Pearson 4 Road Trip - 06/13 Howe, IN to Chicago, IL (De Kalb, IL)

Aunt Carole's Journal:

June 13:  Another morning, about the same.  Debbie and Delma are loading the car.  Jean and I, as usual, just watching.  Good trip, huh!  Loaded and on the road.  First stop, Walmart in Michigan.  Next stop will be McDonald's and then away we go.

Debbie told Jean and I we could write a soap opera from watching people.  Oh, Delma, right again.  Guess about what?  We are going to visit Notre Dame.  Exciting!  Debbie and Delma are walking around to take pictures.  Too much walking for us old folks.  The University is beautiful and the stadium is also.  Wish we had the money it would take to attend this school.  Stopped for lunch at Hardee's on interstate.  Funny thing happened that we won't always tell. 

Made it to Chicago.  Took a nice tour of the city and saw lots of sites.  Leaving Chicago; traffic everywhere.  Maybe get to Iowa and get us motel for the night.  We will all be ready again tonight.

These states up here have toll roads everywhere!  The most we paid was $9ish.  The least so far was 80cents.  No place to pull over so the battery operated cigarette is coming out.  Stopping for gas at De Kalb, IL.  Just 78 miles of gas left.  It seems we are running closer and closer to empty.  Motel time, so we will sign off.

Debbie's comments.

Our motel in Howe, IL, was just 2 miles from Michigan.  So we decided we had to at least cross the state line (since we were so close).  And guess what, there was another Walmart.  Delma had bought a new pair of parachute style pants a couple of days ago and they were just too big.  Mom and Aunt Carole gave her a hard time when she put them on....Aunt Carole said they would fit her.  So, Delma went into Walmart, found a new pair of the same pants and changed in the bathroom.  When she got close to the car, she threw the "large" pants through the car window and hit Aunt Carole, causing her to spill her coffee.  That was screw up number 1 for the day:

Delma was shocked she actually go the pants through the window and Aunt Carole was shocked to have a pair of pants thrown at her.  We all laughed, coffee was cleaned up, and we were on our way (after we stopped at McDonalds first).

Now on the road to Chicago.  But, as usual, we saw a sign about something we just had to see.  Notre Dame University.  With took the exit for South Bend, IL and, once again, followed the Garmin instructions to the campus.  Mom and Aunt Carole stayed in the car (throwing a 'pretend' fit).

Delma and I took the camera and off we went.  We took LOTS of pictures, but we'll only share a few.

After walking around the campus, we drove past the football stadium.  Gives a whole new perspective when OU plans Notre Dame.  Back in the car to continue our trip to Chicago.

We stop at a Hardee's before getting into Chicago.  Nothing noteworthy, but since were were all wearing our orange "jail" shirts from the Rockville Old Jail Inn, we had our picture taken.

Don't we look cute?

I do have to tell you a side note.  When we got to Hardee's, Delma pulled into a parking spot.  We had a car pull up on both sides of us, so we waited until those folks got out of their cars.  When we were getting out, Mom asked Delma if she had turned her car off.  Delma said, 'yes, Mom'.  Well, when she tried to lock the car, it wouldn't lock.  Delma thought Mom was standing too close to the car (and Mom has the 2nd key).  Well, guess what, Delma did leave the car running; that's why it wouldn't lock.  That was screw-up #2!!  We got another big laugh out of that.

OK, now we are finally on the final stretch to Chicago.  Wow!  What a fantastic city it is.  I won't even try to share a lot of pictures.....I took a total of 312 pictures today.  Some of Notre Dame; the rest of Chicago.  They have some fantastic buildings there.  We took a double-decker bus tour of the city.  It was wonderful.

But first, I had to snap a picture of Mom and Aunt Carole as we left the parking garage.

Delma and I thought they looked so cute holding hands as they were getting ready to take on the big city.  I had called ahead and got the address of where to catch a double-decker bus tour (at the Navy Pier).  When we were crossing the street heading for the Navy Pier, I ran ahead to take this picture.

