Luckily for me our current spray crew has four people on it and it only takes three people to actually run a job, so getting away for a few days would not be a problem. Avis would provide me with a ride, a Chevy Cobalt. It's by no means any kind of glamorous ride, but I really grew to like it over the four days I drove it. I was happy it all worked out, and I know Matt was elated I would make the wedding.
I was all set to leave Friday morning, and let me tell you, I was excited to get out of here, away from the stress and the tediousness of spraying weeds. In fact I was so excited that I could barely sleep on Thursday night despite just how tired I was. I must have got up three times, all hoping it was 6 a.m., only to find it was 11 p.m., 2 a.m., and 4 a.m. By the time 6 did come around I was now so tired I didn't want to get up, but just the thought that at the end of the day I would be back at my house in Edgerton, Wisconsin, got me out of bed and out the doors of the Holiday Inn by half after.
I opted to stay on the mostly two lane Highway 54 to soak in the local atmosphere across Kansas and Missouri and into Illinois. It was great to watch the grey path unroll over the hills in front of me and through the towns in front of me, just waking up for the day. Before I knew it the yellows and greens and beautiful curves of the Flint Hills were zooming by my window at 70 mph, herds of cattle occasionally looking up from their grazing to watch the only car for miles pass by.
By mid-morning I had hit Missouri, a state in which I had barely ever set foot in. Fields of corn and colorful meadows covered the rolling hills around me. Trailers and mansions alike fit into the scenery as if they had always been there. The meadows began to give way to forests and hills to cliffs as I neared the Lake of the Ozarks. Eventually the Lake came into sight, a wonderful deep blue set against towering green bluffs and lined with upscale condos and private homes. The traffic was horrendous.
Jefferson City and Mexico and Louisiana were the towns that brought me across the remainder of Missouri. The steep hills gave way to planes of corn and soybeans. Louisiana itself sits upon the west bank of Old Man River and wonderful old brick buildings line the Main Street. An ancient truss bridge carried Highway 54 and myself across the girth of the river and into Illinois.
Illinois greeted me with a wide valley lined with fields of corn. An unexpected phone call from a good friend also greeted me in Illinois, providing a wonderful conversation and traveling partner across the summer prairie. On the horizon a huge cloud bank towered over the small towns and corn fields, flashes of lightning illuminating the deep blues of the mass in the sky. Soon the afternoon sun was replaced by near darkness and torrential rain. It followed me all the way into Edgerton.
I could feel I was almost home when I came around the curve on I-90/39 on the north side of Janesville. Underneath me were the rails of the Wisconsin and Southern railroad, rails that I used to work on. The rest stop, the second set of railroad tracks and finally the big hill into the Rock River Valley were all the final landmarks on my way home. My exit was at the bottom of the hill. A right past the Shell station and Comfort Inn, a left turn at the Mobile station, and a right on to Gladys Drive and my yellow cottage came into view. I was finally back home after a month.
While it was great to sit in my living room with an August Schell's Firebrick in my hand the drive had worn me out. As much as I would like to relax in my house I was too tired. But I was also quite glad to have my own bed to sleep in again. As soon as the lights were out, so was I.
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