The Drive Through the Doldrums and The New England Fall

I'm really glad I got to see Evelyn and Adrian. It was a lot of fun. And it'll bre REALLY fun seeing them for Thanksgiving at their place in Snowmass. It'll be a lot colder by the time I come back... and I forgot my jacket I was going to bring... It's in my room. Great. Oh well. I'll come up with somthing. Actually, I'll probably forget.



Anyways, after we left the cafe in Colorado we drove through the Rocky Mountains, exiting into The Flatlands. Or what I also call The Doldrums of the country... Through the remainder of Colorado, Kansas, and the rest of the states or parts of states that make up the Great Plains there is flat land that is very dry at this point in the year. The highway stretches on and on and the sky is so big it could swallow you whole. Which you might begin to wish for as the drive seems to go on forever. The tiny towns you come to are all very similar. All advertized by grain sillos and a little church, otherwise it's just a smattering or farms that may or may not be close enough together to constitute a town in the rest of the country. Don't get me wrong, the people we met in these places all seemed nice enough... But it's all very homogenized.
I just finished reading American Gods (a definite perfect pick recomended by Jesse. good call Jesse. I LOVED it. I recomend it highly to anyone interested in this blog. Or in mythology, or good writing in general. And especially to Neil Gaiman fans, since he wrote it. Of course, then you may have already read it.) and in that book it describes the middle of the country in a very accurate way. It was funny, and perfect, reading it when I did because I had the giant road atlas next to me and was riding through all the small towns. It was fun being able to say "I've been there!!!!"... Anyway, in the book it mentions that every tiny town has a sign accompanying their welcome to (insert town name here) sign. A sign stating that it's the home town of the champion or runner up of such and such. It's true. Every town we drove through. I wonder how these people (kids mostly) feel having their name be put on the town sign for the year. I wonder if it breeds bad blood between people who would otherwise only have friendly rivalries?

We stopped in French Lick, Indiana because Peter has been wanting to see that place for a while. We drove up in time to hang out in the Pumpkin Festival Carnival. I got a small pizza at the Fresh Off The Brick Pizza place and then walked around till I found myself watching the Til-A-Whirl with Ani lyrics running through my head. It was a moment before I realized the little girl had run straight over to me and was talking excitedly to me about how fun it was and how she was going to go again! I don't know who she was. Little kids tend to pick me out of the crowd. And this one did. She was so excited that Roy the Tilt-A-Whirl opperator noticed me and started talking to me, laughing when he realized I didn't know the kid. Apparently Roy spends six months out of the year riding around the country on his Harley and the other six traveling with the Carnival. Then the little girl came running back up, fist full of tickets and pulled on my sleeve, telling me to come on! Roy cast a look around and then said "Don't look suspicious!" and let me on for free cause I'd said I didn't have any tickets. It was so much fun!
After that it was pretty much more driving. As we drove past Indianapolis I noticed there was a giant closed sign over the road signs into the city. That made me laugh. Indianapolis is closed.
We made it up to Connecticut before stopping.
New England is incredible in the fall. I watched the night mists wax and wane over the grounds and the wet night air turn a soft grey before the sun came to shine through the trees and show off the colors of the leaves. It was incredible.
Peter drove up to Manchester where he bought me a bus ticket and I hung around the town waiting for the bus which was five hours away. Manchester is actually quite pretty. A lot of the classic brick you find in New England. I sat and read American Gods in a coffee house until it was nearly time for my bus, then I walked back to the station and watched the people. I finished the book on the bus ride, and caught a ten minute nap.
When I got into Plymouth and got off the bus downtown by the common, I was half an hour early, so I called my Aunt and told her. She and Caro arrived a few minutes later to scoop me up. It was fun as they got out of the car and came to hug me. I suddenly had that warm feeling of knowing you're loved and being excited to see people you love. We drove back to their new house and sat around in the kitchen talking and eating. Katie and Mark joined us as well for a while. Then Mark went to bed and Katie went out with friends.
I took a shower. Oh my god, I love water. It was probably the longest shower ever because I hadn't taken one in so long and I just wanted to stay in it forever.
Today Katie and Caro and Caroline's boyfriend Zack went on a treasure hunt of sorts. Driving around collecting things from a list that Aunt Mary gave us. Tarragon. Garlic granules. Sesame seeds. Bottles of home made rhubarb soda pop. We forgot the pumpkins. We'll probably pick those up tomorrow afternoon or something.
We're actually about to go over to my Uncle Larry and Aunt Sara's house. I haven't seen them in years either, and I'm really looking forward to it. Their youngest son Noah is a big Miazaki fan. And I have yet to meet their daughter Eve.
(This is a note from later when I'm putting up the pictures: Some of these pictures are from Simon's soccer game. Larry with Eve and Mary with Caro.)