohio River. UofL Health Sciences building is enormous, Jewish & Norton Hospitals. The Interstate is now slightly elevated such that roof lines appear almost to be attached. Spalding Univ at exit 133. Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby Museum at #133. Even Al doesn’t miss the Cardinals practice ballparks, Stadium & Exposition Centre. Our second giant ferris wheel & roller coaster pierces the sky just minutes from the airport which appears to extend for miles. I watch a smallish plane land. Then acres of parked cars & trucks.
The highway widens to too many lanes to count – 6 I suppose in each direction with 2-3 side lanes. Sure can’t miss the Nashville sign covering 4 whole lanes as the two outer ones ‘speed’ off to the right. Thank goodness the traffic is very light at this time of day. Then we’re down to only 3 lanes. Other than a grassed median, there is no obvious landscaping, making for a pretty bleak stretch of highway. Tiny areas of snow covering an otherwise green ground. We are literally ‘bumping’ along the road. My handwriting is more hierogliphics than cursive. The ‘most awesome flea market’ adorns a very tall barn-like structure. By contrast Murphy’s Antiques & Collectibles occupies a very long, low building. The House of Quilts flies by. Exit 112 leads to Bernheim Forest and My Old Kentucky Home State Park.
The dry Inerstate is fairly flat again, snaking through the higher hills. Highway debris is now ‘popular’ with green/blue garbage gas, coffee cups, plastic jugs & buckets, rusted out oil barrels, cardboards boxes, truck tire tread offings… punctuating the roadside. A massive billboard announcing Bowling Green doesn’t help either. An ‘Exotic Art Transport’ truck passes us.
The rolling hills become steeper. An extra ‘slow’ lane appears. I catch a fleeting glimpse of some pale, but very bright green pine trees, a welcome addition of landscape colour.
Exit 91 announces Lincoln’s birth place and Paducah, a name I recognize from QuiltArt.
I’m attentively listening to a radio broadcast featuring an interview of the author of ‘Change your mind; change your brain’. Apparently a great 2-hour read about neuroplasticity. Discussion includes cognitive behavioural therapy for depression to re-educate the brain not to over-think, ruminate or otherwise catastrophasize life’s difficulties. Dyslexia is now thought to be an auditory, not a visual problem. Check out Sciencefriday.com
We’re now entering ‘mammoth’ country with its monster billboards announcing places like: Diamond Caves, American Cave Museum, Mammoth Cave National Park, Peeps Theatre with adult books, Guntown Mtn., Dinosaur World, the Adult Superstore, Granny’s Quiltsto name a few.
750 km at 4:53 EST (now 3:53 Central time). We make our last gas stop of the day. Shell is the choice at 2.09 per gal.
We reached our 800 km today and we’ve found another Red Roof bed just north of Nashville. I’ll be able to do email and maybe set up another blog. This travel account is now up to 7 pages in Word. Perhaps a blog is not the way to go. Because Al didn’t each lunch today, we get to have the leftover sushi, properly called maki, from last night.
In Tennessee grocery stores don’t sell wine, beer stores don’t sell wine, but require a license causing Al to prove he was from out of State. At that point Al was tired of looking for wine for me, so we still don’t know what ID you need for the booze store.
With our marathon drive almost half done, I wish you a good night.
TTY tomorrow
Up at 6am. Still dark. Check email while eating my cereal & having my ‘light’ therapy. Note from Sean confirming his trip to Canada and telling me the price of his ticket as I am paying. Can’t open the attached document giving his travel arrangements. Delimma: he doesn’t want to retype the info; I don’t want to download the Japanese plugin. I figure I win unless he plans to hitch hike from the airport to Merrickville, about an hour’s drive.
By 7am we are off and running, albeit at a slow speed while listening to our favourite radio station, CBC, discuss the difference between two weather forecast terms – snow and flurrries. Whatever the term, it is snowing lightly enough to make highway 43 very slippery, not so good for us novice trailer pullers. A snow plough escorts us into Kemptville, past my Curves outlet (5 cars outside, I wave but no one sees me) until we pull off into the Canadian Tire parking lot to readjust one of the stabilizer bars. A little cranking and then some persuading and the right bar is raised to the 3rd link like the other. I begin to wonder if a Hensley hitch would be easier.
