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wombat_sochoJesus. I must have been insane to think I could have made it to Bloomington IL last night even without the rain & lightning. It took me about seven hours of driving (including a stop for food & oil change and another for fuel) to get there today, and another three hours after that to reach my hotel in northeast Indianapolis. Granted, I probably could have saved myself some of that by not going through the north side of Indianapolis near the Speedway and getting thoroughly lost on the east side, but still...ten hours on the road. I'm too old for this.
The drive down I-380 to I-80 wasn't so bad, despite the overcast and steady drizzle. There was nothing like the torrential downpour of the day before that made Rochester so fun to drive through, and there wasn't any lightning anywhere along the route. In fact, after I got on I-74 east of the the Quad Cities I was able to leave my windows open most of the time. There was a delay in Galesburg (where I stopped for a $5 Burger at Hardee's and an oil change/radiator flush) but it was worth it - with the two fluid changes and an air filter replacement, my mileage improved from 25 to almost 29 MPG. w00t!
Unfortunately, the stretch of I-74 from there to Indianapolis was ungodly boring, and once into Indiana even the billboards disappeared until I got within ten miles of Indianapolis. At least the clear skies continued, and the sun even came out for long enough that I put on my sunglasses. More of that, please, God. I got into Indianapolis after nightfall, and made the stupid decision to follow I-74 into the city. Surprise! It doesn't go into the city! It turns south onto 465, while the pavement continues into Indianapolis as 16th Street. This takes you past the Speedway, but it also takes you past some really sketchy neighborhoods - maybe they look better by daylight, but I'm not coming back to see. Things started looking interesting enough that I made some moves and wound up on 10th Street which was even worse. :( Eventually I found my way far enough east to get to Shadeland Avenue, which took me north to where I needed to be...about fifty yards from I-70. This will teach me to make a trip like this without proper maps.
Well, the room is comfortable enough and there's a Waffle House right across Post Road from here, so I'm going to have a light dinner, watch some anime and crash. 11 AM comes all too early in the Eastern Time Zone.
The drive down I-380 to I-80 wasn't so bad, despite the overcast and steady drizzle. There was nothing like the torrential downpour of the day before that made Rochester so fun to drive through, and there wasn't any lightning anywhere along the route. In fact, after I got on I-74 east of the the Quad Cities I was able to leave my windows open most of the time. There was a delay in Galesburg (where I stopped for a $5 Burger at Hardee's and an oil change/radiator flush) but it was worth it - with the two fluid changes and an air filter replacement, my mileage improved from 25 to almost 29 MPG. w00t!
Unfortunately, the stretch of I-74 from there to Indianapolis was ungodly boring, and once into Indiana even the billboards disappeared until I got within ten miles of Indianapolis. At least the clear skies continued, and the sun even came out for long enough that I put on my sunglasses. More of that, please, God. I got into Indianapolis after nightfall, and made the stupid decision to follow I-74 into the city. Surprise! It doesn't go into the city! It turns south onto 465, while the pavement continues into Indianapolis as 16th Street. This takes you past the Speedway, but it also takes you past some really sketchy neighborhoods - maybe they look better by daylight, but I'm not coming back to see. Things started looking interesting enough that I made some moves and wound up on 10th Street which was even worse. :( Eventually I found my way far enough east to get to Shadeland Avenue, which took me north to where I needed to be...about fifty yards from I-70. This will teach me to make a trip like this without proper maps.
Well, the room is comfortable enough and there's a Waffle House right across Post Road from here, so I'm going to have a light dinner, watch some anime and crash. 11 AM comes all too early in the Eastern Time Zone.
