October 10 and 11, 2013

October 10, 2013

We’re getting very homesick. Gwen had (very logically) determined that the 8-hour “dash” from Madison to Clarkston would be too long for one day, so based on recent past experience, we decided that a stop in Munster, Indiana would at the Center Theater to see “Godspell” would be a good break. She found a Holiday Inn near the theater, and the reservations were made.

The first leg of our now two-legged journey home takes us ross Wisconsin and into Illinois. This is the most immediately expensive part of the trip – with toll roads being the norm for our driving. Wisconsin gets the prize for least hospitable (or perhaps “most cheeky” as the British would say) as they charged us tolls almost the entire way for driving 45 miles an hour on temporary roads beside the roads they are in the process of constructing. In Illinois, the toll roads are already well-constructed (and well-traveled).

We get to Munster in plenty of time for the 2:00 pm matinee showing. To kill time, Gwen looks up barber shops for me on her iPhone, and sure enough there is one a block away. They are just the kind of shop I like: an independent (not chain) barber shop with a pleasant atmosphere and no waiting. The woman barber does an excellent job, and I’m ready to go in half an hour.

Over to the theater we go, still with plenty of time. Our fellow audience members are at least as old as we are, but I suspect that is being generous. In any case, the music is good, the audience appreciative, and we are happy for the break. We go to a local restaurant for dinner at the recommendation of the hotel, and it turns out not to be up to what we had been enjoying, but hey, it’s food, and back to the hotel we go.

Tomorrow: home!

October 11, 2013

And the last five hour drive to home is complete. It is now relatively routine, and we are definitely happy to be home. The fish pond has cleared up (mostly), and the next steps are mundane chores, like laundry and going through the mail.

Until next trip, thanks for listening! Here’s a few more pictures from our trip.