Midway of Drive-a-thon 2006

So far the trip has been uneventful. I am in Chicago, using the W Lake Shore Drive as my base. Over the weekend I stopped off in Erie, PA to visit my friends Art & Deb & Kellie (all Allegheny alumni).

The 318½ Randolph Street crew. Art Martinucci, Kellie (Carlson) Anderson, Deb Bartle, Ed Costello

Kellie, Deb and I shared an apartment on Randolph Street in Meadville, PA during college. Art lived up the street, also on Randolph. I think the apartment has been turned into a parking lot since 1989.

Sunday I drove from Erie to Denham, IN and spent several days with my grandmother.

There is little to report about Denham...it is a very small town which was just on the edge of oblivion before the railroad pulled out. Over a couple of years the railroad pulled out and the US Postal Service took away the small part-time Post Office. The single store in town closed within a year of the P.O. closing.

The store was the sort of place I've read about in tales of "American Gone By", it had a big porch where people would sit and chat, a side room where there seemed to be a stove and a couple of seats (perhaps for the winter chats), and a small selection of food and household necessities.

For some reason when I drive in and around Denham or North Judson, IN (the closest "real" town, about 8 miles north), I think of the old glass bottles of soda (pop). We'd walk from the house to the store in Denham and pick up a couple of bottles of Pepsi or Coke. There was something about those old, tall 16 ounce bottles that isn't captured by the plastic 16 or 20 ounce bottles in use today. The glass held the cold in just a bit longer, it felt cold in your hands.

So, after running errands for my grandmother, and running Frisket up and back from the hill on the farm, I drove into Chicago for the second half of the trip.

Ate dinner tonight with some family from the Downers Grove area. Tomorrow night I'm driving up to Crystal Lake, IL for more food (I need to be sure to walk Frisket a bit more on this trip!). Friday it's dinner with friends John and Laura. Saturday is open (so far). I plan to head back East on Sunday.