Back in the Aerie early this morning after being in Milwaukee yesterday for breakfast. Now, if you're flying that's no big deal. Even if you travel by car via GD Chicago, it's just 13 hours. But, if you decide to head NORTH from Milwaukee and cross over the Mackinac Straits before going to Toledo to pick up I-90 and heading east to through Cleveland and Erie, PA and thence on I-86 (old Route 17) to Corning, NY...well, THAT'S another ball of wax--and a whole bunch more miles and hours.
Departed Milwaukee after breakfast at 7:45 AM (CDT) Monday. Went north past Green Bay and east through the UP. At St. Ignace we crossed over the beautiful bridge to Mackinaw City and into the mitten portion of Michigan. We headed due south through Gaylord and then over to east side of the state and had dinner at a Cracker Barrel near bay City just north of Saginaw, MI. We required an hour nap when fog and eyeweariness got the better of me at 3 AM near mile marker 101 on I-86 east of Erie, PA. A quick breakfast at McDonald's in Mansfield so we had enough strength to face the kittehs when we got home and arrived at the Aerie at 6:45 AM (EDT) Tuesday. We lost an hour to the Gods of the Time Zone when we left Wisconsin and entered Michigan so total travel time hotel-to-home was about 22 hours. (Perhaps "lost" is the wrong word as they "loaned" an hour to us as we headed west. Just say the note came due.) (If we had our passports we could have headed east from Flint, MI and cut through Canada to Buffalo. That would have saved an hour or two.)
Terry did drive two hours after dinner and got us on to the Ohio Turnpike as the sun set. (She hates driving in the dark.)
The shoreline of Lake Michigan was beautiful. Holiday traffic thin to non-existent. Sirius radio's 50's On 5 provided the entertainment. The Jeep Compass performed admirably.
The weather cooperated, too. Earlier forecasts had mentioned a chance of significant rain. We saw none. The worst conditions started after we had gotten through Cleveland and sporadic dense fog popped up along the way. From midnight on, visibility was a challenge. That lasted right up to when we turned off Route 6 to head up the hill as the sun rose. Suddenly we were ABOVE the fog and the bright red ball of sun--harbinger of a bloody hot day--could be clearly seen.
Checking the weather today, I saw that much of Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri had a chance of severe weather including tornadoes. Family members were departing Milwaukee this AM to head to Lake of the Ozarks in southern Missouri and to Kentucky. Hope they are safe!
[ED: Any typos or grammatical errors in the above should be written off as caused by exhaustion.]
2 comments:
Glad to hear you made it back okay ... of course, you're down there in the sunny southland, so it should have all be sherry & giggles, no?
It's all south of here, anyway.
Aside from the fog, road conditions were considerably better than those encountered last year. Imagine, no frost heaves! And the posted speed limits of 70 mph COULD be attained--and often surpassed! without going airborn.
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