Day 21: Cleveland, Ohio

Now on that last leg of the cross-country trip, when it takes so much longer than you think it should. My sister has flown to Baltimore to join another friend for further fun.

12 hours from South Bend to westerns Massachusetts. I decided to take three days and not two.

Day 20 in South Bend

Miss Eloise became quite the celeb during our five-night stay, known by name to most of the motel staff as she enjoyed daily meet and greet parades from the room to the lobby and out to the car. The catch, however, is that I had made this reservation without noticing that a) the motel allows one dog, not two, and b) I was paying for all all five nights in advance to get a special reduced rate.

Bobby, therefore, was lying low and quiet in his carrying bag while Eloise entertained the troops.

We got a way with it.

Days 18 and 19 in South Bend

Walks by the river, meals and conversation in our friend's lovely upstairs screened porch that feels like a tree house.

We went to the Tiffany glass exhibit at the history museum.

https://visitsouthbend.com/tiffany-exhibit-shines-history-museum/

Day 17 in South Bend

 

Big Bobby here. This is one of my favorite places. Mrs. D. and I visit here almost every summer, and this time Eloise is here, too.

We get to go for walks a lot here. Around the neighborhood, along the river. I never want to leave.

Day 16: South Bend, Indiana

What was supposed to be another easy day of driving into South Bend was derailed by some kind of awful accident, or perhaps two of them, causing a freeway closure and re-routing us through Illinois farmland as night came on.

We arrive late and tired.

Day 15: Marion, Illinois

An easy day driving north east, through country that keeps getting greener, trees that keep getting higher.

We crossed the Mississippi near Cairo, a place name from Huckleberry Finn. I'm reminded of a fact about that story that you must know history and geography to understand; Huck and Jim are traveling on the river where it separates the states of Missouri and Illinois. Jim is a runaway slave from Missouri, a slave state; his obvious goal is to get over the river to Illinois, and yet he spends weeks on the river with Huck, apparently to look after him--something Huck's viewpoint doesn't share with us, but which Mark Twain probably intended us to understand.

Day 14: Little Rock, Arkasas

My sister got in very late, after a flight was canceled due to thunderstorms. Then a long day's drive from Houston to Little Rock, through flat, lush green country.

We are into bug country. At a rest stop, we both got stinging bites from something tiny. Fortunately the dogs had their flea and tick medication. I even got the pill down Bobby by coating in cream cheese back in Cleveland.