Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Lazy Lion

I have been terribly busy. And terribly lazy.

For those of you that are bombarded by my FB status updates and Gowalla check-ins you'll know that I have been working. A lot.

6 and 7 day work weeks for the two months that I have been here. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. We came up here to make and save money, so this is all helping to that end, but it leaves little time for much else.

That said, we took our first weekend off together!

OU was playing the Cincinnati Binturongs in Cincinnati so we drove down to watch the game. We had planned on hitting the road bright and early at 8 am. That didn't happen. Not even close. Between getting dog food and taking the kids to overnight camp and packing, showering and taking early morning bubble baths we didn't get on the highway until very close to 10.

We wanted to make some southward progress before stopping for break-feast so we hopped on the highway and put the pedal to the metal. (proverbially speaking mother, no speed limits were broken) We exited a short while later, after all, breakfast is only served until 10:30 at McDonald's, to an epic road block of fire engines and fire trucks and whatnot. It looked as if there were a chemical spill in Nowhere, Ohio.

Nope, just a parade. Come on guys, we just want a burrito here.

Back on the highway and we were really starting to push the far side of 10:30 at that point...within a couple of miles the golden arches beckoned again, and none too soon, because there was a serious build up of traffic all of a sudden.

Burritos ordered, but not eaten (somebody had ants in his sweatpants), we loaded back up. Then came decision time, do we patiently sit through the cleanup and rubbernecking of the rollover accident or do we employ our iphone's map skills and take rural routes... And the winner is, better to go 50 mph through tiny little towns than sit for any length of time on the interstate. Which shouldn't that be intra-state?

But I digress.

Ohio is interesting in that their towns don't bleed into each other like they do in Oklahoma. OKC basically engulfs Moore, even stretches all the way down to Norman. You can't not be in a city for a long, long time in the metro. Here, there are medium to big cities/towns and then nothing in between. Very strange.

That said, it sets the stage for lots and lots of rural routes and state highways and well maintained two-lane roads.

I can't begin to express how much fun that was for me. We were off the interstate for 45 minutes-ish, meandering through the countryside. We saw apple orchards, in fact the apple orchard that was featured at our fancy Cleveland restaurant The Flying Fig, corn fields, soy bean fields, legion of vertical gas wells, old barns, farmhouses, hills, plains, trees, and trees, and trees.

Views that made me want to get out and walk that entire route with a camera in hand.

No traffic, no road rage, no frustration for other drivers, the 14 year old driving the tractor notwithstanding, no jockeying for position on the road. Just laughs, smiles and wide eyes.

The highlight had to have been cresting a little hill/curve to be greeted with the only oncoming traffic we encountered- ye olde horse and buggy! A lovely little Amish mother with her under five Amish-ette. Obviously I have seen loads of Amish in NE Ohio, and at the Ag Fair there were some buggies hither and yon, but to see one on a road as we zoomed by in a Passat was somehow a little bit more magical for me.

We finally got back on the disgustingly grey, concrete and anti-magical highway and made it to Cinci, which a lovely little city, like New York, but smaller, cleaner and with fewer pedestrians, and had a super deluxe, fabulous time at the game.

Can't wait for our next adventure.
Best life ever.