What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours. Yesterday if there were three thoughts dominating my mind , they were, why am I doing this, this will be my last trip, don't hesitate to turn around and head home. This evening, those three thoughts morphed into the following: I know why I am doing this, where should I go for On The Road 10, There is no turning back now. I thought it would take me 3 to 5 days to get into the stride of the trip, but I think I officially hit the stride this evening.
Incidentally, unlike past trips, I am not typing out this blog, but using the pro version of Dictation. I have been using Dragon for the last several years, but they did not upgrade for the new iPad and iOS, and, instead, developed a new app, but for which they charge $15 a month . The heck with them, I found Dictation pro version, for $6.99 and it is by far superior to anything Dragon put out before. Accuracy is as close to 100% as you can get.
Several things helped get me into the stride of the trip. First, all of the pesky shakedown problems that plagued the trip yesterday were resolved one way or the other, as I am generally want to do on these trips. The beautiful weather we encountered today also put me into a better mood. But more importantly, getting my Beets headphones to work properly and listening to This Land is your Land, North to Alaska, and Nessum Dorma, brought back the thrills I experienced on earlier trips and suggested that I will have some equally memorable experiences to look forward to. Oh, one final thing help, the Defender. It has been performing beautifully,no doubt by its new more powerful engine. I have lost the fear of it's not starting in the morning when I go to start it probably because I have confidence in Dean, my mechanic, and also because I not only have a contingency plan for dealing with If it doesn't start, but also some formidable experiences to rely on.
We got into the John Bryan state park in Ohio right on schedule tonight at 5 PM. I took my time in setting up the camp, making dinner, and the going through remainder of the nightly chores, just to see how long it would take. The answer is three hours, which is probably consistent with my other journeys.
I had dinner tonight, finally. I even treated myself to a dessert of couple s'mores. In my daily food boxes, I alternated between chocolate bars and York peppermint Pattys, and the one that I drew tonight had the Yorks in them. So, I experimented, and made the s'more's with York peppermint Pattys. Frankly, they were quite good . It also helped that i was listening to Luchiano Pavarotti singing Nessun Dorma in repeat mode, and that brought back some fond memories of the journey in Alaska two years ago. Those who read the blog from 2016 know what I'm talking about. Better, those who were with me on the 2016 journal know precisely what I'm talking about.
Donner, too, I think Is getting into the stride of the trip. Unfortunately, we didn't meet any dogs today, but I'm sure there will be many dogs we encounter in the next 7 1/2 thousand miles.
Tomorrow, we had farther west to Illinois and hope to make either Kickapoo state park or Weldon state park depending upon the time we make on the road. I had originally planned to have lunch with my lovely ex-wife Connie, whose home is just a few miles from the interstate I will be traveling on, but she left for her hometown yesterday so we will have to postpone that reunion.
I will send a few photos of today's journey after I send this posting.
As I anticipated, so far I have read zero pages of my book, the History of New York. Eat the rate I am going , It will take me longer to read that book than the history of New York took to make. No big deal, there will always be time when I get back home, or stranded somewhere, God forbid.
The John Bryan camp tonight Is a wonderful oasis amidst miles of corn fields. I've traveled this route probably six times already, and never knew about this camp or many of the other state parks straddling I 70. Reason is , I relied heavily on Woodwalls and the AAA camp guide books. And they either did not have these camps in them, or the guides were indecipherable. This trip, so far, I have not looked at a guidebook or consulted a map, and I am relying exclusively on my ipad, Google and my GPS. If I am trying to make a camp but find that I am running out of time before the sunsets, I will stop, Google "camps near me," and proceed as directed by Google. The technology is paying off. Too bad Microsoft cannot perform as well.
I was hoping to get a good night's sleep tonight in the camp, which is essentially empty. Unfortunately, there is a group of about 10 people using the cooking pavilion about 200 feet from me playing a guitar and some sing alongs. If they were any good, it would be one thing. But the fact that that they are singing just beyond a cornfield in Ohio and not on Americas Got Talent tells it all. If it continues much longer, it will be time to pull out my whistle.
Ed and Donner, from on the road.
