North Dakota Bound: How many states is that?

Here's a Google map of our journey so far...(I love the Google!)

Tuesday marked our entry into Indiana and Illinois. A complete list of states we've hit is at the bottom of this post. Unfortunately, Rachel is boycotting state-line photos because they're too embarrassing. So here I am somewhere along I-90.

From Cross Country 2009

Because we've been away from the interwebz the last 3 nights, there are lots of new photos in the album. I've included highlights below.

Camping in Ohio
What's with this weather that cools off significantly at night? This Florida girl never thought she'd really need her fleece on this trip.

When camping, Rachel and I go ultra-cheap. PB&J and mac & cheese are our staples, sometimes even in the same meal.

From Cross Country 2009

Central Ohio, about an hour north of Columbus
How awesome is this road that runs off to the horizon? It reminded me of the movie "Secondhand Lions".

From Cross Country 2009

Rachel and I spent the better part of Monday driving diagonally across Ohio. We were fortunate enough to be on back roads, so we got a taste of rural farmland. As we drove US-33, every so often a county road like the one above went off to the side. Every 30 minutes, we ran through a small town.

Dum Dum Factory Tour
Our major goal for Monday was to visit the Spangler Candy Company in Bryan, OH. We learned on the way into town that the factory tours are closed on Mondays. Dangit! We were first in line on Tuesday at 10am when they opened:

From Cross Country 2009

As compared to other factory tours, Spangler's was ok. You get to see the packaging room and lots of warehouse space. I suspect some cleanliness regulation prevents us from seeing them actually make the candy.

The Windy City
Finally, we got to Chicago Tuesday at about 3:30. The Jeep is very hot, what with no A/C and all. We both wanted to dip into Lake Michigan to cool off (do people even swim in lakes up here? What about alligators?) Rachel and I were exhausted walking to the beach because it was 20 miles from where we're staying. Not really. We plopped down onto the grass and I got this great shot of Navy Pier and the Ferris Wheel: