50 in 50: Hitting the Road

After a good night’s rest and being first in the breakfast queue at 6am, we hit the road on our latest trip to capture the elusive last nine States. Mind you, talking of rest, with the six hour time change it has always being odd finding yourself wide awake at 2am local and trying to find things to do until breakfast is served.

Chicago is one of America’s most densely populated metro areas and has the traffic to accompany its size and scale so hitting the Interstate at rush hour on a Friday morning could be viewed as either foolish or brave. I like to think the latter although the first few miles can be daunting as commuter traffic flashes past you, both left and right, on a five lane highway! The traffic flows pretty well and the majority of drivers follow the rules but like home, you get the maniacs weaving in and out at breakneck speed putting the fear of God into everyone else. You get used to it.

Whilst the weather wasn’t great at the start of our journey, it improved over the day until we were basking in 23C of sunshine. We clocked up 367 miles during which we only had the one potential disaster, an inability to open the fuel filler cap! In a way it was quite fortuitous because it happened in a town called Shipshewana, Indiana but more on this place later.

I pulled into the garage, went through the process of credit card approval and lifted the nozzle to fill the car but couldn’t release the fuel cap cover! Aagghhhh… not more problems! Despite every effort, it wouldn’t open and I was left to try and call Avis Roadside Assistance all without success. In the end, I turned to my wallet and with a couple of credit cards managed to free the offending item and refuel. It never rains but pours in Alistair’s world!

Back to Shipshewana, a town at the heart of the Indiana Amish community. As we had approached it we had passed a number of their horse drawn carriages, some of which were very practical then others that were almost works of art. It seemed to present a picture of a gentle life and times gone by but in reality, their lives are far from the impression we all may enjoy. Linda was able to chat with one of the men folk, Reuben, who is pictured below while I was trying to sort the car problems. It was a super find although we did feel their Halloween celebrations were a touch premature.

Home for the night was to be a Wyndham hotel in Dayton, Ohio but to arrive at this destination we had to travel through Wapakoneta which turned out to be the birthplace of one of the most famous men in world history but more of that in my next dispatch from the USA.