Today was a driving day. I started off somewhere south of Pittsburgh and ended up somewhere east of Chicago. So that’s Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, a short detour into Michigan just to say I’ve ‘been’ there and now in Indiana.
My journey today started where the opening and closing scenes of the film The Deerhunter were supposed to be based – industrial Pennsylvania. I didn’t see Robert de Niro but I saw an awful lot of deer – road kills.
As one drives along at a brisk pace (though always inside the speed limit) the number of birds one sees is small but there are splattered mammals every now and then.
White-tailed Deer corpses are common along the roadside (and fairly easily identified) but also there are Racoons and the odd Porcupine. I have yet to figure out what is the occasional large rodent in the grass by the roadside.
But I am mostly driving at the moment and here are my tips for safe driving over long distances:
- Keep the car a bit too cool for comfort
- Drive in bare feet – it means you can wiggle your toes more which is very refreshing
- Play music sometimes on the CD or radio and sing out loud with your favourite tunes
- Adjust your seat position several times a day – even small changes in height, uprightness and distance from the pedals make you sit in a different position which helps freshen you up
- Wear sunglasses quite a lot – it’s surprising how much you squint even if the sun is not bright and sunglasses
Well, they seem to work for me.
And today I crossed over my route of 10 days ago in Ohio, and drove past the turn-off to Crane Creek.
I am now in Amish country in Indiana and have seen quite a lot of the bearded men in straw hats and the long-dressed ladies with their hair covered – some riding in horse-drawn buggies. This is like another film, Witness, but I haven’t seen Harrison Ford yet, nor Kelly McGillis.
But I probably will see lots of Turkey Vultures – all that road-kill is good for them, I guess.
It’s windy, but tomorrow I hope to drive right past the Windy City and head for Iowa through Illinois.
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And what was it you sang out loud to Mark? A De Niro style “can’t take my eyes off you” before strapping some roadkill deer to the hood of your car and pretending you’d taken just “one shot”? 🙂
Just one shot…