Heading back, south on US 41

I dreaded today.  I was up at 5:30am finishing my packing.  When all was done, I had more stuff going than coming!

I planned on leaving at 9:30am.  I was only ten minutes late.  I didn't want to leave Carol, though.  The heat these last few days have been taxing on her, and she comes out of her bedroom flushed from the strain of getting her legs ready for wrapping.  I so worry about her welfare, and her emotional welfare.  Will she make it through the year?  Some of the topics we talked about these last six weeks gave me an eerie feeling that she is ready to leave this earth, because the daily strain of wrapping her legs is too much for her.

I had plans to meet an old hiking friend, Linda, in Lafayette at 12:30pm.  She had coordinated with a pub in old town that accepts dogs, the Digby's Pub and Grill.  I got there on time, but Linda was late so I just walked around the town square and lasted a good 20 minutes before I sought shade in the pub's dog-friendly patio.  It was 93F and the humidity was uncomfortable.

It was good to see Linda again.  We were last together when she and her then-boyfriend Mike had traveled to Verde River valley in Arizona six years ago.  I drove up to meet them and brought Sadie along.  She is originally from New Jersey, but moved out to Indiana after her divorce.  She is now a retired nurse and living life in the slow lane, enjoying being a grandma but also tending to her 88-year-old mother.  We were outside on the patio for almost two hours, updating each other on our lives.

The heat was still on when we left at 3pm.  Linda had to get back home to work with carpenters. I wasn't ready to leave town and took Zeke on a short walk along the Wabash Heritage trail, the same trail that Linda, Mike and I completed almost 20 years ago. The Wabash River is full of history, and is the theme of Indiana's state song, "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away."  All 503 miles of the river traverse the state and becomes the southeastern border with Indiana's twin, Illinois, before it flows into the Ohio river. The river was flowing high.

I only walked around for two miles, along the river trail and then around the courthouse square.  The river walk was shaded, but the streets were not.  Zeke was suffering from the humidity and I didn't want to strain him.

There was enough daylight to continue my drive south on US 41 before making my second stop in Terre Haute, a border town with Illinois with a metropolitan population of 171,000.  Driving south on US41, with its gentle hills that start rolling south of Lafayette, it suddenly appears on the road with its impressive gold-domed limestone courthouse right off US41. Terre Haute is the home of Indiana State University, where Indiana basketball player Larry Bird.  Despite its French name of "High Ground," Terre Haute is lower in elevation that the most southern point of Lake Michigan of a mere 495'.  I had stopped here on my way to Indiana from Arizona and had a nice meal in a beer bar.  This time, though, I was looking for the Terre Haute Brewing Company, the second-oldest brewing company in the country and the oldest one in Indiana, since 1837.

It was in the 90s and Zeke was allowed inside the brewery, one reason I sought this place out.  I came here to give him a rest, as he quickly lay down on the cool wooden floor and napped while I sipped the wheat beers.  None of the beers caught my fancy, but the place was comforting, cool, and cozy.

Once we were cooled off, I got on I-70 and headed across Illinois.  I didn't get far, though.  I pulled into the Silver Lake rest area to rest, and ended up spending the night here.  Even an evening walk around the rest area was warm, with overnight temperatures in the 80s.