Day 9: Milwaukee to Dayton

Yesterday I completed the final journey into the Eastern Standard Time zone.

I started out in Milwaukee. Adrienne cooked some breakfast (using her Magic Bullet - so speedy) and I go onto the road there at around 8:30am. Got through the rest of Wisconsin pretty quickly and made the way through Illinois. Current Gonzaga student and Wisconsin expert Lizz Wehnher had commented on my last post about Wisconsin's bad drivers that I should "wait until [I] see Illinois drivers", and I have to say, she was right. Illinois drivers are also pretty crazy and don't seem to have very much regard for others on the road or posted speed limits - maybe it's just a Midwestern thing? Or a Central Standard Time thing? Who knows...

Made it through Chicago without much traffic - that city is huge. that cut through Indiana on 65 until I got to Indianapolis, then took I-70 over to Dayton. I don't know why, but I really enjoy Indiana. It is a nice state with some decent scenery and good people (or so I generalize). I got off the freeway somewhere about 40 miles north of Indianapolis for fuel and got a little lost on some backroads but actually had a good time seeing the countryside. And it was nice to be in a state with a lot of cell phone coverage!

Anyway, got to Dayton at around 5:30pm. I had forgotten how to navigate around the city a little bit, so it took me a little while to get to where I needed to go. I got to my hotel for the next three days (Megan Thomas' apartment), got ready quickly, and headed up to the Oregon District downtown for dinner for Rebecca's birthday at Thai 9.

I got really nervous going up there for some reason! I think it just felt a little weird to be back and to be seeing lots of people again. The dinner was fun, and it was nice that I was able to celebrate with Rebecca and say hi to lots of old folks. After dinner, we went to a new German bar across the street and had sangria (yea, I know, those two things don't really mix).

I made my way back to Megan's apartment to actually see her! Megan was a year ahead of me in grad school. She got her Master's in Community Counseling (but still worked as a GA for Res Life) and currently works as a social worker for at-risk youth in Dayton (or something of that nature). She is hysterical in playing host - she bought pistachios and reduced fat Cheez-it's and already made lasagna for the "party" she is throwing for me on Thursday night. Too funny.

Off to the Giant's game down in Cincinnati - if I can remember how to get there!