Winging It

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So, we are really winging it. We started out on time, but... First I had a request to backtrack briefly for some missed photos. I will say that did not work out but we tried. The main problem was technical and operator error. First the car started out indicating low air pressure in a tire/tires. We used the air compressor we had in the trunk and it seemed all tires had within a pound of correct pressure but the dash light was still on. Clay blamed the compressor. We drove to a convenience store where we had filled the tank last night and spent $1.50 in quarters for industrial compressor air and overfilled the tires which keeps the indicator light on. We drove some more and pulled over and Clay let air out, too much. Back out of the trunk came the air compressor. Perfect. Light out! We gave up on the photo quest since we were now an hour overdue and would be late getting to Cincinatti.  I had already given up on the Zoo because their website stated Fiona is not yet on public view. That is still true today. Then the check engine light came on more stopping and more futzing. The light is still on. Clay says he drove for weeks with it on before and it went off by itself eventually. OK. Finally, Clay was in a really bad mood by now and my morning granola was well gone. I begged him to stop at the first place that looked like we could get food. It was a Dairy Queen in Kermit, WV. Then he started to drive away again because he wasn't really hungry. I lost it. We parked and both went in to the restrooms. I ordered a Peanut Buster Parfait and he ordered a chili cheese dog. He ate all his and half of mine. I was too tired to fight anymore about the maps and the route. All I had asked was to take the scenic byways as much as possible and US Route 52 as close to Chicago as possible. Clay has fought and lost his custom maps battle every day in every possible permutation. Enough said. Also, I think he just wants to set the cruise and listen to an audiobook. So, somehow after "lunch" we lost our way and we wound up driving what must have been America's most boring non-Interstate road, AA/Kentucky 9 North all the way across Kentucky right into Cincinnati. Bypassing the Ohio River Scenic Byway across Southern Ohio. I am still not sure what happened. I was just trying to avoid 52's backtrack to Huntington, but Clay said he'd reprogrammed the map app and I should have realized it. Clay wouldn't let me turn his phone's wifi back on to check a map on the tablet to look at what went wrong or how to fix it. Then, I dozed off and on and wasn't really in a position to make a stink about it. Plus I think he was so happy to just be on a wide road with one high speed limit that he didn't want to leave it ever. We have done the map study again for tomorrow and I did not see anymore designated scenic byways to Chicago so I've told Clay to just go ahead and take Interstates. He has to drive not me so I'm not going to be a stick about since we've already missed an afternoon of scenic driving. So, anyway as far as I can tell the Scenic Byways experiment is over and if it is a roadtrip then we're cruising the Interstates.

We got to Cincinnati about 2 hours later than we expected. The Fairfield is magnificent compared to last night's Inn! The Fairfield is about $10 cheaper too! Seriously, I consider this place nearly perfect and it really points out what we were willing to forgive in last night's Inn. Well, that won't happen again especially since Clay doesn't intend to leave the Interstates for backroads again.

We only had Skyline Chili to visit here now. We went and since Mom had told me how bad it was and how much she disliked it, I ordered a small. Mistake! I loved it. I had spaghetti & chili with beans. Clay had a huge mound of cheese so we put the perfect amount on both servings. It was strongly cinnamon flavored. It reminded me of El Paso's Chicos Tacos. In that both are unusual adaptations of a dish that are only available in one city and if you grew up eating that and couldn't get it elsewhere it would be cult-like to get it again. I get it. Anyway, I really liked it and wished I'd had more.

We stopped at CVS on the back to the Fairfield because one my latest battery-operated toothbrush failed and two Clay has had some gastric distress most of the day. He wants to blame DQ but it started before that. We only had granola and OJ and milk and Clay had a blueberry muffin and half of a apple turnover too. I don't know what would have made him gut sick but now he has Immodium at hand when he needs it. I usually pack such a thing, but just missed the ziplock bag when packing.

We'll be early to bed tonight since there was literally a train every hour or so right outside our window at the Inn and we didn't get a very good night's sleep to start. We have a full hot buffet breakfast included tomorrow morning. Hopefully Clay will feel better by then. We'll see.

Tomorrow Chicago. It is a long day's drive tomorrow so I expect we'll get an early start.

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