From there we turn south onto the Veterans’ Memorial highway (#416) going south. The border crossing is uneventful with the usual questions about destination, how much money (cash, travellers cheques), hiding people in the trailer, and the presence of firearms, beef, dairy products or fruit. I am surprised by the latter two and start to imagine the lunch I never got around to making being confiscated. My cleaning lady will do the honours for me
“The State of New York must take great pride in their crows” I comment as we pass by 3 giant crow statues sitting in a highly visible promotory overlooking the Interstate. (Buffalo is also proud of its name as the city features three large statues of buffalos in a similar fashion. But then I get ahead of myself in this story-telling)
Stop #3 involves the usual ‘pit stop’ with Al & I using the indoor conveniences and the 2 dogs (Gypsy & Leila) choosing a special snow bank.
At 253.6 km and 10:57am we need gas. Price is $2.29 per US gal. Back on I-81 the highway is now dry and 3 lanes wide each way. It is a beautiful day with clear skies and the sun pouring into the car. My feet are now toasty warm. Al continues driving at roughly 90kph doing his best to reduce the inevitable sway as transport trucks continue to overtake us. His only comment in the last 2 hours is: “At this rate our trip will cost us $500 in gas alone”. I don’t ask if he is counting in American or Canadian dollars; I just return to my book, Quilts: A Beautiful History, a gift from Barbara, a fellow sewer who just happens to be the president of the Merrickville Artists’ Guild.
Folks not interested in reading quilty stuff should skip this paragraph
I learn several things from this book. Crazy quilting, popular in the 1900’s was used not just for quilts, but also teapot cosies. That surprises me as I am currently making one out of brown striped ties for a Brown Betty. Still, I prefer my oxymoron. Working with fabric on the bias is difficult enough (for me anyway), but I just had to add the challenge of creating a pleasing design that doesn’t scream – TIE! Not as easy as I would have thought due to scale, striped design & limited colour values. My Christmas tree skirt has been put on hold as a result.
Our travels continue without significant event, my lunch being 3 wonderful homemade-by-me oatmeal/cranberry muffins; Al is not hungry. Good thing too as I had a quick look at the gas stop menus providing abundant evidence as to why we’re rapidly becoming a nation of overweight & obese folks.
5:28pm, exit 193 on the I-90 just north of Columbus, OH. Oooh! there are 4 different motels to choose from. Surely one will accept our four-footed friends as well. Al is looking for his reward for his10 hour driving marathon on our first day – a beer. First motel we stop at says on the Welcome Sign “We’re pet friendly”. The day is done, but where is dinner?
Feb 2, Day2
Up at 6am again. Before my coffee, but after cleaning my teeth, (nothing happens before I clean my teeth, no word, no conversation, no nada) I’m on the phone to T-Mobile to try and ressurect our email settings which got messed up last while accessing the wirless service. Success, but I’m not crowing too loudly as I still can’t remember my username for my blog! Al suggests I email Carman, but that implies he can decipher my cryptic notes on the bulletin board at home. Easier to set up another blog, but that will have to wait until tonight.
7:18am with very large café lattes in hand we join the Cleveland commuters on I-90.
