Twirling
That felt good.
We went for a drive.
I can't even explain why I love driving through cornfields, beanfields, and small towns so very much. Why does it feel so freeing to me? I feel so myself. I can't explain it but I know I need to do it every so often.
Last month when we did our little Big Boy chase with Leo, we drove up 47 to Aurora. I hadn't driven that way in ages. We used to take that route to antique shows and it is still deeply familiar, even though I stopped doing shows regularly after the boys were born. We were driving up in the evening last time and didn't have time to stop for pictures so I'd wanted to head that way again.
We stopped in Morris. The old brewery still sits there on the edge of town, but the clean and quiet Park Motel may have seen its last guest.
We headed north and it felt too much like rural suburbia. I was happier as we got closer to DeKalb. We'd driven through as we chased the Big Boy and I knew I wanted the chicken sign, and I have a soft spot for Egyptian Revival and I recalled they had a theatre there. "WHERE CHICKEN IS KING. FRY'N SINCE 1949"
Oh, that's right...we stopped in Sycamore before we hit DeKalb and happened upon this.
We were stopping to get some lunch next door to this. I could not have been more delighted. Baton twirling. Champions. Unnecessary quotation marks. It had it all.
Oh, and look at this popcorn stand! Sadly, it was not open. Can you imagine the glory of it when it's open and full of fragrant popcorn?
We stopped in Rochelle for the night. There were not a plethora of restaurants but we found a bar that served food. Had a drink and then took our food back to the hotel room and snuggled in.
The next morning we had breakfast at the most immaculate little restaurant. I don't splurge on breakfasts like this very often so DAMN but I enjoyed it! And, let's face it, aren't breakfasts better when they have the standard Greek diner placemat? The Butterfly in Rochelle. Highly recommended.
We took off heading for Peru-Lasalle. As we drove I said, "I suppose we could stay for another night. I have my laptop so I can do work from the hotel." Ernie immediately said nah, that he felt like going home. Then a few minutes later he said, "Well, I suppose we could." Heh. Got him. I booked us a room and we drove along in the sunlight and I swear like I felt like I was twirling in delight. Not champion level twirling or anything like that, but twirling just the same.
Onward.