Apparenty the sight of 4 women dressed in bright orange t-shirts crossing the street in a big hurry was a funny thing.  The couple in the car behind Delma had to honk and wave at us.  They were really laughing.  We were too!!

We are now off on the bus tour.  It's one of those hop-on/hop-off tours.  We only got off of the bus at one stop....the Water Works stop.  We went to the Hershey's stop for our "free" gift....a Hershey's bar.  When we left the shop, Delma realized she had bird poop on her t-shirt.

I guess that is what happens when you ride on the top deck of a double-decker bus.  While waiting at the bus stop to "hop" back on the bus.  We asked a lady to take our picture.  We had told her the story of Delma and the bird poop.  She asked us which one of us had the 'poop' on their t-shirt.  This picture was taken when we responded to the question.

We wrapped up the bus tour around 6:00pm.  Back to the car...and out of Chicago we went.  Mom and Aunt Carole had all they wanted of a BIG city.

We drove for a while and found a motel in De Kalb, IL.  We're staying at the Best Western....nice motel.  3 women are asleep again as I wrap up this blog.

Tomorrow morning we head out again.

Pearson 4 Road Trip - 06/12 Niagara Falls, NY to Howe, IN

Aunt Carole's Journal:

June 12, 9:40am -- Leaving motel; heading for Chicago.  Probably stop for the night before we get there.  First stop; back to sourvenir shop; called Three Sisters Trading Post (at Niagara Falls).  On we go.  Toll road; tried to give Debbie money; but she is more interested in photo op.  Oops!  She forgot to put the battery back in the camera.  Oh, finally made it; and money was important.  Had to pay toll.  Just realized 63 miles of gas left.  Jean usually keeps us informed.  I'm kinda getting excited because all I see is water and no gas station.  Made the gas station with 53 miles of gas left.  Oh, but aren't we having fun (yes!). 

You know with 4 women, we have an answer for everything.  Sometimes it might be questionable but since I don't know the answer, I have to agree.  Debbie is still checking out Garmin; just to make sure we are going the right way (West).  Off the interstate again, seeing lots of grape vineyards along Lake Erie.  Going to Lake Erie State Park....$6 entrance fee.  Debbie and I put our toes in Lake Erie.  Sure was cold, but it was worth it. 

This trip has been real educational for me....learning new words.  Traveling with world traveler and spelling bee champion.  And if there is something we don't know, we google it.  Technology is something.  Debbie is driving, so Delma is trying to straighten out Garmin.  Of course we change our minds sometimes, so she has to "recalculate" again.  Stopped for lunch at Burger King.  Real slow waitress.  On road again.  Change drivers again; they decided to change every 2 hours.  Makes it easier on everyone.  Getting close to Cleveland.  Lots of traffic for Sunday.

News Break!!  Delma had an idea!  But Jean nixed it all to hell.  No, not really!  Delma has 14 pairs of sunglasses in car, and can't find any of them.  Guess we will stop for more.  Really just has 3 pair.

Temperature is up to 65; we are having a heat wave. 

5:22pm - Stop for gas, potty and smoke break.  Interesting at gas stop.  4 highway patrols had truck pulled over.  Handcuffed 2 men; and put in back of police car. Talking to another.  Left before we know what was happening.  Guessing it was drugs or something like that.  Back to the interstate

Elva Jean just said I looked bad.  I hope she was teasing.  I think she meant tired.  Oh, front seat is rowdy.  Delma can't find where we are on the map.  Hope we are still in the U.S.  Never know!  Debbie is driving and Delma is giving her mean looks a lot about what the co-pilot is suppose to do.  Guess it is time to stop for the day; get a motel and watch the ballgame.  We all have little nests built in the car and Delma is having trouble getting out of hers - LOL!

In motel, relaxing and ready for the ballgame.  Debbie is ready to do the blog.  Good night from me.

