Chicago to rural Ohio...

Yesterday we slept in a bit after a very late previous night (2am for others, 5am for me), then split up: patgreene and James went to the Art Institute, I took David and Kevin to see dinosaur fossils and Egyptian relics at the Field Museum. Then we left Chicago, stopping for a picnic lunch at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Lake Michigan had surf! But no seashells, of course... it was strange seeing waves with nothing washed up except flat pebbles.

Then we drove on to my Aunt and Uncle's lakeside house near Mt. Vernon, OH, passing through Toledo (the *other* one ;)

( 4 photos including a dinosaur... )

Mt. Vernon, OH to suburban Washington, DC, today

We had a solid night's sleep in the country... restful. Then after breakfast, my aunt and uncle walked down to their boathouse and we took out their pontoon boat for a spin, reminiscent of Saturday in Minneapolis. A long time ago... after swimming and a barbecue, we headed eastward again. Through parts of five states today, the most on our trip (OH, WV, PA, MD, VA).

PA doesn't perform roadwork very well... other states narrow traffic to one lane in each direction and run both on one side while rebuilding the other. In PA, they stop all lanes in one direction, while allowing the other side to go... alternating. Because of inertia and having to restart, that approach is maddeningly slow. It cost us an hour of frustration.

But patgreene then became leadfooted and drove 162 miles in the next 1:55... I took over after a quick stop and we made it here to Fairfax, VA around 10:20pm. On tomorrow to downtown DC...

( 3 photos from today )