First Day and First of Many More Things to Come

I feel like I have been starting this journey for the past week and today at 1:00 pm the Burning Woman Journey was finally underway.

I spent the morning at the Giving it Back day with Danny Baldino and his random group of volunteers. It was great meeting some more of the ever inclusive and giving Baldino family, get to visit with Nadine, Erica and my special guy Ryan and meet other wonderful giving and special people. Ryan and I were lucky to spend time together painting kitchen cabinets a rusty brown color that I kept thinking was barbecue sauce as I was driving down the road later in the day and it was all over my hands.

Speaking of getting on the road.....my trusty GPS took me right down Cicero road (west side of Chicago) to I-55 South, which was a new area for me. I am determined that it is time for me to not hold back and experience some new things on this road trip and within the first 10 minutes I was not disappointed. I saw a policeman handcuff a guy and put him in the police car. I think that was a first for me. I felt like such a voyeur, but since the traffic was moving slow, I don't think I was the only one watching.

Driving down 55 was kind of like driving through Michigan or Indiana. Not a lot of new things to see; 3 lanes going into 2 lanes, back into 3 lanes, back into 2 etc. There were lots of falling down barns, freshly plowed fields, billboards and small businesses along the interstate road. I think the lack of new things and the fact that I am a bit of out shape from doing any form of manual labor made it hard to stay awake. I could feel myself wanting to nod....but...Good thing for good friends.....

I had promised Janina that I would go get a facial at the Aveda Institute before I took off on the road, and made the appointment yesterday. While it was one of the best and most relaxing experiences I had, - the good news was that I bought the products (surprise!!) and one of them was the firming and toning spray. I thought I would keep that in the car and could use it while driving to keep moisturized - but the best side effect is that it really does wake you up a bit with the cool spray.

And then, my good bud Ted made a CD for me that Nadine delivered and I popped that into the player and was instantly energized and smiling. It also made me start wondering which song was fitting me best. "I've been down so long that the devil forgot my name" or 'Your the trouble I want to get into". The music was able to keep me awake until I reached NORMAL, Illinois.

I had to check it out.....wouldn't you love to live in a town called Normal? I can't imagine. I am not sure how much of normal I have known or have wanted to know. I got to tell you.....the town was bigger than I expected. There was a Target, a TJ Maxx, a Office Max etc. A very normal town.

From normal I got back on the road and drove through a monsoon rain storm (that i found out later was a tornado warning)towards Springfield, Illinois. Again, funny how things work out for good.....but I would have been soooooooo unhappy had I rented the little convertible I had thought about. It rained so hard and I could hardly see. Driving with that sound beating on the roof of the car would have driven me nuts.....this way, I was able to just smile and remind myself that I had NO timetable and could get into Springfield whenever......

I got in town too late to head to the Lincoln Museum, but I was able to find Darcy's Pub - which was recommended to me by Kim Dwyer who had it recommended by some person she talked to in Miami that I had to try a Horseshoe. After driving through the rain, having worked so hard (right...) and experienced Normal, I was ready for what I thought was a special one of a kind drink.....after all, what else would someone recommend me to have.....

A horseshoe turned out to be a meal that consists of a piece of toast, a choice of meat, cheese sauce, french fries and more cheese sauce on top. As I was talking to the bartender about what it was and that it was recommended, the man nearest to me said that he too was having his first one too. I looked at the plate and knew that this was not going to be within my Weight Watchers points, but I was going to have to experience it anyway. (Thanks Kim for the extra pounds this week) While we were beginning to chat- which really meant my beginning to tell him my life story - we were joined by a local man who asked if he could sit and I told him that he would have to tell me what he knew about driving across Kansas.....and funny thing, he has driven across Kansas and then took out his i-phone and looked up the Kansas prairie for me. Thank you Randy and Mike for making my first meal on the road such a wonderful experience. However, the pony shoe (small version of the horseshoe) was an interesting taste. Thank goodness for the beer to help it go down.....I can't believe I would ever say that I am not that into french fries.

So, after a wonderful day and evening, I honored my commitment to myself to try and spend only $100 a day and be off the road by 7pm. Of course I only went about 225 miles....so it wasn't that difficult. We'll see what tomorrow brings....