Debbie's Comments:

Well, we are leaving Niagara Falls this morning....heading for Chicago.  It's 557 miles to Chicago, so we know we won't make it before the game tonight.  That's our stopping point....an hour before tip-off. 

Our first stop is to head back to the 'Three Sister's Trading Post'.  We stopped there yesterday during the tour, but we only had 30 minutes to shop.  That's just not enough time when you have a bus load of people shopping at the same time.

Mom and Aunt Carole stayed in the car while Delma and I shopped.  Got a few more souvenirs....then headed out of town.  This is a travel day, so there won't be a lot of pictures.  We enjoyed crossing over the Niagara River one last time; then on to I190 . 

Aunt Carole and Mom remembered we did not get a New York rock for Joseph.  Not a whole lot you can do about that when we're on an interstate.  But wait, there is a sign for the Lake Erie State Park.  We head off the interstate in a quest for a rock.  Aunt Carole and I decided we also wanted to at least put our toes in Lake Erie.

We enjoyed the brief stop at Lake Erie.....and we had success with finding a rock for all of the Morgan boys.  Now, back on the road.

Not much else to say.  Started looking for a motel around 7:00pm.  Found one in Howe, IN.  Now in our room and watching the game.

We are less than 200 miles from Chicago.  Don't really have any plans for tomorrow, so Aunt Carole and I will have to tell you about in tomorrow's blog.

Pearson 4 Road Trip - 06/11 Niagara Falls

Aunt Carole's Journal:

Up and going.  We are getting ready to go on the BeDore tour....which is the tour of Niagara Falls.  Sounds like fun.  Have to be ready by 1:45pm for bus to pick us up.  Wonderful tour; worth every penny it cost.  Back at motel; really tired.  Glad we are staying another night.  Goodnight for me.

Debbie's comments:

I had a lazy morning.  I finished a book I had started on my Kindle.  It was nice to just take it easy this morning.  We didn't have to be ready for our "tour" until 1:45pm.....and the bus was picking us up at our motel.  Perfect.  Delma is trying to organize this motel room.  4 women in one room makes for an interesting situation.  We have 4 big suitcases; 4 small bags (to match our suitcases) and numerous "munchy" bags; not to mention sacks of souvenirs we've gathered along the way.  I'm sure the cleaning lady will just lose it when she comes in today.

We need to make a Walmart run, so we head out.  I want some Dramamine before I get on the 'Maid of the Mist' boat.....just to be sure.  We then had lunch at Chili's before heading back to the motel to get ready for the tour bus.

Waiting on the bus:

The bus picks us up at 1:45pm....we are the first ones picked up.  We wind up with a bus load.  Nice tour guide.  Very knowledgeable about the history of the Falls.  We go the Whirlpool first.  Amazing:

Then off to the American Falls and the Maid of the Mist boat trip.  We were given blue ponchos and knew we were going to get wet.  My main concern was how to take great pictures AND keep my camera dry.  Hey, I knew those ice bucket liners would come in handy for something.  Worked like a charm.  Here are a few pics:

That was fantastic.  We then loaded up, stopped at a little gift shop, then drove on to the Cave of the Wind.  This is a 3-level observation deck that allows you to get "up and personal" with the American Falls.

We wrapped up the tour around 7:00ish (got back to our motel).  Delma and I took the last 2 loads of clothes to a laundry we found and wrapped that up for the day.  I have 3 sleeping women in this room while I finish this last blog.  We will get up and head out in the morning for the next leg of this adventure -- Chicago.  From there, we will be heading to Colorado Springs via Iowa and Nebraska.  We decided we have too much road to cover between now and Friday afternoon (when Kyce gets off work) to hit Mt Rushmore, so that's out this trip.  Delma said there is a town in Nebraska (Valentine) that has the most millionaires per capital in the U.S.  Maybe she said world.  Anyway, we might just have to check that out.

