Why don't we go sit down in the shade
Take shelter on my front porch
The dandy lion sun scorching,
Like a glass of cold lemonade
-Paula Cole. "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone."
We awoke in the Gerbec residence to a feast of muffins, cereal, and strawberry shortcake this morning. It made me realize how much of a breakfast food strawberry shortcake really is! I would also say that Day 3 morning was marked by one of our first road trip tragedies: not being able to visit the John Eagle store.
...Yes, it had been a candy store that I was dreaming of since Day 1 of the trip, but odd enough, the store had an opening time of 9:30 instead of 9. After much debate with the cousins, we decided to leave that venture for another trip...part II perhaps in the future?
2 commitments to fill today: the first was lunch with A and E's friend Jane, (and also one that I had met for 20 min. 5 years ago.) Currently, she is in a PHD program at Indiana University in Bloomington, so coming to se her was very convenient! We had a delicious lunch and reminisced about the old times in Massachusetts. Well, okay, THEY did. I just enjoyed myself and the brownies that she had made while they did most of the talking. Thank you Jane for your patronage.
The 2'nd part of the road trip that day was definitely marked by some drama as the "clock ticked life away" and we feared that we had bitten off much more than we could chew. We had to be in St. Charles, Missouri by dinner-time: a very hard feat to accomplish when leaving Bloomington, IN at 3:30 PM. Between us 3 drivers, (okay, 2 really. I am really being shuttled across the country by my cousins. Another plus for me:) we seemed to have the task in the bag, but a depressing closed ramp onto I-70 W in Illinois caused lots of cousin drama to ensue. Luckily though, we arrived at our destination (Kendra's house,) a bit behind schedule but, by that time, drama free :)
Even though the 2nd half of the day was stressful, it was marked by some gems. First off, we saw an ALASKA LICENSE PLATE somwehere on I-70 smack in the middle of Illinois. My guess is that for the rest of my life I will never see one unless I travel there. Also, we learned that 40 miles East of St. Louis there's a small town called Pocahontas, which we have marked as a stop for one of our future vacations/honeymoons.
Up next: A drive to Oklahoma City that will take us through NORTHERN TEXAS!! Thanks again to Jane, Kendra, and everyone thus far that has put up with us. So nice to see the Gerbec family again...hopefully it won't be 10 more years till the next family reunion guys. Over and out.
JANE!!
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