And here we are again. Bore snore I-74 EB. I'm pretty sure I will NEVER forget that road in my life. From Peoria, Illinois, we really have nothing to look forward to in the entire state BUT we both already realized that Indianapolis is our next BIG city to go through.
Anticipation. Nerves. Excitement. And then I look at the map of Indianapolis. Have you ever looked at a city map of Indianapolis, Indiana????? It. Is. Huge. It looks as though it should be pretty smooth sailing around it but oh french fry gods.....look at all those roads!!! And let me tell you this. As if I hadn't been a Nervous Nelly already.....I was sweating bullets just at the anticipation of Indianapolis.
We finally got out of Illinois with no scrapes or injuries and my Google map was keeping very good time with us. I was watching for the VERY second we crossed that border. I mean, after all, Indiana HAS TO BE more interesting than what Illinois had to offer. And that whole "losing an hour" thing is really annoying. You don't know WHAT clock is right after some point. We finally decided that since our cell phones both said the same time (yes, they change automatically which is a life saver), that was the time we should go by. But THAT puts us an hour later arriving!! Ugh, I forgot about that. That just killed an hour of visiting time and shopping time and eating time and sleeping time and visiting time and laughing time and eating time and sleeping time and shopping time. Do you see where I'm going with this???
Drive, drive, drive. Bore snore I-74 didn't prove to be any better in this state so midway through, I decided to get on my trusty phone and look up some "Interesting Indiana Facts." Let me just say, right here, right now.....don't Google that. It's not that interesting at all. And I pushed through several facts before giving in to complete and utter boredom. And Kathy will vouch for it. All of it. A.L.L.
Turns out, Indianapolis isn't quite as scary and demanding as I thought it was going to be. Traffic wasn't the worst...of course it WAS a Saturday morning and there was no race that day...and we just continued on. At one point, Kathy had followed this blue truck for several miles. I had had enough!! I told her she could get in another lane since it would be a couple of miles or so before we had to exit off to the right. She tells me that it's hard to pass because there are always cars behind her. No kidding sister, drive like you own the road...just like they do.
She ventured out into another lane finally and I got to see that the blue truck wasn't all blue. It was yellow in the front. Nice. I can finally look around and see something besides a big blue truck butt in my face. "Oh were we supposed to exit there?" Aren't I fun to travel with??? I kid you not.....the exit was half a mile long, or longer...so Kathy just veers over into the right lane and over the drain that is down in the bottom of the exit...and into the exit lane. Why can't she drive that aggressively when she needs to change lanes??? For real sister!!!
Phew, we are out of Indianapolis. We are feeling pretty studly at this point. For two reasons. One, because Indianapolis is halfway through the state; and two, because we just drove through Indianapolis and NOBODY DIED because of it!!!! Hell to the yeah!!!
Every town on the map makes us grow more and more excited. We can't wait to get to our destination and see Tyler, Joan and Terry! The anticipation of hitting Ohio...and Cincinnati...is overwhelming at this point. We didn't even stop for lunch because we wanted to get there so badly. We knew lunch would happen just as soon as we met up with our friends.
Before I "explode with excitement," (sarcasm at this point, sarcasm), I have to send a shout out to my new favorite truck stop in the world!!! These places have ANYTHING and EVERYTHING you can possibly imagine. I could buy all of my Christmas presents at these places if I chose to. Everything. Don't ever pass up a Love's truck stop. Just saying.
So.....guess what? We have just passed over the Ohio border and are about to enter the limits of Cincinnati. The roads were confusing. The directions were even more confusing. The people drive ruder than any place I have ever been in my life. But it was beautiful scenery. I have to give them that. Ups and downs where you wouldn't think there would be ups and downs. Just beautiful.
And then we get close to our destination. The Children's Hospital. We were warned that this was in the "slums" so we didn't have our expectations set too high.....but wow. I can't even think of another word to describe it. Scary, maybe? Dirty? Fear? Okay so I thought of a couple of words. Now you know what my first impression was.
We made it there, with few scrapes and bruises, and find our friend, who is just dying to go outside and smoke. So we go with her. And she smokes two cigarettes. And feels the need to update us on everything right then and there. Months and months worth of everything that has been going on since they have been there. I finally get us broke free enough that we walked down (and at this point, we weren't realizing just how daring that was, for us to do) to the Ronald McDonald house and got checked in. Can't wait to tell you about that place but that will be a whole blog in itself. I have so much to tell you about it.
Back to the hospital to see Tyler and Terry. Tyler looked so good! He had recently had surgery to reconstruct his stomach and have the J tube and G tube put in so it will (hopefully) be easier to recieve meds and to feed him. His spirits were really good and he had just had a bandage change so it was good timing for us. So good to see our friends after so long. I don't think I had seen them since right after the New Year. There they are...stuck in Cincinnati...until he heals enough to go back to either Des Moines hospital or home (hopefully).
And this is where I'm stopping. I hope to be able to finish up tomorrow. I can't make any promises though. Lots of laughs in store. We ARE a crazy couple of girls. See you soon!!!
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