Uneventful Drives Are a Blessing
Our drive was, thankfully, uneventful…well, except for that odd-shaped metal object I hit on the freeway. It made a terrible racket, making me think a tire was damaged and that a blowout was imminent. I spent about 40 miles waiting to hear the big POP and to smell hot rubber. Nothing happened so all my worrying was for naught, thank goodness.
The sun was shining and it was very muggy. The boys were well-behaved and Richard entertained them while I drove and then I entertained them while he drove. I’m getting kind of tired of rest-stop-restaurant lunches.
We arrived in Indiana, where I was born, by early afternoon. I was able to get a good wifi connection but Richard was having trouble. Something to do with his Mac. We have an ongoing friendly feud regarding his Mac vs. my PC. I was nice and only made one smart aleck comment about his Mac connection problem. We moved to a different spot at the campground and he was then able to get online. We tell all campgrounds that we need a spot close to the wifi antenna yet they all seem to say, “There’s a good connection in the entire park!”
Hogwash.
We had to make a run to the grocery store. It was sooo hot! The air conditioner on our tow vehicle doesn’t work very well so we were all sweating buckets. We saw a neat restaurant called Yesterdays and decided to return there for dinner later. The part of town we were in, Granger, Indiana, looked a bit depressed. Some places had gone out of business and the buildings were still vacant. But, it was a nice, clean town. And, to be fair, we didn’t see much of it. Maybe there was a nicer part of town farther up the road.
As we were returning from the store, Ali called. She was very upset because Percy was whining and shaking. I had her examine him while I was on the phone and we discovered that the back pain he was having about six months ago had returned. The vet warned us this would happen. Terriers experience back problems later in life. She found his pain reliever and anti-inflammatory in the bathroom cabinet, wrapped the pill in a chunk of cheese, and down Percy’s hatch it went. He was fine late last night when I called to check in.
We left for dinner and, holy cow, what a dinner we had! The restaurant was very expensive. Dinners were $30-$40 and more per plate. I was surprised that a restaurant with those kinds of prices could be supported by the small and seemingly depressed town where it was located. But, Richard reminded me that Notre Dame was only a few miles up the road. Tell you what. If we lived here, I would drive miles out of my way to go to that restaurant! The food was outstanding and the employees were over-the-top friendly. We had brie soaked in caramel sauce and leeks, served on toasted bread. I had a large mango and chicken salad for dinner. Richard had a huge chicken wing sandwich. I think we were both purposefully avoiding the main dinner menu (the really expensive stuff). Max had the kid’s steak. Mason was due for a nap and was getting restless so I held him on my lap most of the time. The waitress brought him a bowl of whipped cream after the crackers failed to entertain him for more than a few seconds. The trains I gave him ended up on the floor. A lady at a table behind us even tried talking to him, but he wasn’t falling for that “appease the baby at the next table” trick, either. We ordered our dessert to go. Richard’s carrot cake was HUGE. There was enough to feed at least three people. I ordered chocolate mousse/sauce/caramel yummy stuff served in a chocolate cup. They gave me four of them with a huge mound of whipped cream. Max asked for ice cream. They packed him a box of ice cream, another HUGE mound of whipped cream, and a waffle cone bowl. Dinner was $147…and well worth it. We’ll be eating dessert for the next three days.
We went back to the campground afer dinner last night and Mason fell asleep while Richard took Max to the pool. I dove into my work, knowing I’ll be online only in the evenings for the next few days while we do family stuff with Richard’s mom, sister, aunt, and other assorted friends and family. Max is sure looking forward to playing with his cousins!