Random Observations from Many Hours in the Car

We made really good time on our drives to and from Pittsburgh. And I'm very proud of my husband for doing a great job of driving around my hometown. Pittsburgh is a very difficult place to navigate - it's all hills and valleys and a sense of direction will do you no good there. Neither will a map. APY is starting to learn which bridges and tunnels and interstates will take him where he wants to go. He went to Starbucks all by himself - on McKnightmare Road, nonetheless! He even ran into my best friend from high school there.

So we spent approximately 25 hours in the car last week, perhaps a little more. Here's some of what we saw.

-- When I was an advertising major, we learned that when times are hard, ad budgets are the first thing to go. And this was really noticeable as we drove - so many billboards were empty or had "Advertise Here" messages. This wasn't nearly as prevalant in the cities, but it was like a cry for help out in the cornfields -- the outdoor advertising industry has got to be suffering right now.

-- A big congratulations to the city of Dayton, Ohio, for actually getting traffic through their city with minimal construction delays. They are almost finished with their big I-70 construction project. This was the first time in four and a half years that we found Dayton NOT in a state of absolute disaster. Just get rid of those last construction barrles, move a few lanes, restripe and you guys should be finished. Go Dayton!

-- "Bridge Freezes Before Road." I am the kind of girl who always makes fun of these signs in the summer. But when it's zero degrees outside and it rained the day before, those signs are really helpful! I don't think I ever really paid attention to them until last Sunday. As I drove east, I didn't worry about looking for deer or cops - I was keeping my eyes open for those signs. Every bridge had just a touch of ice that was difficult to see.

-- Everytime we pass the Stuckey's Dairy Queen in Ohio (or is it Indiana??), we have a little laugh and also a little "ew." We stopped there several years ago, hoping for a nice Blizzard to make the drive go a little faster. In the middle of working on our order, the guy suddenly stopped and ran to the bathroom. He came back and told us, "I throwed up." OMG, right? Then he tried to finish making our blizzards. We stopped him and demanded our money back. His managers weren't too concerned with his health, his hygiene or our customer satisfaction. They did comp us one vanilla milkshake that the guy had made which my father-in-law actually drank.

So now you know why I no longer eat at Dairy Queen. I'm glad we missed the local ice storm. Hoping for good weather next week when we drive to Omaha for some kick-ass SUSHI!! Oh yeah, and to see family.