I see London, I see France...

The other day we passed through London, OH. Such a cute little town. They even had a store downtown called "Piccadillies". And just for Mr. Trucker's B&B buddies, there was a barbershop called Mug & Brush. Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of it. But I did get some shots of some architecture

Some governmenty looking building in London, OH

London, OH

London, OH

Also, somewhere in Ohio, we saw THIS billboard

Clever. This was for some hospital's Emergency Room

Our delivery was in Delaware, OH and we drove through some pretty backwoodsy areas. These people raise ducks, chickens and even pea hens

I'd like to raise some chickens when we settle back down someday
Mr. Trucker says his father also wants to raise some Banty hens
so Mr. Trucker's mother better get prepared!

In the morning, I saw a sign for Alum Creek, just outside of Columbus and kept thinking: "why does that sound familiar?". Then I remembered, my late sister's ashes are scattered at the Alum Creek sailing club, where she had been a member and spent many a happy hour. I got pretty teary remembering Marcia. We left Ohio behind for Indiana

Bye bye, Ohio

and the World's Largest Fireworks Store

Shelton World's Largest Fireworks Store

Now wait a minute, isn't the World's Largest Fireworks Store in Illinois? And in Iowa? And Michigan? And New Jersey...I think every state lays claim to this. In fact, I think every fireworks store of ANY size lays claim to this. There oughtta be a law...

Our next stop was in Indianapolis

downtown Indianapolis

On trying to leave Indy, Mr. Trucker took a wrong turn and we ended up way too close to the downtown and some very dicey turns

I wonder if Emeril attended here

downtown Indy. I don't think we can drive down that street

Actually saw a helicopter land here

Cute shop that appeared to have lots of eye candy

In case you were wondering...they're open

I love the way this following shot turned out...

There's still some fall color to be had from time to time

When we got to Chicago, it was night, and then we got caught in dead-stopped traffic right in the heart of downtown. I wish my camera took better nighttime shots

Sears tower at night. Only, apparently it isn't called
the Sears tower anymore

Does ANYBODY know what this building is?
We've been trying to figure it out

I forgot to report that a few days prior to this, we had gone from Oconomowoc, WI, down THROUGH Chicago to get to Ohio, and we passed through the downtown at noon and we all know what THAT means

Well, BESIDES panhandlers, that is...
Actually, this poor guy looked like he was really just down on
his luck, and not a professional panhandler, so we gave
him some money

That's right, dear readers. We scored us some
Jim's Original for lunch

Mr. Trucker LIKES the hot peppers they always include

I tried the "pork chop (with bone) on a bun" this time.
It was not worth the hassle of eating it.

Anyway, back to our nighttime journey through Chicago. Traffic sure can get backed up there from one small accident. This set us back so badly that we knew we weren't going to make it to the Lake Forest Oasis, which is where we had planned on spending the night. With three minutes left on his 14 hour clock, Mr. Trucker took a big chance and exited the highway, heading for a Shell station sign. There was not room for trucks at the Shell station, but what we DID find, right under the overpass, was a large, empty parking lot of a building that said "Auditorium" on it, but didn't appear to be in use that night. We pulled as far to the back and edge as possible, pulled the curtains, prayed that a policeman didn't come knocking, and went to sleep. After our eight hour break, we pulled out of that parking lot, just as a police car was pulling in. He may not have even been there because of us, but what a save! We didn't even know where we were till after we got back on 94 and saw a sign that said "Skokie". There's really no place for a truck to stop in the area of the traffic jam, and those Oases that you see over 94 are about your only option, except that we ran out of time and Mr. Trucker didn't want to get his first ever violation. 

We made it to Wisconsin early for our next two deliveries. While there, we saw this lovely vehicle

The owner was pretty proud to have me take his picture
The rims rotate when the car is stopped

Here's one of our silly Wisconsin names

That's right. Say it with me...Wauwatosa

Because of not being able to shower every day and my hair getting longer and thicker on top, it has become necessary for me to wear a hat on my non-shower days, or risk being laughed at. The green beret I knitted has stretched badly and doesn't look that great. I have become enamored of slouchy hats for some reason, and have been searching for patterns on the internet. The other day I crocheted one

I cellphoned a picture to Sassy and she said I looked gangsta!

Mr. Trucker must not have liked it much, because he encouraged me to look at the half price hats at a Cracker Barrel the other day. I ended up with this one, and I'm so glad I did

I actually really like the way this looks on me,
and that's saying something!

In fact, last night, at a WalMart in Beloit, WI, I was waiting by the cash registers for Mr. Trucker to get done picking out his Ben & Jerry's flavor and a woman walked by, a total stranger, and complimented me on my hat. When Mr. Trucker finally found me, I asked him if he had put her up to it, but he hadn't.

Before buying the Ben & Jerry's, we walked around quite a bit in Beloit, trying to decide where to eat dinner. Sometimes we can be so indecisive! We almost ended up at the Road Dawg, they had a very popular all-you-can-eat buffet, one of those with the crab legs. I hate those places. As always, it was packed with people who were gorging themselves on crab legs. Entire families, with the kids ploughing their way through huge plates heaped with crab legs and other plates heaped with the shells. There is just something very wrong about that whole thing. Mr. Trucker and I don't like buffets because we never feel like we eat as much food as we paid for and therefore are subsidizing all the people who eat way more than their share...

Our frugality kicked in at the last second and we ended up at Subway, splitting a $5.00 footlong meatball sub. It felt good to be in Wisconsin for a day or two, we were so close to home, we could almost touch it. And we are supposed to be going home for our first home time in two months either tomorrow or Monday. We thought maybe our dispatches would keep us in WI until then, but no...we are now on our way to southern Illinois (nearly to St. Louis) to drop off and then pick up a load that we will sit on until 5:00 a.m. Monday, when we deliver it in Melrose Place Park, Illinois. Then hopefully, the dispatcher won't keep us waiting on pins and needles for the load that will take us home, for a week!!!

Today's Silly Sounding Place Name (from our own dear state): Mukwonago, Wisconsin!