More tomorrow.

Pearson 4 Road Trip - 06/10 Dover, OH to Niagara Falls, NY

June 10 - Aunt Carole's Journal :

Good morning.  Here we go loading our bags.  We are going to have to find laundry today.  Not because we are low on clothes; but because it has been almost a week since we did laundry.  Old habits are hard to break.

Have motel room for 2 nights; just 15 minutes from the Falls.  Kinda anxious for today, but it is going to be fun.  Our 5th member of the party (Garmin) is causing Debbie problems.  She is about to get ticked off early.  Oh, now she has everything going our way.  Saw Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH, but Delma said she wouldn't ever be in it so we would just view outside of building as we drove by.  News break!!  Debbie told Delma "well done" on reading the map.  Jean's asleep; short night.  Oh, mistake; just resting her eyes.  First potty and smoke break after driving 1 1/2 hours.  Quite a ways for us. 

Getting cooler.  May have to haul out long pants and jackets. 120 miles to Buffalo, NY.  Looks like stop and go traffic (road work).  Delma may get out for a stroll; oh, here we go!  Stopping on Pennsylvania and New York state line to pick up tickets for things to do at the Falls.  Will do it tomorrow; the tour is 5/6 hours.  Oh, Debbie hit 'Oh shit" lines.  Going to see Lake Erie.  We are at Freeport Beach (Northeast City). 

4:20pm - arriving at motel; close to Niagrara Falls.  Ready for room again today. Debbie drove entire way today; so know she is.  Jean just closed her eyes twice, and Delma has been asleep once.  Delma and Debbie went to see fireworks display.  Debbie can tell you about that.  Jean and I enjoyed a college baseball game on TV. 

Ending for the night. 

Debbie's Comments:

Sorry I didn't get the blog done last night. As you read the end of this blog, you'll understand why. 

Well I have to tell you what happened at 2:41am this morning (Friday morning).  I, of course, am sleeping with ear plugs in (remember the snoring in our room), so I didn't hear the ruckus going on outside in the hallway.  I did, however, wake up when I heard Mom, Aunt Carole, and Delma get up trying to figure out what was going on outside our room.  Apparently we got 5 new neighbors in the next room.....which happened to be a connecting room.  Delma said it sounded like they were literally bouncing off the walls as they were coming down the hall.  When they got into the room, they were yelling, laughing and just being really obnoxious.  Mother was really concerned; it sounded like they were coming through the connecting door. 

Delma put up with it for a few minutes, then decided to call the front desk.  She told them they needed to get these people settled down or call the police.  Another 10 minutes or so go by and nothing has changed.  Delma called the front desk again and they told her they had tried to call the room (no one answered), so they called the police.  By 3:15, the police had not yet arrived.  But when they did (a few minutes later), we heard this really loud BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM.  We all literaly jumped out of our skin.  I can't imagine what those 5 guys thought was going on.

To make a long story short, they totally lied to the police and told them they had just gotten into the room and had just settled in when the police banged on the door.  They also told the police there were only 2 people in the room (that's all they had signed in).  The motel manager knew that was a lie because he had seen the other 3 running down the hall.  The only thing they apparently had to do was pay for the extra people.  It did settle down after that and we did get some sleep.  I guess the only good thing to come out of that was the motel comped our room for that night.

Now on to Niagara Falls.  Pretty uneventful drive to Niagara Falls.  I put the hotel address in Garmin (after I figured out I needed to change the State) and off we go.  Delma had driven all day before while we were "doing" the Amish thing, so I drove today.  When we got the Pennsylvania/New York State line, we saw a "Niargara Falls' visitor center, so we decided to stop.  It was another fortunate stop that gave us not only some great information about the Falls, but Delma (ever the smoking social butterfly) talked with one of the visitor center employees (also taking a smoke break) and he told us where we could go for a quick look at Lake Erie.  It was only 5 minutes away.  Naturally, we couldn't resist.

