Out of the Frying Pan

Driving out east is a rather different beast than driving west, north, or south. First of all, driving east from Milwaukee means inadvertently going through versus around Chicago—a decided congestion disadvantage. Then, one must factor in about $30 extra each way in interstate tolls. Finally, there is a dearth of sites, road stops, tourist traps, and restaurants along the Midwest-east coast route.

Compared to the quiet cool forests and lakes of the north, the landscape changes and tacky roadside trappings of the west, and cultural changes of the south, heading east is thus far not entirely exciting or refreshing.

WI is a lovely state, but to drive to any other notable place from it, one must go through the most boring states—IL, IA, MN, IN, OH—that are only marginally more captivating than the excruciating plains states such as KS, NE, OK, eastern SD, southern MT, etc. Coming to think of it, though, the states I have actually enjoyed driving through are few—KY, TN, ND, western SD, NM, MI, WI. Bearable: AL, FL, CA, MS, MO, WY, CO, UT, NV.

Wishing to avoid hearing yet another Michael Jackson radio eulogy is enabling us to memorize the entire 2-CD Indigo Girls album, Poseidon and the Bitter Bug. Likewise, avoidance strategies against instant and gas station coffee are addicting us to those cute little dark horse cans of Starbucks Double Shots.

Maybe PA will hold more promise, though eastern OH is getting hilly.