A visit with Judy and Emma

I had a wonderful visit and lunch with Judy today, and Lady and I finally got to meet Emma. Emma is exuberant and Lady was worn out just watching her. This picture doesn't quite capture the exuberance however:


Here is a photo of both:


Judy and I spent several hours talking non-stop, just like old friends. She is even more interesting in person than comes across in her blog, and anyone who reads her blog, Travels with Emma, will understand in a hearbeat that she is one of the most interesting bloggers out there. Her knowledge of birds and wildlife habitat, plus expert photographic skills, make the blog a daily treat for many people, and I was so glad to finally meet her. Thanks so much Judy, for your hospitality.

I wish I'd taken more pictures, and I did take some on my old film camera so maybe I can post them when I get the film developed, although I'm at the beginning of the roll right now. I hope to get some good shots of scenery in the next few weeks.

I'm back at the motel in Hammond this evening because I just didn't want to fight the Chicago traffic in the afternoon, so I will leave between 9:00 and 10:00 tomorrow morning. I have made several trips to the car to take things out as well as to bring items into the room. I needed to go back but I couldn't find my keys anywhere. I used my spare set of keys to check a couple of times, and then I found them, IN THE IGNITION, with the door UNLOCKED! How irresponsible is that? I had been looking at the odometers and recording my ending mileage, and somehow forgot to take them out of the ignition.

Regarding my allowing the fuel tank to get so low, I realize I need to quickly get used to the gauge on the Highlander. My truck gauge was accurate for the most part, but when it read close to Empty, it still had somewhere around 10 gallons left. I never took the chance though, and always made sure to fuel up a couple times a day when traveling. With this vehicle I'm finding the gauge is pretty accurate, so I'm going to have to pay closer attention and not let it get much below 1/2.

I filled up at a Speedway station, for $3.79/gal. regular, and they had diesel for $3.89/gal. I've never seen them so close in price. One problem with yesterday's portion of the trip is that it was mostly on turnpikes, Ohio & Indiana, which have travel plazas rather than the usual rest area, but they also have gas stations mainly for the brands I don't buy. I guess you can get off at an exit, which would require paying the toll, and then getting back on and getting a new toll ticket. There really isn't anything close enough to the turnpike to be able to see the stations though, and I like to get off at a station that is one of my preferred brands, is close and on the right, and easy to get back to the on-ramp.

I enjoyed driving through the Indiana countryside today, and it was nice to have a break from interstates. So that's it for now.