Three Days of Driving

Hello from Albert Lea, Minnesota, on Route 90, just north of Iowa, about 100 miles south of Minneapolis. We just drove 1200 miles in 3 days, and are taking today off to do some chores and get some rest. It's my birthday, and I'm proud to announce that I'm now eligible for Social Security. Starting Monday morning, we traveled through VA, WV, OH, IN, IL, IA, and are back in Minnesota headed for Mt. Rushmore, then the Tetons, then home.

Our favorite stop along the way was a state park just outside Peoria, Jubilee College State Park. It's a vast preserve of conserved land with a wonderful campground, which was almost completely deserted. The drive through the Midwest was beautiful. It's clean, like Canada. Beautiful huge neat farms, again with red barns, are the dominant landscape, but after traveling through the soybean-corn-biofuel belt it was nice to see open grasslands and woods. We got there pretty late in the afternoon, so didn't have a lot of time to enjoy it, but were able to take a walk and let Doogie run around a little.

As you know, Wisconsin has the first prize for the worst roads, and yesterday Iowa earned the sliver. And speaking of the Olympics, how sick are you of beach volleyball? Anyway, the whole state seems to be under construction, and that's probably just as well, because the cement roads are just terrible when pulling a heavy trailer. The sections that aren't full of potholes feel slippery and unstable and cause the truck to bounce along. The little kid in you is tempted to open it's mouth and say AHHHHHHHH, to hear the percussion caused by the constant bumps.

Tonight we're going out to dinner. It appears that the best restaurant here is Appleby's, but it's my birthday and I'm not cooking. We have had very few restaurant meals, and only 3 fast-food meals since leaving home. That means preparing an average of just under 20 meals a week for six weeks, a new record for me. What do we cook?

Cereal, eggs, or yogurt and fruit for breakfast. We never feel like eating it, but two of the three times we ended up at MickyD's were when we skipped breakfast and got hungry an hour later. The other was Tuesday when we were trying to get some miles in and opted for Wendy's for dinner (uck). I pack a lunch every day. Sandwiches, fruit, and little candy as a treat. Packing a lunch is getting old. For dinner I usually make what I call "school lunch" which is when I saute an onion and some garlic (and a green pepper if I have it) with spices, add chicken or hamburger and brown. Then I either add a Trader Joe's simmer sauce or a can of tomatoes. Sometimes I throw a handful of rice into the pot and let it all simmer for 20-30 minutes. Last night I made curried chicken using Joe's red curry sauce. It was fantastic. If you ever come to my house for Indian food, don't ask for the recipe. If I take a hunk of hamburger or a couple of chicken breasts out of the freezer when we pull into a campsite, by the time we get set up the meat is pretty well thawed, and it only takes me about 1/2 hour to prepare the one-pot meal and a salad. I also have some dehydrated bean or rice mixes (although Trader Joe's doesn't pay me anything, I say their mixes are the best) that are pretty good if you're hungry. I usually add meat, but you really don't have to.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to not cooking tonight.