We drove through this little town; we think the name was Borough of the Northeast and found this little secluded beach (locals would only know about it).  Lake Erie is like looking at the ocean; no land in sight - just water on the horizon.  We were taking pictures, when this nice "old" man got out of his car and offered to take a picture of all of us.  Here we are:



Yep, you are not seeing double.  Delma and I are dressed alike!  We left the beach and stopped in town for spaghetti.  Delma had been hungry for spaghetti for 3 days.  When she saw this little restaurant, we decided to stop and "scratch her itch".

Back in the car and headed to Niagara Falls again.  Garmin did a fantastic job getting us to our motel.  We breezed through Buffalo, NY and on toNiagara Falls, NY.  No problem at all.  We are staying at the Days Inn on Niagara Falls Boulevard.  Got checked into our room, and started sorting laundry.  The motel had one washer and one dryer.  This was going to take a LONG time.  We decided we would do 3 loads today and 2 tomorrow.  Delma said she had never seen so many bras in one load - EVER!  Delma and I hurried up to get the laundry done so we could go down for our first view of the Falls and the 10:00pm fireworks display.  Mom and Aunt Carole decided to stay in.  Off we go.

Garmin got us there (OK, we missed a couple of turns), we found a place to park.....and we went shopping.  Yep, souvenirs got our first attention.  Got that out of the way; now down to see the Falls for the first time.

WOW!  So impressive.  We had a lot of fun just taking it all in.

The buildings in the background are on the Canadian side of the Falls.  The American Falls are directly behind Delma and me.  We then just hung around until 10:00pm for this spectacular fireworks display.  At 9:55pm, the first big burst went off.  Just one.  Delma thought that was the 5 minutes warning.  Then 15 minutes later, aother big burst went off.  This time it had 3 smaller star bursts.  Both times, they happened so fast I didn't get a picture.  Then nothing!!  We waited until 10:30pm.  Nothing else happened.  We left disappointed; but knew we had a big day ahead of us.

Back at the motel, we had to wake up Aunt Carole to let us in.  Our key wouldn't work.  Aunt Carole had the deadbolt set and that stopped our key from working.  Never had that happen before.

Needless to say, you now understand why I am just now typing up yesterday's blog.  To sum it up; we had a great day.

Pearson 4 Road Trip - 06/09 Dover, OH (Amish country)

June 9 - Aunt Carole's journal:

Happy birthday, Becky.  I have such nice nieces to travel with.  Since I'm the only one to drink coffee, they never forget to bring me a cup in the morning.  Delma has been down stairs and when she came back, Debbie asked her if she had stopped by the desk to pick up information about today.  The look she got about choked us all up.

We are on the way to Lehman's Hardware for our first stop.  OH!  Mistake, our first stop was on the highway -- roadwork.  Jean says there is a 100 cars ahead of us.  First horse-drawn buggy in front of us.  Delma said he hit the "oh shit" line.  We are at Lehman's Hardware.  Just spent 2 hours in there.  Fascinating place.  Thank you, Larry.

Just went by big auction.  Lots of horse and buggy vehicles.  Stopping to get a bite to eat before going on.  Excitement while we were eating.  A motor tricycle came whizzing by backwards with no one on it. Almost got us.  Debbie even got excited as she saw it first.

Whoops!  Guess we are sight seeing too much; a truck is honking at us.  Lots of pretty shrubs and flowers up here.  Stopped and bought strawberries from little Amish girls to have tonight.  Toured Armish homes and barn; and took buggy ride.  Enjoyed it.  Now at Amish quilt store. 

On to the flea market.  Lots of things to see.

Now back a the hotel.  Girls have gone shopping to replenish water and things.  Jean and I are resting.  We are going on to New York in the morning.  Probably spend a couple of nights there.  Good night for me.

Debbie's Blog:

I caught everyone enjoying our complimentary continental breakfast this morning.  It was a great way to start the morning.

