Day 2 and 3 of our trip - on the blog!
Continuing on with the deets (details) of our adventure, Day 2 was primarily driving. We (meaning I) had put down Chicago as our "site to see" for the day, but after the shenanigans of Cleveland, we opted out. By shenanigans, I mean extreme culture shock. After being in upstate New York for three years, I forgot what real traffic was like and what city life entailed. We stopped for gas before getting to the hotel and within the 30 seconds of being out of the car, James was harassed by three different homeless people asking for money or booze. That's not even an exaggeration. Not even a little bit.
We spent no more than 15 minutes getting into the city, filling up, and getting back on the freeway. That 15 minutes was more than enough for the both of us, and especially me. Since it was more my decision to stop there, I made the call to pass it up and see it another time. At the end of the day, the last thing I wanted to do was cart around a trailer and three animals in this massive, over-populated city. I have a great desire to see this country, all parts of it, and to experience it to the fullest, but not that way. There will be plenty of opportunity to see Chicago and other big cities, all of which will probably be much more relaxing and enjoyable.
With that in mind, we made our way to the edge of Illinois and stayed the night there. Uneventful, but sometimes, that's exactly what's perfect. And with having school assignments to do during all of this, an earlier day was perfect after the previous one.
Day 3 started fairly early. For us, at least. Even at the smoothest routine, it probably took a good 20-30 minutes to get all of our stuff and the animals into the car from the room. So, once that was done, we made the hour and a half trip to Iowa to visit Grandpa and Grandma Armstrong! Upon deciding that we were driving across rather than flying, it went without saying that we would be stopping to see them. I had only met them once at the very beginning of our dating days, and sadly enough, that was the last time James had seen his grandparents. Over the years, too, James had always mentioned this story about a summer in Iowa at their home here and that story about spending time with them there and that I'd love their house (which I totally did). With all these factors, both of us were more than happy to spend the day there.
It was just absolutely wonderful, to say the least. The two of them live in the tiniest little town where everyone really does know everyone. Time is spent volunteering at town events and helping your neighbors out. It's so unique and refreshing to step into that atmosphere compared to the fast-paced nature of the society I'm used to. I wish we could've spent more time there, but we were working on a tight timeline. Anyway, after getting the animals settled, the four of us headed down the road (literally!) to the Flea Market. Don't be fooled, this was actually a HUGE event and there were booths upon booths upon BOOTHS of antiques being sold. I could've spent all day there and, truthfully, I could've filled a whole additional trailer full of photo props and decor for the house. But alas, that darn timeline and curse not having a stable income any longer at that point.
After our time walking around and "oohing" and "ahhing" at those beautiful, old treasures, we headed back up the road to their house for a bit and then out for dinner at the Pizza Ranch. That was followed by repacking the trailer as it was a total cluster of chaos that had been thrown together in the madness of trying to get out of our apartment on time, a walk to the cemetery to see all of James's lineage that was buried there, and then relaxing at their home, talking and catching up. We stayed the night there and were up and at it again the next morning, ready to continue on through what would be the most BORING part of our trip.
All the photos below are copyright of Danielle Armstrong and are not to be altered in any way or claimed as another's work.
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