Chicks and Ducks and Geese Better Scurry

I wish I could tell you something about Oklahoma other than that the Welcome Center isn't pet friendly and there are a lot of bales of hay. But it all sort of went by in a blur as I did my own scurrying to make up for lost time. And I did manage to drive for nearly ten hours and got through the entire state of Oklahoma and a little past Springfield, Missouri, before I stopped. Then I had a nervous breakdown. Which was due in part to Missouri's irritating insistance on marking distances every 0.4 miles. When you've been driving for eight hours and you have 130 miles to go until the hotel, you really, really don't want to see the distance marked so frequently.

So I took things a little easier today. I finished Missouri, which had more hills and curves than I had expected. I was beginning to feel gipped, that I had missed the whole Midwest experience of endless flat roads. Then I crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois. And got to I-55, which may possibly be the most boring road. Ever. It is flat and straight and surrounded by corn that's about as high as a baby elephant's eye. I think I may have lost consciousness several times. By the time I got to Springfield (Illinois, and can't anyone be bothered to come up with original town names?), I had to take a break. So I pulled off into a residential area, and Rowen and I took a short walk around. Other than that, I haven't seen a bit of the states I've been driving through. One of these days I will learn to schedule more time than I actually need so that I can see more than the standard highway greenery.

Tonight, I'm in northern Illinois, in a tiny farm town just off I-39. I've got about 2 hours of driving left for tomorrow. I probably could have made it to Madison tonight, but I would have gotten in too late to get the keys for my apartment and I would have had to unload the car after another long day of driving. So I let myself have one more day.

In other news, I finally called my parents last night. My father acted like nothing had happened; my mother was cool at first and we had a long, drawn-out conversation that ended with absolutely nothing resolved other than her agreeing that she probably should not have not called me and me realizing that she's just never going to change and I'll have to find some other way to deal with the situation. Tonight we went back to our usual denial of any problems. Not ideal, but I made it through the whole day without crying or having an anxiety attack, so I guess it'll do.

The photos are a bit out of order because Blogger is f-ing with me tonight. Sorry.


"My turn to drive?"


















Where did all this stuff come from?














Sleeping Beauty wakes from her first night in a hotel.


















More stuff!


















For the Simpsons fans.



















"Let's go!"


















Mike saves the day! (Lost was a huge help, too, but she wouldn't let me take her picture.)