After Buddha had breakfast in bed, I finally persuaded her to leave the hotel.
I met Diana for breakfast at Greek diner and then took her shopping for some household items, cat supplies for my "grandson," and, of course, groceries which every twenty something just starting out needs. I saw her apartment which is tiny but two blocks from Lake Michigan. Woot woot for that!
JP took to his new cat tree right away and astonished one of his cat neighbors. We went to get coffee before I left and ended up having lunch and lingering over conversation. After a heartfelt hug, I was on my way at 3:06 pm. Diana said no problem I could make it home. I mean, it's only an eight hour drive from Chicago.
Sure enough, once on the road I was determined to get home so I could have two full days before going back to work. Once when I lived in Stillwater, Amy and I drove to Chicago and back in one day for a college visit. That was 12 hours of driving in one day!
This section of 94 is very familiar to me having driven many times. I have my places where I like to stop such as the Humbird cheese mart and a food coop in Eau Claire(closed this time)--and know the rest areas. There is also a Chrysler plant that has been idled for some years. When I was a kid it was where they made the Dodge Omni and they had a sign out--Home of the Omni. We used to have contests to see who could say home of the Omni the fastest and most times.
As I drove past this time, I pondered the automotive strike. The big three don't seem inclined to give much in the way of concessions and I don't believe automotive workers are as underpaid or lacking in benefits as many other occupations. I will have to quiz my friend Charlie at trivia this week to better understand the situation. He worked in the industry for many years.
I had three quick stops--gas, coffee and cheese-- and rolled into my driveway at 11:23 pm. I used the lingering affects of caffeine to unload a lot of the car, but the cats were ready to snuggle so I left some for the next day.
There is my haul. I tried to keep to consumable items. And also pictured is the not quite right turtle for which I had a request. I always find feathers on my walls and my air bnb host in Michigan gave me a jar of her homemade grape preserves.
One of the bottles of wine is actually an unfermented cooking wine, which I put to use with the plethora of eggplants my mom handed off to me when I got home. I canned four pints of anitpasto pickles. It's hard to find a recipe to can eggplant. I also made up some cranberry sauce with my UP cranberries. They definitely are more tart and cook down to a thicker texture that ocean spray from the grocery store. And I cracked open the unoaked Chardonnay last night to go with dinner. Yum!
The cats are indeed glad that I am home and Buddha is back to sleeping in the cat's bed and not because they are in hers this time!! That's it for this trip. Next blog will pick up in November when I leave for 27 days in India!
Comments