I Went on a Trip to Wisconsin This Past Weekend Part 1

"The Jevans" (thejevans1) 10/08/2013 at 15:45 • Filed to: None

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I went to see the many acres of woods that my family owns, which was pretty cool. My family decided to drive because of course we did. It was surprisingly less crazy than previous trips even with my 8-year-old brother in tow. What follows is my account of the trip. Be warned, it's long. Slightly car related, but more an outlet for me to practice my storytelling.

We left an hour later than we planned on, which is par for the course with my family. There were 5 of us, altogether: Me, my dad, my sisters, and my youngest brother. We left in my dad's 2005 Kia Sedona, which used to be black, but thanks to my sister hitting a deer a while back, and my dad sourcing junkyard parts and having me do the body work, it is now black with a maroon hood, and grey fenders. We pieced what was left of the front fascia back together with fiberglass and resin, so it still matches most of the car. Also, the hood doesn't sit right because my dad got a 2002 hood and couldn't return it, so he told me to make it fit. It now sits 2 inches too high. The van also has no air conditioning. Anyway, so this was the monster we decided to drive halfway across the country.

After a hour of silence in the car because we all went back to sleep while my dad made the first leg of the trip, we all simultaneously woke up, and we were hungry. We stopped in a diner in Myersville, MD. Calling the place quaint would be an understatement, but the food was decent enough, and the portion sizes were just right (read: huge). There was one TV that was set to Fox news for the seating area and another behind the counter showing Kelly and Michael. We were immediately disinterested with Fox news' coverage of the shutdown and we all started commenting on the many ways the creators of Kelly and Michael had altered the props on stage to make Kelly seem less tiny and Michael seem less like a giant. They did a damn good job of it, too. The chairs were different heights, the seating positions were just so, and even the mugs were differently shaped. When we were all satisfied, and the bill was paid, we headed on our way again. Hopefully we wouldn't stop again until we needed gas.

We ran into a snag when a road closing forced us to re-navigate. The mountain ranges made cell signal a rare find, but we were able to get around the block because my dad has an insane sense of direction and remembered the area from when he was there 5 years ago. We drove through the Slideling Hill road cut, which is an awesome view of the different sediment layers and what happens when a valley get shot up as a mountain.

PA had some more great mountain views. Most ridges were topped with great towering windmills harvesting electricity. I don't know about you, Oppo, but I'm glad they are there, and as I looked at them I felt proud of humanity. On a less epic note, I snagged a picture of my first Fiat 500Ls in the wild (or are they in captivity).

We played every car game we could think of. Twice. Eventually, we all fell into our own electronic devices and the trip became silent yet again. I listened to a few episodes of Welcome to Night Vale on my phone, and before I knew it, we were in OH and it was time to stop for gas. We grabbed lunch at the Panera Bread in the service plaza, and I got my little brother one of those flattened pennies. He got a kick out of it for a few minutes, and lost it before we left the plaza. It figures.

Now it was my turn to drive, and I was determined to make good time. If you haven't been there, the OH Turnpike and the IN Turnpike are the most boring roads imaginable. They are so terribly straight and flat and seem to run on forever, which is not unlike this sentence. Each mile of boring, repetitive roadway continually battered at my focus until, finally, a rainstorm rolled in. The road was no longer as boring and my attention was much more easily planted on the trek ahead. My legs no longer hurt, and my shoulders were no longer heavy. My dad had replaced the tires recently before this trip, so grip was never an issue, but he had forgot to replace the severely aged windshield wipers. Visibility wasn't TOO bad, but it could have been much better with better wipers.

The rain continued until we stopped for gas again near the end of IN, and then almost immediately died down. I let my dad finish our trip to the hotel in Chicago. We made it just in time to check in, change, and leave again to meet my aunt at her house for dinner. She lives in a suburb just outside Chicago, so the drive was short, this time. My aunt, uncle, and grandparents were all there to meet us when we came in. My grandparents had flown in from MD (they had the right idea). My aunt grilled chicken and my grandma made a spaghetti and cheese casserole. Combined with good wine and lots of side dishes, the dinner was great. There were 3 large chickens and they got devoured by us in no time.

After dinner, my uncle and I went to the garage so that I could pour through his books that he was giving away and get my pick of the litter. He did not tell me he had a C6 vette. It was a silver convertible. We started talking about cars, and were so distracted, that I only had grabbed one book by the time it was time to go back to the hotel: Michael Chriton's Andromeda Strain (side note: Any reviews from the Oppo collective?). My aunt had gone to pick up my other aunt from the airport, my grandparents were going to bed, and my siblings wanted to do the same, so we left for the hotel.

If you got this far, thanks for reading. I will continue part 2 tomorrow morning, finishing with part 3 tomorrow afternoon.

Takuro Spirit > The Jevans 10/08/2013 at 16:09

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In WI and you didn't even visit? I don't want to be friends anymore. :'(

Kailand09 > Takuro Spirit 10/08/2013 at 16:27

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See, we should just do a Milwaukee meet-up at a cars and coffee or something. I'll bring my uber (not) nice ride.

Takuro Spirit > Kailand09 10/08/2013 at 17:15

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I've never seen one. But Wayne's Drive In in Cedarburg has a show every Thursday night, and I think The Highland House does too, either Tuesdays or Thursdays....

Kailand09 > Takuro Spirit 10/08/2013 at 19:04

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Those would work out just fine. Or, you know, the Masterpiece.