The long drive home

Friday, February 7

We didn’t start our trip back very early. We had all the last-minute packing of food, toiletries, and travel clothes. The cleaning lady was coming the following day to prepare for the next guests on Sunday. Because of the leisurely turnaround, we did not have to wash the sheets and towels; we only had to pile them by the washer.

Sheila had offered to take Jan to the airport. This was a good thing because I’d had visions of me sitting in the back seat with luggage piled on top of me until Jan vacated the front seat. Jane’s car was packed. Sheila arrived right on time at 9:00. We said our goodbyes and hit the road right afterwards.

Traffic wasn’t too bad getting off the island. We made one stop in town to get citrus fruit. Jan wanted some to give to people who were taking of things for her while she was gone. We also got some for us. We shuffled luggage around in the back of the car and found room for our purchases.

First stop: citrus fruits

Florida is a very long state, south to north. It really takes the better part of a day to get from Fort Myers to the Georgia border. Jane and Jan discovered Drury Inns a few years ago and stay there whenever possible. We got to the Drury Inn in Valdosta, GA at 5:20, just in time for the “kick back hour” from 5:30 to 7:00. When we checked in, we got tickets for 3 drinks and heavy hors d’oeurves.

We dropped our overnight bags in our room and headed for the dining area. The first thing that greeted us was a popcorn popper like they have in the movie theaters. There were hot dogs, baked potatoes, salsa, chips, flour tortillas, taco meat, salad, shredded cheese, and soup. We started with glasses of white wine (which were really half glasses, but hey, it was included in the room price), chips, salsa, and cheese dip. I had half a baked potato with taco meat on it. Jane had tacos. We had popcorn for dessert while we drank up the rest of our wine credits. It was plenty to eat for supper.

The room was quiet during the night. I slept well.

Saturday, February 8

Winter storm Kade was tearing through the south and northeast by this time. After watching the weather on TV and consulting the weather app on Jane’s phone, we decided to leave I-75, which would take us through the mountains (and snow and ice) to Tennessee. We did an end run around the storm on backroads to Alabama, where we caught I-85 to Montgomery and I-65 to the Drury Inn at Franklin near Nashville. We drove through some rain, but the sky had cleared by the end of the day. We watched the “almost” super moon rise as we approached our destination. Here is a photo I took from the parking lot.

Almost super moon rising over Franklin, TN

This Drury Inn was larger than the one in Valdosta and humming with activity. I guessed that they were hosting some kind of academic or professional meeting as well as several gymnastic teams. Kick back hour was populated with professor-like older people surrounded by young adults, and early-teen girls were running around everywhere. Much of the food was the same as the night before except they had pasta alfredo instead of taco stuff. I had another baked potato with chili and cheese. It wasn’t until much later that I realized I had passed up an opportunity to have a chili dog. Dang. We had one (half) glass of wine with supper and ordered doubles to take up to the room, where we could enjoy them in piece. With popcorn.

Sunday, February 9

I hate taking I-65 through Indiana. It is always full of semis, and I typically end up in Chicago just in time for rush hour. Also, the weather was still looking dicey. We took I-24 to Clarksville and cut through the corner of Kentucky to enter Illinois at Metropolis. The Metropolis rest area had a cut-out of Superman for photo ops.

Superman photo op at the Metropolis rest area

Jane said there was a statue of Superman in downtown Metropolis, but we had no time to stop. I wondered if Metropolis had renamed itself after Superman was invented, but a little Wikipedia research revealed that it was named Metropolis in 1843 when founders thought it was destined for greatness because of its location on the Ohio River just upstream from the confluence with the Mississippi. That never happened, but in 1972, the Illinois Legislature passed a resolution naming Metropolis “Superman’s hometown.” That gave the city all the fame and glory it always wanted, which is why you have all marked your calendars for the Superman Celebration on the second weekend in June. Right?

Illinois is a long state, too. Our route took us through Champaign-Urbana and Bloomington-Normal. We drove and drove through mist and spitting rain. It was dreary. Perhaps the highlight of the day was passing three huge flocks of mixed Canada and snow geese. Canada geese are a dime a dozen, of course, but I don’t recall ever seeing the striking black and white snow geese in Illinois before.

It was dark before we got to Rockford. The roads were still merely wet in spite of falling temperatures and sleet. We got all the way to the McHenry County, maybe 10 miles from home, before the roads were bad. I don’t know why it surprises me when snowplows from one county stop within one inch of the border of another county. One would think they would want to continue at least until there was a place to turn around.

We got to my house just before 7:00. Jane collected Skippy and headed for her house. I was glad to get out of the car and into my own bed.

When the sun came up Monday, this is what I saw.

Monday morning in northern Illinois

Welcome back to winter.