Wanderlust exercised

Day 30
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Des Plaines, IL to Clarksville, MD
726 miles

By consensus, we decided it was time to go home. Much like the scene in the movie Forrest Gump, where after four years of running, Forrest announces to his disciples, “I’m going home,” we decided this morning that it was time to make our way back to Clarksville. Bugging out of a hotel was much less complicated than breaking down a pop-up trailer. We were on the road by 6:15 AM, only 30 minutes after we got up. We drove as far as we could on the gas that we had and then stopped for breakfast and a fill-up in Gary, Indiana.

We really didn’t hit any rain again today, which was amazing. Except for a few storms early in the trip and an overnight deluge in Apple Valley, we were very lucky with rain, especially given how much rain the Midwest received this spring.

In central Ohio, near Sandusky, we exited the turnpike and briefly toyed with visiting a water park and spending the night. After a family discussion, we decided to get back on the highway and continue on. Much of the way was flat or rolling hills until we crossed into Pennsylvania and encountered the Appalachian Mountains. Although there were significant ups and downs over many miles, our concept of what constitutes a mountain had been altered, and, as Elliot noted, “These aren’t mountains.”

We were amazed by the number of UPS and FedEx trucks on I-80/90 today.  Of course we noticed the full-sized doubles and triples since they seem odd to us.  There were huge parking lots in eastern Ohio where extra trailers are dropped before trucks cross into Pennsylvania.

Frank was amused and pleased to hear the rural western Pennsylvania accent at a rest stop near Pittsburgh. After hearing so many varied and unfamiliar accents, it was nice to hear one that we associated with our region of the country. It wasn’t quite home, but we were getting close.

It was after we left the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Breezewood that we saw brown, drought-stricken vegitation for the first time.  Even in Pennsylvania the grass was green and healthy looking.  It seemed odd to us that the Midwest had water standing in the corner of just about every cornfield while Maryland was suffering from a profound lack of rain.  Maybe the farmers in Maryland will have to buy hay from Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota and Ohio.

The kids cheered when we saw the exit sign for “Clarksville.” There really is no place like home.