I take my first sip - a wee bit sweet. Do they use artificial ‘dairy’ or is this whole milk? Freshly ground beans though. I should be sighing ‘ah!’, but the highway is not ‘friendly’. Al has a ‘death grip’ (his description) on the steering wheel, coffee untouched & growing colder by the second. The concrete jungle gets worse. Al’s spoken lesson for today – “Always stop on the other side of the city”. The city of Cleveland reveals itself with taller buildings dotting the skyline. I catch a glimpse of Lake Erie. ‘Oh look!’ I exclaim. I quickly revise my statement: ‘Don’t look! I’ll look for you’. A marina passes by with what seems like acres of white plastic-covered boats up on blocks. The General Benjamin Davis High School of Aviation has runway lights blinking along the shoreline. Towering buildings aplenty, multi overpasses, mucho concrete. I count 3 massive bridges, one built years ago with lovely stone arched supports. Briefly reminds me of one I saw when hiking with Sean & Uli in the walking district near Shieffield, England. Two gorgeous stone buildings with round sloped-roofs, cathedral-like but much, much taller. An outdoor stadium. A massive TV screen with moving pictures … couldn’t tell, possibly advertising. Now the ‘burbs, houses and finally open visual space. Relax!
We’re driving the I-71; don’t know when or how that happened, but the right road thank goodness as I’m supposed to be navigating, not gawking and typing.
BTW Al will have to read this at the end of the day, if he wants to know what he ‘saw’
Down to 3 lanes with lots of very! tall sound barriers. Motels, motels, motels, all the same names as before. Al needn’t have worried so much. Pet friendly is a requirement; free WiFi would be equally welcome though we still have our $6 credit with T-Mobile from last night. To use we have to find another area where it is available.
8:30. Road sign says Mile 209 (To? From where? I wonder). Al speaks: ‘Trees again. This is nice”. He doesn’t say much while driving, but when he does, he says it all.
I-71 has a grassed boulevard; traffic is sparse. Great big YUK! Not a dead skunk as the song goes, but a deer which has been dragged up against the guard rail. However did it jump that height? Wow! 2 hawks (‘side-by-each’ as Al would say) in adjacent trees overlooking the field right next to the highway. They disappear in a flash, but it didn’t look like they were in hunting mode.
9:28am Low fuel warning bleeps again. We’re caught behind a salt truck prodigously
spewing a rotatating cloud of fine white granuals. As if we don’t have enough salt covering us already.
9:51am, 192 km so far. Gas is $2.18/US gal. Not bad as earlier posted rates were in the $2.29 range. Feed dogs. Discover someone has peed on her dog bed. Of course it just has to be the suede-covered one. Discovered the first thing we forgot – extra windshield washer fluid. We forget again at this stop.
Back on the road & it’s “flurrying” just a wee bit now. The highway is wet. Tiny gusts of salt rise up in the vaccuum created behind each passing vehicle. The transports leave us awash in salty slush. Windshield wipers are in ‘slow mo’, constantly requiring little bursts of washer fluid. Al drives with a ‘whiter’ windscreen than I would, but then he’s trying to stretch out the available supply. Visibility has diminished with a light misting of fog all around us. Reminds me of when we lived in Rot, Germany, a very dreary place at this time of year.
What of the dogs? Thank goodness someone asked. Leila, ‘where is that black one’ and Gypsy, aka ‘little one’ are tolerating very well their confinement during this 4?-day marathon. When an exit from the car is imminent, Gypsy puts good voice to her impatience even before the rear passenger door is opened. Not to be outdone, Leila sets up barking. Very hard on the ears in the confined space of the car. I can now leave the rear passenger door open while I put my jacket on. Okay, Okay, I frequently dive into the interior to wrestle Gypsy down thereby preventing a getaway. Listening to me is probably quite a treat to onlookers as I commence the ‘SIT’ ‘NO’ mantra while I struggle with the leashes. Everyone has to be sitting and still (well almost…have to give Gypsy some leaway) before I give the very quiet ‘OK’. I tense my body in preparation for the massive jerk of Gypsy’s leash. I’m still contemplating buying a spiked choke collar which is not harmful, but supposedly will ‘put paid’ to this kind of behaviour and do it ‘toute suite! I can hear the ‘oh no’s’, the chortles AND see Doris’ sympathetic grimaces as she appreciates the ‘ouch’ that follows the jerk.
