Seattle to Boston Day 6 (July 8, 2013) We traveled through Illinois, Indiana and stopped in Westlake, Ohio a few miles from Cleveland. We have been lucky so far by not encountering too much traffic on our trip. We had a great plan to escape at 6:30 am to beat the traffic but it seems everyone had the exact idea. We encountered the routine Chicago traffic, the airport traffic, and the residue from the long July 4th traffic. At 6:30 in the morning, the traffic resembled a Seattle slug, slow but steady. We inched along for about half an hour, breaking through for brief moments, then hitting road construction again. As luck would have it, it was drizzling for most of this sloooowwwwwwwww pace. Because I am an honorable person, I won’t mention that Amy was driving during this segment. Despite the traffic, Chicago holds many memories for David. He lived in Downers Grove, Illinois for a year attending George Williams College. It exposed him to different lifestyles and cultures, and made him more politically and socially aware about the world beyond Hawaii. Indiana is also memorable because we spent four years in Bloomington. One of our funniest times occurred when we were living in Westwood, California which is close to the UCLA campus. We decided to get a puppy and eventually brought Bizzy into our lives. In our Westwood neighborhood, we knew some of our neighbors, but because everyone was so busy, we did not stop to talk with any of them. As soon as we got Bizzy and walked her around the neighborhood, people would stop and chat with us, even if they had no dogs. They would fawn over Bizzy and say what a pretty dog Bizzy was. This was LA after all. This went on for about six months and we had to leave for Bloomington Indiana where Indiana University is located. We decided to drive from Westwood to Seattle. As we made our drive to Bloomington, we noticed that the farther we got from LA, the more likely that the dogs were getting quite large and people were less likely to stop and shower comments about how Bizzy was so cute/pretty. After a couple of days of this treatment, Bizzy seemed quite distressed by this lack of attention. On one stop, we were walking around Lawrence Kansas. We noticed this older couple walking toward us with smiles on their faces. The guy, who was strikingly huge, saddled over to us, and asked, “She your dog?” We simultaneously said, “yep,” getting into the Midwest response style. He then asked, “Can she hunt?” We then realized we were no longer in LA. On the drive to Cleveland, which was pleasant because the driving was quite smooth after Chicago (guess who was driving?!), we noticed several dog type behaviors. Data who tends to stay in his kennel or hide on the floor of the car, started coming toward the front of the car, and wanted to be petted or observe. One of the funniest parts has to do with the people who collect the tolls. On I-90 in Indiana and Ohio, drivers go through several toll stops. While we were in Seattle, we used to ride the ferry to some of the islands and, similarly, there would be people who would take our fares for the ride. Often, the fare takers would see Data and Theory and give them a biscuit. On our current drive, when we approached a toll booth, Data would go to the car window, put on his best puppy eyes, and expect a biscuit. Unfortunately, this was not Seattle, these were not the ferry tolls and they have no biscuits to give. Data then retreats to the middle of the car, only to revive his hope at the next toll stop. He is either a slow learner or an eternal optimist. We’ll go with optimist. Theory also came out of his shell during the ride. The past five days, Theory has been anxious during the rides and panting quite heavily. Today, he seemed quite engaged, wanting to coming to the front of the car to observe. We shall see what tomorrow brings. Actually, tomorrow brings Saratoga Springs!
Posted on: Tue, 09 Jul 2013 08:59:48 +0000
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