We have 2 things on our agenda this morning.  Drive to Lehman's Hardware and visit an Amish Farm....OK, 3.  I wanted to visit at a quilt shop.  We managed to do all 3.  Here are a few pictures:

This is the most amazing hardware store I've every seen.  It has everything.  Hardware, cooking utenstils, cooking stoves, heating stoves, quilts, books, lamps.  The list goes on and on.  The most fascinating thing for me were these refrigerators and stoves that have the look of antiques.  They were beautiful.  However, I guess you have to be rather smart to figure out how to open the oven.  I couldn't do it!  Aunt Carole had to show me how.

I kept trying to open the "small" door.  Guess what!  That's a fake front!  The door opens like a normal stove.  I felt better when I watched several other women do the same thing.  We all had a good laugh.

Here are my favorite things in the store:

We left there and headed to the Amish Farm for a tour of the 2 houses and the barn.  Before we got there, we decided to stop at this little place for 2 BBQ chicken sandwiches for $2.99.  Yep, we splurged for lunch.  Delma and I went in and got 4 sandwiches and a large bag of chips.  The total came to $6.93.  Not bad, huh? 

While we were eating lunch (sitting in Delma's car).  I saw this trike backing up right beside Delma's and Aunt Carole's side of the car.  I just about lost it when I realized no one was riding the trike.  Let me tell you a side story.  As the only smoker in the group, Delma always has to go outside to smoke.  Needless to say, she has meet many interesting folks.  At the Comfort Inn, she met 2 couples riding trikes.  Her first encounter with them was when she had to let them know one of the trailers (both trikes were pulling trailers) still had their key in the lock.  Since then, she's had some good conversations.  TODAY, she had to go back into the little store and let them know one of the trikes almost hit her car!  THEN later today, we ran into then again at a Flea Market.  I told them Delma wanted to know where they were parking this evening so she could avoid them.  We all had a good laugh.  Here's a picture of the trikes.

OK, now on to the Amish farm.  This is some beautiful country here.  We have enjoyed just riding through the country as much as anything else.  Here are a few pictures of the Yodar's Amish farm:

After touring the 2 houses and the barn, Aunt Carole and I took a buggy ride. 

That's it for Dover, OH, and the Amish folks.  We are off to Niagara Falls tomorrow.  We already have our motel reservations (finally) and will stay there 2 nights.  We have plans to go the Falls (of course), take the "Maiden of the Mist" boat tour, and whatever we discover around Niagara Falls. Then we plan to go to Lockport and take an Erie Canal cruise.  Another wonderful couple of days ahead.

I'll blog more tomorrow.

Pearson 4 Road Trip - 06/08 Rockville, IN to Dover, OH

June 8 - Aunt Carole's Journal:

Outside of motel watching cars and trucks go by.  Nice morning.  Had smaller beds last night, so Deb and Delma got "friendly".  Ha, Ha!  Our plans for today are to take scenic route through Indiana to Cincinnati, OH, then on to Amish country for a couple of nights.  Sounds like a fun time.  We are seeing lots of sights. 

9:21am  Here we go.  Breakfast at the Old Jail Coffee House.  Toured the Old Jail Bed and Breakfast.  Really fascinating.  I wouldn't want to stay there, but it was nice. 

On to see more covered bridges.  The first was "Neet Bridge" (that's the real name)!  The second was the Bridgeton Bridge 2006.  We also saw the Bridgeton Mill which was established in 1823 and rebuilt in 1870. Delma tried to help get camera for Deb, but she pulled out the telephoto lense instead.  Debbie and Delma taking some pictures of some pretty sights.  The river at this bridge is really rolling.

On the main road again.  Oh, that pickup is on our side of the road....he moved over (good thing; Delma wasn't budging).  Delma is driving; Debbie is playing with Garmin.  I'm sure glad they are in the front seat.  Jean and I are relaxing and enjoying the trip.  Some times Jean hollers like when something falls or when Delma tried to miss a chug hole.  Delma driving and is trying to take pills; Debbie is trying to help, but Delma said "Hell, no!  I have everything under control."  JUST KIDDING!!