We’ve settled into a routine. Al drives in silence, at times with the radio off thank goodness (news! News! News! Did I happen to mention that I hate news as well as talk shows, phone-in shows. But my ‘rule’ is - the driver decides)…I compose & type& delete & re-type…dogs sleep. Pretty quiet. Scenery remains consistently boring – tall trees, the occasional beech still with its summer leaves attached and motels, fast food joints & gas stations surrounding each exit overpass. Which book do I read now, as I finished yesterday’s? I don’t feel like knitting. I select a magazine, settle in and watch/listen to the big transport trailers as they whine past. Al comments that we are not moving as fast as he had hoped. I reassure him that he his driving speed (90 kph) is exactly correct for his comfort level. So what if we can’t keep up with S&T (Streets & Trips) LOL.
I-70/71 split is just ahead & it’s 202.1 km to Cincinnati, or so says S&T. As we enter the foray, a collander of spaghetti looks better organized than this myriad of over/underpasses.
12:13pm 380.4km and 26 miles N of Cincinnati which is setting out another homeless shelter because of the freezing weather according to the news. I see a water fountain still in operation. Paramount Kings Island cinemas & amusement park appears on the left with a roller coaster. On the right side of the highway, a giant water slide as well as a tubular structure. CINTAS Services sports a giant American flag. ‘Retirement University’ is a sign on a multi-storied building This section of the Interstate is beautifuly landscaped on both sides, a real treat to the eye. I comment as much; Al responds with “and clean too”. I then realize that we have seen very little, if any, roadside debris on our trip so far.
I need a book of N.American trees. Very tall ‘eggs’ on stumps is the best description I can give of what I perceive to be cedars. For some reason I think of mushrooms, only on a very much larger scale. In the dim light they provide much-needed contrast to the lifeless & leafless trees and shrubs.
The haze deepens into minor fog conditions. Car headlights have been on for over an hour.
I eat lunch while Al drives; he’s saving himself for his beer stored in the very cold trailer. Approaching downtown Cincinnati I spot a little red Cooper. What a riot! Reminds me of Al’s dad’s mini Minor which travelled at only one speed – as fast as possible, just like this one. Lady driver with foot to the floor & in my mind praying that she can make it up the on ramp, cut in front of us and merge into the 3rd lane over. She does and quickly disappears. We continue at our stately 90kph in the slow lane.
The city of Cincinnati presents the usual number of lovely stone buildings, in this case several that appear to be interconnected with shorter buildings and the requisite skyscrapers which impress me again.
All of a sudden lots of police – state, local, sheriff, as often sitting curbside all alone with lights flashing as cruising. Even more are in view now as we pass by a digital roadside sign telling drivers that there is a transport truck blocking the right hand tunnel lane which is on the shoulder by the time we arrive. The long slow descent to the tunnel proides a quick sighting of 2 stadiums (Paul Brown) on our left on the Ohio River. Upon emerging a ‘Welcome to Kentucky’ sign greets us.
Much blasting was required to create the Kentucky portion of the Interstate leaving the sides lined with massive rock cuts covered in monster icicles. Probably quite a wonderful sight when the sun is out. Today they appear dull, lifeless, and dirty. Pity!
Both fuel and washer fluid indicators are sounding off so we take the next exit (175). It’s 1:09 and the 463.3 km mark. Pilot is the station name. Includes 2 showers, ‘smoking’ toilet stalls, super-sized (24 oz) cups for an amazing variety of non-alcoholic beverages. The trailer squeels as Al makes the sharp turn to mount the unexpectedly steep & short ramp. Then the noise of trailer hitting and dragging along the asphalt at the top. We repeat the process only in reverse upon leaving. The noises seem worse.
Exit 173 & still heading toward Louisville on I-71. Finally getting a grip on S&T’s way of using the term ‘exit’. Sort of means, take the right or left lane, don’t ‘really’ exit with the other traffic actually exiting the Interstate.
My cedar ‘eggs’ on short stubby trunks are less numerous. Compared to yesterday’s relatively flat landscape, we are now in gently rolling hills. At times our speed is reduced to 65kph as we creep up the long inclines.
2 dogs very close to the roadside apparently feeding on something – a rotty and a ? are a long way from home, assuming they have a home since there is no visible housing along this stretch.
