More Driving

We have become acutely aware that we have driven many a mile.  Last evening as we pulled up the driveway to Dick and Diane's we logged 10,000 miles on this driveabout.  That day we hustled from London, Canada to Traverse City, Michigan.  Last night we finalized details for meeting Laura Mathis in St Louis, 600 miles from Traverse City.  We did all but the last 60 miles which we will do in the morning.

One is wise to be concerned about driving around or near Chicago regarding heavy traffic and toll roads, and that includes Gary, Indiana.  Even with the automatic transformer that allows us to scoot through the toll booths, we think that we actually avoided all tolls.  If you travel in the east where toll highways are common, our advice is to get one of these transformers.  They reduce the stress to zero and the cost is typically half of what we would pay if we didn't have it.  There are no booths, or persons in the booths, or baskets to catch your quarters as you fly by.  It's either the transformer, which is an account you pay later, or they take a picture of your car's license and send you a bill for twice as much.  This is all new to us; we used to toss the quarters.

Dick and Diane were youth leaders in the church where we worshipped in Anchorage in the early 70's.  They were about our age, had adopted a biracial son like we had and then adopted an Alaskan native daughter as we had.  They returned to Michigan, the home of their roots, where both Dick and Diane served in the church, Dick as a pastor, an interim, an arbitrator (his doctorate thesis was in mediation) and finally as a district superintendent.  Upon retirement they built a log house on a pinnacle north of Traverse City overlooking a bay of Lake Michigan.  It reminded us of our efforts to build a home that fits our needs and decorate with personal touches.  Diane seemed to have taken a lead in the decorating and also worked on the construction.  It was cozy and so personal.

Our conversations included happenings in our lives over the past 40 years since we last saw them as well as many memories of our common experiences.  Dick just recently had a knee replacement and iis doing exercises to keep it supple and strong.  They had a dog who joined Charlie in running around the yard and also bumping Dick to the ground.  Dick was fine but I felt very bad for the incident.

Tomorrow morning we will have brunch with Laura Mathis, a half-sister of our adopted son Darron, whom we have never met.  We have talked on the phone from time to time.  We are very eager to meet her.  After that brunch we hope to find a good WiFi connection to participate in the memorial service for Marj Howard.  Then it's off to Kansas City to see a young friend who lived with us part of a summer many years back.  He's not so young anymore - like the rest of us.

Oh, by the way, the wind blew again today, about 40 MPH according to the Internet.  Driving was tough but walking to the restrooms at the rest stop was almost impossible against the wind.  The morning should be better.  This WalMart seems very safe and inviting.