Road Trip to Springfield
/The Friday before Thanksgiving I started my drive to Springfield MO. The route was familiar from the trips last summer – with scenery changes with the colder season. I was also driving on my own. I took pictures at every stop. The first was at the South Mountain rest stop on I70 – western Maryland. The stones and signs encourage more exploration off the highway, but I had a long driver ahead, so I simply took my pictures and continued on.
I stopped at the Sidling Hill rest stop on I68. I hadn’t remembered the building looking like something in the southwest! It was too cold and damp to walk for a better shot of the large road cut.
By the afternoon I was in Ohio
And then Indiana. The sun was getting low on the horizon during the last hour of my drive. I saw sundogs and then contrails from flights in-out of Indianapolis turn pink with the sunset. I didn’t stop for a picture. I was anxious for the drive to be over.
I stopped for the night in Cloverdale, Indiana – just off I70. The hotel room had a US map made of license plates.
The second day of the trek to Springfield MO started shortly after 7 AM. I had taken in the plants I was taking into the hotel (to avoid them getting too cold). I was glad I could park close to the room since it took more than one trip to get everything into the room.
It took 2.5 tanks of gas to get to Springfield. The day was gray and damp.
Illinois had signs about wildflowers in one rest stop…but none bloom in the cold.
In Missouri, I stopped at the Route 66 rest stop less than an hour from Springfield. I was glad to be near the end of the trip.
Eight days later I reversed the trek…driving back to Maryland.