Radio news flash – apparently NY is preparing to enact legislation prohibiting the use of the ‘N’ word, a word so heinious that it cannot be spelled in the legislation. No fines or jail time will apply. Followed by an interview of Annabel about her newest film on the topic of getting fired. Various rules were quoted: don’t answer the phone when Human Resources phones as they can’t fire you if they don’t talk to you; always have a piece of chocolate with you in case you get fired; or how about – if you can get a bunch of people fired along with you, the drinking afterward will be so much more fun.
OK back to the road trip.
The sun has finally burned off the haze. My giant cedars appear less ominous; my mind’s eye still sees mushrooms rising up.
2:01pm We crest a hill and are presented with a comical sight – that of very large lollipop signs sitting atop very, very tall skinny standards. Lollipop valley contains a wide assortment of flavours – in the restaurant & motel business.
The sun continues to penetrate the front window making it difficult to see the laptop screen. I am alternating between hand writing notes about the current landscape and catch up typing of earlier scenes. My poor brain is being greatly taxed by having to tune out the radio while I cast about for the perfect phrase or word to describe…
We’re now 10 km from Louisville. ‘Monster houses’, new construction developments, housing sizes drop marginally as we get closer then I am stunned by several ‘small’
The highway widens to too many lanes to count – 6 I suppose in each direction with 2-3 side lanes. Sure can’t miss the Nashville sign covering 4 whole lanes as the two outer ones ‘speed’ off to the right. Thank goodness the traffic is very light at this time of day. Then we’re down to only 3 lanes. Other than a grassed median, there is no obvious landscaping, making for a pretty bleak stretch of highway. Tiny areas of snow covering an otherwise green ground. We are literally ‘bumping’ along the road. My handwriting is more hierogliphics than cursive. The ‘most awesome flea market’ adorns a very tall barn-like structure. By contrast Murphy’s Antiques & Collectibles occupies a very long, low building. The House of Quilts flies by
The dry Inerstate is fairly flat again, snaking through the higher hills. Highway debris is now ‘popular’ with green/blue garbage gas, coffee cups, plastic jugs & buckets, rusted out oil barrels, cardboards boxes, truck tire tread offings… punctuating the roadside. A massive billboard announcing Bowling Green doesn’t help either. An ‘Exotic Art Transport’ truck passes us.
The rolling hills become steeper. An extra ‘slow’ lane appears. I catch a fleeting glimpse of some pale, but very bright green pine trees, a welcome addition of landscape colour.
Exit 91 announces Lincoln’s birth place and Paducah, a name I recognize from QuiltArt.
I’m attentively listening to a radio broadcast featuring an interview of the author of ‘Change your mind; change your brain’. Apparently a great 2-hour read about neuroplasticity. Discussion includes cognitive behavioural therapy for depression to re-educate the brain not to over-think, ruminate or otherwise catastrophasize life’s difficulties. Dyslexia is now thought to be an auditory, not a visual problem. Check out Sciencefriday.com
We’re now entering ‘mammoth’ country with its monster billboards announcing places like: Diamond Caves, American Cave Museum, Mammoth Cave National Park, Peeps Theatre with adult books, Guntown Mtn., Dinosaur World, the Adult Superstore, Granny’s Quilts
750 km at 4:53 EST (now 3:53 Central time). We make our last gas stop of the day. Shell is the choice at 2.09 per gal.
We reached our 800 km today and we’ve found another Red Roof bed just north of Nashville. I’ll be able to do email and maybe set up another blog. This travel account is now up to 7 pages in Word. Perhaps a blog is not the way to go. Because Al didn’t each lunch today, we get to have the leftover sushi, properly called maki, from last night.
In Tennessee grocery stores don’t sell wine, beer stores don’t sell wine, but require a license causing Al to prove he was from out of State. At that point Al was tired of looking for wine for me, so we still don’t know what ID you need for the booze store.
With our marathon drive almost half done, I wish you a good night.
TTY tomorrow
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