In middle of some place.  Debbie has no reception on phone; Delma says gas is too high, so we are going to buy horse and wagon.  See you about Christmas.  Found gas station; so guess no horse and buggy.  Delma is happy.

Debbie is checking map and trying to find way out of nowhere.  Bloomington, IN, for lunch at Sonic (after we found it)! We have laughed about a lot of things and remarks.  Just passed the University of Indiana football stadium.  Wasn't expecting to see it; but glad of it.  That's what happens when you get off of interstate. 

We have made it through half of Ohio on the way to Dover, OH, for 2 nights.  This has been our longest traveling day so far.  Know we will all be ready for bed.  Made it to the motel; it's real nice.  Going to see the Amish sights tomorrow.  Looking forward to it.  I will say good night and let Debbie finish.

Debbie's comments:

When I checked out of the Park Bridge Motel this morning, I asked the ower for a recommendation on where to grab something quick for breakfast.  She suggested stopping by the Old Jail Coffee House for danish and coffee.  It was a great suggestion.  Delma and I went in  and while in there, the owner of the place started visiting with us.  We mentioned we were on a family trip with our Mother and Aunt and she found that just wonderful.  She went outside to visit with Mom and Aunt Carole while we finished getting things for breakfast. 

While visiting with us she mentioned she had recently opened up the Old Jail House Bed and Breakfast next door and wanted to show us all around.  We all found that concept fascinating so had to take a look.  She has completely rennovated the old Jail house.  The bedrooms are in the old cells.  It is a really fascinating place.  Of course....we had to take pictures.

Obviously none of us have much experience being behind bars; we didn't think about putting our heads through the bars for a better picture.  I included both pictures so you could see us all.

Here's an example of one of the bedrooms:

Then we were off to see 2 more of the 31 covered bridges in Parke County.  The last bridge (Bridgeton) was by far the best.  It was completely burned down a few years ago (arsonist) and rebuilt.  Who can believe someone would destroy such a beautiful bridge.  It was completely rebuilt in 2006.  Recently it was damaged by a storm....you will see the damage in the below picture.  Still a beautiful sight.

After the last bridge, we went on our "scenic" route through Indiana.  It takes a bit of time to travel across the state doing 40-55 miles an hour.  But we did see some beautiful sights.  I've been using my Garmin, AAA app, Map Buddy app and a regular map for navigating.  Sometimes it took all of them to keep us on the right track.  LOL.  Mom and and I are Sonic fans, so I found a Sonic in Bloomington, IN.  I didn't realize it was 3 miles off of Hwy 46.  Mom and I thought it was worth it; not sure Aunt Carole and Delma did.  Hey, we didn't realize the University of Indiana is in Bloomington.  We would never have seen that if we weren't traveling the "back roads".

We did decide from Bloomington we would skip the second "scenic" route and get to Amish counry in Ohio before nightfall.  That made for a long day, but we made it.  We checked into the Comfort Inn in Dover, OH, at 8:00pm this evening.  We have a room with 2 queen beds.  Woo-hoo!  We're here for 2 nights and are really looking forward to visiting the Amish communities.  I've already decided what I can't get in the car; I'll ship home!!  LOL

We are settling in for the night.  I just had to threaten Mom and Aunt Carole to quit bickering or I would "blog" about them.  That seemed to work....I'll remember that for next time. 

Well, that's about it for today.  I'll blog more tomorrow (if I can afford it!).

Pearson 4 Road Trip - 06/07 Springfield, IL to Rockwell, IN

The following is from Aunt Carole's journal:

Good morning, all.  Well, here we go starting our day.  Debbie and Delma have gone to Lincoln's Library and Museum.  I thought we saw enough yesterday, so Jean and I took our time at motel getting things and ourselves together. 

