Day 2 (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois) Cross Country

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     We woke at 5 am this morning and got ready for our drive. We planned on getting to South Dakota today which was a 14 hour drive from Sandusky Ohio, which is where we stopped for the night last night. It really felt like it took a long time to get through the rest of Ohio, Indiana and then into Illinois.

     Once we reached Illinois, we realized how beautiful this state was! All the farmland around with old barns and fields of crops were being missed by our cameras. We decided to take a detour and found the perfect spot: Prophetstown! With a name like that, you should know we had to stop!!


Turns out that there wasn't much to see in a town that had a population of 2100! But we were able to visit the local camping park and along the way, take some really nice pictures of some barns and very flat fields!

                                                          

Although we did not get as far as we wanted to today, we did get to visit with an old friend and spent some time reminiscing and catching up. After our visit, we drove a few more hours and found a Super 8 to rest our weary heads.

One thing I realized today is how blessed I am. This trip came at the perfect time in my life. When I first talked to my job about giving me the three to four weeks off to embark on this journey, they balked at the idea and told me I would have to take the leave without pay. I thought about how often I would get the chance to do this trip again and NEVER came to mind! I told my job I would go without pay. In the end, they did not approve my time off. I resigned. As crazy as that sounds, I'm not upset in the least about it. It was the best decision I could have made. I've had more than one person remark that they were jealous of how we picked up and decided to do this. My response to those people.. "Carpe Diem!" Sometimes in life we have to take what's in front of us and seize the day. Otherwise we'll be left wondering, "What if?" I don't want to ever wonder that, I want to always say, "What now!" 

Tomorrow's agenda: Leave Illinois, Visit an old co-worker in South Dakota, visit Badlands, and Mt. Rushmore. We'll see how far we get! 
Until then.......


Location: Cedar Rapids, IA, USA

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