Well Under Way

Last Saturday my tour of the Eastern United States began. I finished my last day of work at Rachel's Bread and then spent several hours packing into my car all that I wanted to put into a storage unit that my parents were renting in Archbold. This turned out to be a lot. Sadly, I didn't think to take a picture, but let's just say my car was noticeably more sluggish. Two hours later (long hours, as my radio died halfway) and I was in Archbold.

-- For those who don't already know, I'm soon to be headed to a job in Western Colorado, but since I had a few weeks down time, I thought I'd take a road trip out east to visit some of my many friends that live out there. Fortunately, when you mark where they all live on a map, it makes a circle. Anyway... --

So, a few days were spent in Archbold, and I filled my time primarily with packing. Funny how many times I've had to pack up my life in the last two years. But I think this is the last time for a while. Now my life can *hopefully* fit into a Honda Civic. That's saying a lot for the pack rat I am. After saying my farewells to my family in Ohio (soon to be my family from Minnesota), I headed east toward Pittsburgh. Not more than an hour into my journey and the lack of music (and even NPR) for my roadtrip started to grate on me. So, into a Best Buy I went, and a gruesome field operation ensued in the parking lot.

My front seat still kind of looks like this.

Thanks to my detour and to my exclusive use of smaller highways (I've begun reading Blue Highways, and it has inspired me to slow down and enjoy the journey just as much as the destination.), I found myself in Pittsburgh a bit later than intended. Fortunately, Paul and Becca were forgiving, and we shared a delicious dinner.

Photo of Paul and meta-photo of Becca - she was at work by then

They showed me the sights and a good time, and two days later I was headed to the edges of our nation's capital via some of the windiest, mountainous roads I've been on. For those who have met or heard of my car, you will be happy to find out that Guinevere loves mountains - at least going down them. She feels okay about going up them, but the cars stuck behind the junker that can only manage 40 mph uphill feel less than okay... But hopefully Colorado will not give her much more trouble than West Virginia. Highlights
from yesterday's journey:
-a HUGE Italian hoagie from Rinky Dink's Road House for lunch
-seeing at least Mail Pouch tobacco barns everywhere
-getting stuck behind a logging truck going up and down mountains
-a side-trip through a state park full of old growth hemlocks
-getting lost in Winchester, VA
Good times. But now I'm in Maryland, visiting Kyle and Christy Miller Hesed, and since they're at school right now, I'm off to the capital!