Oh the Rock Island Line is a Mighty COLD Line...

SNOW!!... It snowed on me all morning long, through all of Indiana. Just when I thought I was through the worst at Bucking Fuffalo, it goes and snows on me. It didn't stick, but every time I drove under a cloud, it snowed... I wouldn't mind that, there is a special charm about snow if you've rarely seen it, but the wind has been pushing me around the highway all day long... FIERCE winds. So strong that, at one point, those highway signs, the temporary ones on wheels, had taken it upon themselves to move out into the slow (ha!) lane of traffic... Quite a surprise to come upon them when you expect nothing stationary on the road... I kept hoping some fast moving truck (stopping time.. oh... 1/2 mile or so) didn't discover them too late. I called the turnpike people, but they had already received a billion phone calls about them...

Of course, they were still there... your toll dollars at work in Indiana..

I'm in Rock Island in a KOA again... with wifi in spite of the fact the guide said it didn't have it... my luck continues! It's going to snow tonight (not stick, they promised), and already I would bet it's in the 30's.. with the wind chill factor. My little van's a rockin' and I'm in here all alone..

Good thing I've got my little heater!

I drove a long time to get to a .. wait for it... CRACKER BARREL today, but it was worth it. In the midwest, a GOOD restaurant is Wendy's.. I kid you not, at least on the highway. The toll roads have the advantage of having almost non existent exits and entrances, which keeps the traffic moving well, but the 'toll plaza' stops only have junk food.

There's another .... wait for it again.. CRACKER BARREL outside of Davenport, so I'm set for tomorrow...

Now, although the picture above looks like the one from yesterday, if you look closely, you will see the fine powder blowing across the highway in little stripes...

yipes!

addendum...

On my website, I put the infamous sleeping/hot weather outfit that I had on the trip in 2002... not to be outdone, my present sleeping outfit has been bargaining for equal space (it promises to keep me warm tonight no matter what!).

So.. without further ado.. the polar bear flannel nightshirt (large and roomy) and the not so matching long pants.. tonight you can imagine that there are socks with this outfit, that's a given..



addendum part deux...

I just took this picture. It's 5:30 out here, and on the long side of that because I gained an hour today. That means it isn't getting dark as early as last night. You can SEE how cold it is. This is one of the unpretty things about the midwest. Not that this picture is without it's own kind of beauty, but it's like this so long out here. Long before snow makes it beautiful, the landscape has this harshness about it caused by bare trees and bitter cold, linked with the dying of summer and fall. Even in winter, there is not as much snow or 'postcard' weather is there is in say... the North east, just this unending shivering darkness.

It was one of the things that drove my ex boss to California...

and keeps him there...



This place, by the way, has the most WONDERFUL showers. Individual rooms, which is always a treat, and lots of hot water and a decent shower head and I could have stayed there all night. sigh... I am, however, longing for a long bath and my kitty and a fire in the fireplace on this cold night (although my teeny tiny heater is doing a bang up job of keeping out the frost).

My heater... everyone wants to get into the act tonight...