A working vacation....

Well, I got everything in Maine put to bed for a few weeks and we hit the road on Monday, driving about 850 miles to Pittsburgh where we enjoyed the hospitality of my cousin. She just managed the construction of a good sized industrial plant near DC, so we discussed industrial processes until the wee hours of the morning. After five hours of sleep, we rose to an early breakfast at the Dor-Stop Diner, which claimed home cooked goodness, but only offered non-dairy creamer for the coffee and neglected to give me any butter for my French Toast. A diner is a diner though.

We blasted across Ohio and Indiana making good time, even through Ohio's abundant construction. I would vote for any provision that would raise their speed limit to 80mph. As for Chicago traffic, I cannot say enough about how much 'open road' tolling has improved the drive around the city. We made it from Gary, Indiana to Gurnee, IL in less than two hours, and with an EZ-Pass you don't even have to slow down on I-294.

We spent a pleasant evening visiting with my brother's family near Gurnee. By 10pm we made it the Riverwest neighborhood of Milwaukee where we are staying with another one of my brothers. I'll post some pictures from the drive soon.

In order to keep the bills satisfied, I'm spending this trip working for friends and relative's businesses like Outdoor Living Solutions in Milwaukee and possibly BrownSmith Restoration in Minneapolis. I'm also trying to drum up some sales for the Cathance River Stools that Paul Baines and I build in Maine.