On the road at 10:45am.  Again all loaded and off we go.  First turnaround as we have to visit the Sonic and there wasn't one where we were going.  That's the good thing about having no schedule.  Took pictures of Episcopal, Methodist, and Catholic churches in Decature, IL.  Beautiful.  Went through Atwood, IL.  Delma said there wasn't a "damn" thing there.  Huh, what fun.  Enjoying the trip at 55 MPH.

At 1:30pm had lunch at Subway at Tuscola, IL.  Now on to the covered bridges. 

Debbie now driving and Delma talking to telephone.  Stopped at Ernie Pyle memorial.  He was a war correspondence from WWII.  He was from Dana, IL.  They also had a covered bridge we walked through. 

Rockville, IL, going to covered bridges.  Also have seen Amish farmers plowing with 8 horses.  We are LOVING this trip!  Debbie is out taking pictures of covered 1882 bridges.  She has a nice little swing as she runs.  LOL.  Another bridge on "yellow" route.  Rush Creek Bridge - 1904.  Built by Wm. Hendricks.  Marshall Bridge - 1917; J. A. Britton - builder.  Oh, oh.....tree across road; have to back up.  Jean is having a fit, but everything is OK.  It is not dark yet.  Lots of branches hanging over the road.  Jean's mood ring is 'black'.

Next bridge, Jackson - 1861; built by J.J. Daniels.  We are now back in Rockville getting milk and going to motel.  All ready to relax.  6:34pm.  We are in motel.  Real cute and fixed up nice.  We are in the "Hunting" room at the Park Bridge Motel.  Quilts on the beds.  First time I've ever seen that.  We could't believe it is so nice.  Microwave, fridge -- all for $61.

Signing off for night.  Debbie will finish up.  Good night.

Comments from Debbie:

We go to bed laughing and wake up laughing.  What a trip we are having.  We had to give Aunt Carole a hard time this morning, when we noticed her suitcase piled high.  There was no way she was going to get that thing closed.  See for yourself.

Mom and Aunt Carole stayed at the motel this morning while Delma and I took off for a quick visit to the Lincoln Library and Museum.....seariously, we only had about one hour since the museum opened at 9:00am and we had to be checked out of the motel by 11:00am.  But, we made the most of it.  Really enjoyed the holigram theater (really impressive) and walking through Lincoln's early years and his White House years.

We got back to the motel and started loading suitcases.  Couldn't believe Aunt Carole actually got her suitcase closed.

We headed out of Springfield, IL, on I-72 to Decatur.  Then split off on to Hwy 36 towards Rockville, IN.  We were barely in Indiana when we passed a covered bridge just off of Hwy 36.  It was actually a park dedicated to Ernie Pyle.  Aunt Carole mentioned him a bit in her blog.

Then we were off to Rockville, IN.  All we knew was the covered bridges were in Parke County, IN.  We figured we would get some good information in Rockville, and we sure did.  Nice people in the Chamber of Commerce gave us a map with scenic routes for all of the bridges.  We took  the blue and yellow routes today.  Right off we saw an Amish man plowing his field.



He was behind a team of 8 horses.  Wow!  Then we saw a young lady in a buggy.



We visited a total of 7 bridges today before calling it a day and heading for the motel.  Based on a good recommendation from the folks at the Chamber of Commerce, I called the Parke Ridge Motel to book a room.  I was quite surprised when she quoted $55 for the night.  She assured me we would be pleased with the room......and we are!  It's a quaint little 10 room motel in downtown Rockville.  We are in the room and watching the girls softball championship game.....until the Mavericks and Heat come on.

That's our evening.  Mom's hollering at the girls....and they are listening!!

Tomorrow morning, we take one more route to see a few more bridges; then off on Hwy 46 for a scenic route through Indiana.  We will end up in Cinncinnati, OH.....then off to Amish country.

That's it for today.  More tomorrow.