ben lowery

I recently drove across upstate NY, through western PA, northern Ohio and SE Michigan. Twelve and half hours of time to think.

• The US grows a lot of corn. The entire drive, I was surrounded by corn fields. Occasionally we’d see soybeans, wheat fields that had been harvested, hay fields. But the vast majority was corn.
• The US is huge. We drove for 12 hours and only covered four states. The cities are tiny compared to the area in between them.
• Driving a car with a 50mpg engine and an 8 gallon tank makes life interesting. That last tick on the fuel gauge is only about 50 miles. There are, generally, around 35 miles between rest stops. Not all those rest stops are open. For a minute, I thought we might end up stuck in the Seneca nation.
• I-90 and I-80 run along Lake Erie for nearly it’s entire length, but you only actually see the lake in a couple places.
• Erie has better chain food than Albany.

http://rd.io/x/QFpHL-dunw/

The playlist is open to collaboration, so if you know of songs about Michigan that should be in the list, let me know!

This one went fast. Can’t believe it’s nearly time for school again.

Jack will be in second grade, Lucy still in preschool.

Mandy is starting to wrap up the book. I’ll be traveling a bit in September and October. Fall is going to be fast.

Good times ahead.