It's a hard knock life.

Trucking ain't easy, baby.

At first, I found myself making note of every sign I saw for a campground, and checking the terrain along the way for stealth campsites. I don't think I've been doing that much during regular driving experiences. Perhaps it's that being on the move again put me back into bike travel mode. It's starting to fade a bit now, though.

Our first stop was near Chicago, where we unloaded three vans for auction, then picked up some scaffolding that was bound for Connecticut. Since it wasn't due until Monday morning, we stayed the night at an enormous trucker heaven south of the city, and my cousin came down to meet us for a delicious truckstop dinner. Okay, delicious might be pushing it, but the hot food was hot and the salad was cold. We had a great time reminiscing and gossiping for five hours or so, then it was back out into the bone-chilling cold night to sleep in the truck. It was so cold, we left the truck running all night, partly so we wouldn't freeze, and partly because if the engine gets too cold, the truck won't start again. Dieselicious! But I was toasty in my wonderful sleeping bag.

I realized that not only have I lived in Seattle my whole life, but I have never traveled anywhere during the winter where the temperature was consistently below 20F. I really liked Chicago in the summer, but the thirteen degree weather was brutal for me. My cousin was just happy that it wasn't below zero. I'm not sure I could become accustomed to that sort of lifestyle...

We drove all day today, and although we didn't take the same route that I took on my bike, we were close to it, so about every hour or so I would point at a sign and say, "I slept in that city!" It's odd how having ridden my bike through an area, and camping or eating there, makes me feel... proprietary. It's like everywhere is my hood. Dad and I talked about this, and he said that, as a long haul trucker, he feels connected to the whole country, because he's always driving through everywhere.

Driving through Ohio was especially fun for me, because I was thinking so heavily about all of the great people I met there. So here's a shout out to all of my OH hosts: Katie, Austin and Josh, Alan and Pennie, Rona and Gary, and Danny and Danielle. And also big gratitude to all of the other kind people I encountered: Sheri, Jen and the gang at the Lazy River Campground, that woman who gave me peaches from her tree, those random cyclists who gave me cash on the bike trails in Northeastern OH, and, of course, Allan from Connecticut who I met in Ohio. And that's just the one state. So many people along the way, in every state, have been so wonderfully kind and generous. I want to believe karma exists, and you all will get what you should.

Okay, enough of the final thought stuff. I guess being on the move again has made me contemplative, but this is starting to read like my trip is over for good! Rest assured, I am just getting warmed up. Again. (In my sleeping bag.)