Yesterday Travalon and I woke up fairly early and immediately went swimming in our hotel pool, which was wonderful. It was warm, and there was a bathroom right there. Our hotel was right by the Ohio River, and Travalon took a couple of photos. Notice that I am in a cold weather outfit again.
Our hotel hadn't had free breakfast, just an overpriced restaurant, so we went to the Waffle House, since isn't that what you're supposed to do down South? The bacon, egg, and cheese bowl was a lot less calories with grits than with hash browns, so that was a no-brainer, and then we split a waffle with peanut butter chips for breakfast dessert. Actually, it turned out to be brunch, because we didn't eat lunch.
Illinois is a very long and maybe not so interesting state, so I suggested we take turns choosing songs to play that we could sing along with. Sometimes we chose one we could both sing to. This turned out to be a really entertaining way to pass the time, and we've never had such a good time driving through Illinois. We did stop in Vienna to check out an antiques shop; there were no rosaries, but Travalon got a book about haunted southern Illinois and a book about vintage comics. He took a photo of the town hall, or whatever this is.
I didn't need a workout, since the swimming counted for one, so we didn't need to take a long hike. I just walked more than usual at each rest stop, and they were strategically placed so that there was always one just in the nick of time. We did stop for a walk at Rend Lake, where we saw lots of gulls, and I saw a couple of cormorants, but while we were driving so no photos.
We got to El Paso, Illinois, a bit after five, and their big antiques mall was open until six. We looked around, and I even went up the scary stairs to the second level, but there were no rosaries. We did find some other things, and then I saw a cool Chinese stringed instrument, so Travalon bought it for me for an early anniversary present.
It's called a "yueqin," according to the tag. (Ignore the price; it was not nearly that expensive.) Now I just need to learn to play it.
We got to La Salle at 6:30, which was perfect for dinner (though honestly a lot earlier than we usually eat), so we went to the Uptown Grill and had the parmesan-encrusted whitefish, just like we had for lunch on the start of our long journey. Travalon said all the singing was really energizing for him, so he wasn't tired on the drive at all. We got home around ten, unpacked, and went to bed.
Today I worked from home and went through my hundreds of emails. Travalon and I had both thought we should work on our patience for Lent, and mine was certainly tested this evening. On the way to Adoration a truck towing something pulled out right in front of me and then drove way under the speed limit. Just as my adoration hour was ending, Cecil Markovitch called to say he'd completely forgotten about Adoration, but he was on his way. Fortunately there was someone who was going to be there until he arrived, so I was able to head home... and then there were emergency vehicles in my lane, and nobody would let me move over. Welcome home, Famous Hat!
Famous Hat
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