36 Years Ago

2025-09-24
MO, IL, IN, OH, WV, PA

As I continued home, I was able to schedule a visit with an old friend along the way. I have a list of people that I haven't seen in too long a time, and I'm working to try to see as many of them as possible. Mark, my old college roommate, was on that list, and I knew he still lived in Indianapolis somewhere, but I didn't have any way to contact him. However, during the trip I was able to contact a different previous roommate who told me how to contact him (via Facebook messenger) and I was able to pace my trip across the country so that I could meet him and his wife after work on Wednesday.

It had been 36 years since I had last seen Mark, but it was awesome to catch up with him. I won't keep you in suspense; he is doing great. He's married to his high school sweetheart, who I had met when she visited him at Old Dominion University. Three talented kids, nice house, cool job. He's even more midwestern if that's possible. And an even better bowler.

We got to hang out for a couple hours or so, with me arriving around 5:00 so by the time I left the Indiana traffic had calmed down. Google took me past the Speedway on my way out for another visit, and then on to Richmond IN for the night. That's on the Ohio-Indiana border, and is also the exit for Uranus. There are a lot of billboards for Uranus and its famous fudge factory.

The next day I just took the highway home. Route 70 through West Virginia kind of sucks with constantly changing speed limits and a lot of trucks, but once I got to the turnpike it was a lot easier. I prefer to have a stop at some sort of point of interest, but I don't have many things on my list to do in Ohio. Between nothing on the route and my ankle still hurting, I stopped every hour or so at a rest area in place of having anything cool on the schedule for today. In case you're wondering, the cool thing to do is better.

I rolled in to the driveway around 5:00 PM EDT and carted in all the junk. Now it's just a matter of sifting it and putting it away. I make sure I at least do a little every day, but it still takes a few weeks. Seat reinstallation has to happen too.