Days 35 & 36: South Dakota to Pennsylvania

Badlands, South Dakota—Iowa—Illinois—Indiana—Ohio—Berwyn, Pennsylvania

Today we were really on our way home. Before, we knew we were heading home but still had more to see on the way. Now, the only things left to see would be from the car. We got up around 8 A.M. to the noise coming from Butch and the kids next to us. Those kids whine a lot and mother likes the always threatening, "I'll give you three seconds to give that to her; One... Two... !" I guess it worked because I don't think I heard her scream "THREE!!!" at all.

Our plan was to get to Illinois and find a place to camp there, getting as far away from these people as possible. We were leaving the west behind and by tonight we would be back east, not something that excited me, although both of us were pretty anxious to get back home again and see our friends and family. We got on I-90 and headed east, unfortunately, we had to take interstates most of the way home since, for me, school started in a few days. I am entering my final year at Villanova. We crossed into the Central Time Zone in Murdo, SD, the line splits the state. There were about 260 miles to cover in South Dakota alone.

We crossed the Missouri River again. Near the crossing are two Indian Reservations with several forts left from the westward expansion days. I would have liked to go visit them but time does not permit this. Passed through Mitchell, SD, home of the Corn Palace. The only reason I know about this is because my grandfather always stopped in when he was in the neighborhood. Why he did this, I do not know. I suppose it's because he grew up on a farm. It was a nice clear day, good day to travel. Around 1:30 we crossed the line into Minnesota. We stopped in Luverne, 12 miles inside the border, and got lunch and gas (not in that order). From here we turned south into Iowa on US 75.

The landscape appeared to change dramatically as soon as we crossed into Iowa. Now all the roads were squared off, no diagonal or curvy roads here. We stayed on this road until we entered Le Mars, the ice cream capital of the world. They have a factory here I guess. We turned east on IA 3. This road was a straight 305 mile shot to Dubuque, IA, on the opposite side of the state. The landscape and odor of this state is such that if you fell asleep and woke up three hours later, it would be as if you hadn't moved. I swear, the entire state is one big farm. Passed through towns like Pocahontas, Humbolt, Goldfield, and the big one... Waverly. This was another old town with old churches and store fronts. A lot of old people as well. As we approached Dubuque we watched a large thunderstorm before us in the distance. The sun was low and the thunderhead looked spectacular in the setting sun's light, people were pulling over and taking pictures of it.

We were getting closer to the Mississippi River and the land was becoming a bit hilly. We picked up US 52 which goes directly into Dubuque. The road was even curvy and there were trees, a lot of them. It was getting dark now and the storm was looking like more of a threat since we were driving into it. By the time we were in Dubuque, it was very windy and the rain was coming down. We got gas and kept going. This town is very blue collar and industrial. There was no sign of prosperity in this place, with run-down, empty stores on every block. We crossed the mighty Mississippi on US 20 and into the very top of Illinois, a stone's throw from Wisconsin.

It was about 9 P.M. now and the rain was coming down fiercely. As we continued east, the road was under construction and there were no lane lines. This did not help. The road was covered with water and the rain was coming down so fast and I couldn't see the road. There were even periods of hail now and then. I wanted to find a place to pull over but I couldn't and even if I had, we would have had to drive through the storm again. This was one of the reasons we decided to continue on tonight and drive as long as we could. This was the same front that hit us in South Dakota Tuesday night and if we stopped we would have to drive through it somewhere between here and home again.

All I wanted now was to get back on the highway but it was 80 miles away. We did make it though, miraculously. In Rockford, IL we got back on I-90 and were on the Northwest Tollway into Chicago. By the time we made it into the city the rain had let up a bit but not completely. It was about 11:30 P.M. when we were driving by the fogged in skyscrapers of Chicago. I would have liked to have seen the city instead of fog but I figure there was really not one day on this trip that it rained all day. There was not a day that we were trapped inside somewhere all day because of rain which is pretty remarkable when you think about it.

There were actually traffic jams at midnight because they closed all the lanes except one on this road. We stayed on I-90 but took a wrong turn onto I-94 south of the city. There were so many lane splittings that I had a feeling this was going to happen somewhere. This road looped south of Gary, IN and intersected back with I-90 before going on to Detroit, so it was not a problem.

Now we were on the Indiana Toll Road, I-90 and I-80 east which was a 150 mile express to Ohio. By now, we decided to go all the way home. Just keep driving till we made it home. Now that we decided this, we did a little planing as far as who was going to sleep and who was going to do the driving, and when we should switch. Today I'd driven through all of South Dakota, then Andy took over through all of Iowa until Dubuque, then I took over. This road skirted the Michigan line and since it was dark out I can't report any unusual sights. Unfortunately, we lost another hour in Indiana making it now 3 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time. This was actually good because these are the longest hours of the night and it felt good being able to move ahead toward the more reasonable hours like 6 or 7 A.M. Andy was sleeping hard since Gary, IN and I was glad because I wanted him to be rested when we switched. I really wasn't that tired. You'd think my bloodshot eyes would keep me from seeing but I really was fine and feeling good.

We switched just inside the Ohio line. The toll on the Indiana Turnpike was only $4.65, much better than PA. In Ohio, we got off the Indiana toll road and onto the Ohio Turnpike. This was 240 miles and cost $4.95, even cheaper! I slept for a bit and missed Toledo and the southern end of Cleveland. I guess I missed the entire state, not something I'll lose sleep over. When I woke up the sun was out but it was very hazy and foggy, making it look like the aftermath of a nuclear war or something-rather bleak. We weren't far from the I-80 turnoff. I didn't want to continue on the PA turnpike because it's expensive, so we went the northern route. We took I-80 which goes east to State College, PA.

Once in Pennsylvania it was lighter out and we were in the mountains again. This road was quite beautiful, lined with ferns growing under thick forest. It was nice to see the tame Appalachian Mountains once again after the being in the ruggedness of the Rockies, Sierras, and Cascades for so long. We got off this highway at exit 23 around 11 A.M. We were north of State College and took PA 144 southeast through Milesburg, Bellefonte, and Pleasant Gap, each located in a valley and separated by a high ridge. We got gas, switched driving for the last time, and picked up US 322 south into Harrisburg. This road parallels the Juniata River which empties into the Susquehanna River, which we followed to Harrisburg. We arrived in the Harrisburg area around 12:45 P.M. and I was getting very anxious to get home. Now it was smooth sailin' all the way to King of Prussia on the PA turnpike.

We got home around 2:15 in the afternoon after traveling 1,650 miles straight from South Dakota in 28 hours. We both were looking pretty bad and needed a shower and a good night's sleep in a nice soft bed.