Fall Odyssey 2006

September 24, 2006--Terre Haute, IN to Heath, OH (406 mi)

I woke up abruptly at 4am this morning. In the darkness I realized that I was experiencing an earthquake. I'd been through a dozen of them in the past in Los Angeles and even more of them in Taiwan. It took me a few seconds to realize that earthquakes are much more rare indeed there in Terre Haute, Indiana (pronounced: "tara hoe"). It took me a few seconds more to realize that it wasn't an earthquake that was effectively rocking my Super 8 Motel bed.

I had rather, in fact, been awakened by the very enthusiastic couple next door to me whose headboard was presently and unapologetically slamming against our paper-thin shared wall. At first I was angry because I was still so tired. I thought I should bang on their door and shout them down. But quickly I figured "if you can't beat 'em--join 'em". So I went next door and offered to..........NOOOO..........of course I didn't do that :) I just let them go about their business. Unfortunately for me it went on for fully 30 minutes more! Jeez! That's a cruel message for a lone traveler to wake up to: "Good morning sir! Just thought we'd remind you what ISN'T going to be on your itinerary today." It's always something exciting at the Super 8 Motel ($47)!

I went back to sleep and woke up again at 9:30am. I didn't leave the room until 10:30am though. I got caught up watching an interview with Teri Hatcher onTV--some things are more important than trans-America roadtrip schedules, eh.

I drove across Indiana today using predominantly the east-west Hwy 40 route known as the "Nation's Highway". This was the original highway route across this region in the 1920's and was even earlier used as the beaten path for our pioneer forbears. I actually stopped for a while at Richmond, Indiana to see the "Madonna of the Trail" monument (see photos below) off Hwy 40 which pays tribute to this old route.

The slow backroads through Indiana were very relaxing. I had the window rolled down through much of the journey through the lush green rolling plains. Route 40 was lined with old trees and countless beautiful residential acreages. Every 10 miles or so there was some small town of a few thousand people. I stopped in a few of these to peek around. It was a Sunday and it seemed as though every one of these small hamlets had a Harvest Festival going on just off the main drag. One of the towns I stopped in to party with the locals was Knightstown, Indiana. This was the town made famous by the movies "Hoosiers". I browsed all the Harvest Festival displays and decided to pass on the homemade crafts and funnel cakes and just push on down the road. Besides I had stopped earlier at Greenfield, IN to do a little fast food tourism at one of the famed White Castle burger franchises. As you can see in the photo below these White Castle burgers have some heft to them. I was stuffed by that enormous meal!

By the way, I did pass through Indianapolis, IN, but I didn't stop to browse because I was truly trying to focus on the backroads of America--more or less. However, once I crossed over the east border of Indiana into Ohio I went back to the I-70 freeway to get to Dayton, OH before dark. I had been hoping to visit the Air Force Museum in Dayton, but I dallied too long in Indiana--the museum closed at 5pm just as I arrived. Dang it! I did make a point of stopping at the grounds and going for a walk amongst the aircraft parked beside the museum though. One interesting item was the Boeing EC-135E Aria "Droop Snoot" (see photo below)--that's a crazy bird to say the least.

After a nice walk around the museum grounds I turned my attention to the Wright Brothers sites nearby. The Wrights had developed their pioneer aircraft right there in Dayton and the town is definitely proud of their number one sons. I went to their memorial up top of the hill near the Air Force Museum and checked out a monument in their honor (see photo at very top of entry). I also went into downtown Dayton to visit an actual Wright Cycle Co shop (see photo at top of entry). I was too late in the day to enter this place too. Jeeeez Lou-eeeezz!!

So onward I drove due east away from Dayton, OH to Columbus, OH where I knew there was a Columbus Blue Jackets pre-season home game that evening against the 2006 NHL Champions the Carolina Hurricanes. I arrived in Columbus by 8:30pm and I headed straight for the arena in hopes that the game didn't start until 7:30pm in which case I fully anticipated buying a ticket and getting my fair dose of NHL hockey. I was let down upon arrival at the arena that the game had commenced at 6pm and was over before I even parked my car. I have this unwritten goal to see an NHL game at everyone of the 30 NHL arenas across the USA and Canada. I've been to only 5 of them so far, so I don't know...

Anyway, after a night photo of Nationwide Arena I got back in the car and drove further yet eastward across Ohio. I arrived in Newark, OH by 10:30pm but I spent an hour in vain looking for a nightowl restaurant to eat at, so I doubled back and checked in with my good friends at Super 8 Motel in nearby Heath, OH by 11:30pm.