Thursday, August 23, 2007

en route

We left NYC on Saturday and cruised to Philidelphia where we stayed with our wonderful friend Liz Solms. She was out of town, but we got to stay in her downtown place, giving us time to wander around to the Fabric Workshop and the Reading Terminal Market. We even got the chance to pour in our first vat of used veggie oil into the car...but when it started to rain, we had to abandon the mission. Water in the fuel is a bad idea. So we drove on through the backroads of Pennsylvania.

Outside the city, we pulled into a gas station with a wonderful overhang where we fueled up on diesel and poured our remaining veggie oil into its tank. We even changed a few fuses and put air in the tires. We were feeling pretty good about our car skills.

We got back on the road where the storms were wild and as we twisted and turned through the Appalachians, we kind of wondered what we were getting ourselves into. After we crossed into Ohio at about 3am, we settled into a parking spot next to a milkshake spot for some much needed rest. The town hall across the street we mistook for a little country church, but either way it was a restful sleep.

In the morning we got back on the road and headed for Detroit where we stayed with Sarah, Jim and Penny. They live in the city and it was a wonderful insight into the delapitated and regrowing capital of cars. The city's famers market is incredible - there's five enormous tents set up in Eastern Market...unfortunately, we weren't there on a Saturday to enjoy it.

We were on a tight schedule to make it to Chicago, so we packed up the car and headed out on Route 12, taking us through some of the sweetest smelling air and quaint farms. Michigan was just beautiful dirivng. At nightfall the storms broke again and we pulled into Chicago right as all vision was taken out by the falls. But we arrived to Joanna's parents home in East Rogers Park on the northeast side of Chicago...and we slept well.

1 comment:

naaaaaaaaatalie said...

it's great to hear that you made it to the midwest ok! keep the updates coming.. and pictures too.