Road Trip: Indiana & Ohio

I actually bought this postcard, but lost it somewhere along my travels.

Well, I was partially able to live one of my life-long dreams of travelling across the States... a teeny Northern Portion at least!


We packed up Chicago and left to drive to Cleveland... approximately a 6 hour drive through Indiana and Ohio that took us around 8 hrs. In theory we had an early soundcheck, but we didn't end up getting there until at least four hours later. The weather was unfriendly (rain, with a car-pushing wind)

We see this as we cross the Illinois / Indiana border!

The scenery itself even looked bitterly cold... like something out of Blair Witch Project! It was Amish country, we were desperate to see some Amish, but I guess they don't hang alongside highways.

We stopped at two Indiana Truckstops.

Hugh and I were in the Giftshop looking at magnets (for my collection) I was shocked to see a price tag of $4999 on one of those bear lamps!!! Hugh appeared behind me and told me it actually read $49.95. PHEW! I can't imagine that truck stop clientele has a lazy 5 grand in their pocket for bad bear lamps! In retrospect it's hilarious.. imagine if one of those bear lamps had truly been valued at almost 5 THOUSAND DOLLARS... someone would be clinically insane!

We were tired, I was still sick, and we all wanted GOOD FOOD! (We were not to find it on the side of an Indiana Highway!)

Better than a burger though right? who knew Spag bol could be so bad!

We ordered assorted meals from this fast food Italian Restaurant... FAZOLIS !!

Hugh and Scott delighting in their meals.

The badness of the food became an obsession for the rest of the drive to Cleveland... we were all screaming about FAZOLIS! Just saying "Fazolis!" had us all in tears. Combined with exhaustion, this is why...

The atmosphere.

The lady serving.. you could not get someone with fewer manners & less interest. I think the job at Fazolis had really brought her to a low low. She definitely wasn't enthusiastic about Truckstop Italian fare, nor was her spotty teenage assistant.

Hugh and Irene loving life, and loving their FAZOLIS!

I was quick to get LPs an "I love you Indiana" penny pressed!

(which made it all the way home, hoorah!) How cool is the sailboat!?

I picked up a bunch of Amish brochures, to figure out which authentic Amish Experience we would choose, should we have the time. I would say that this Amish Theatre Production comes pretty close.

This guy just screams "I'm AMISH!" doesn't he?

Actually, it's incredibly baffling.

Arriving in to OHIO... I could not believe the gloom and doom of the sky.
How could this not weather get you down.. day after day for month after month?
The Great American Lakes region... i think BRRRRR !!!!