Preparing to leave Big Sky at the end of March, we saw some glimmers of spring, but we also received fresh snow, which proceeded to come down in droves after we left.
All of the farm fields and foliage alongside the highway seemed to be shades of brown covered to varying degrees in snow as the states rolled by after we passed the last flocked evergreens of Montana.
Wyoming. South Dakota. Minnesota. Wisconsin. Illinois. Indiana. Ohio. Western Pennsylvania.
The only dramatic difference was lighting at different times of day. We didn't take any photos along the way.
During daylight hours, we only stopped for gas, when we also used the restroom and changed drivers.
We ate snacks we'd packed to bring along on this road trip, including bread and lunchmeat slapped together without condiments for lunch.
We made only one side jaunt, so that I could drive through Chicago, a traffic-jammed city of what seemed to be randomly crammed-together buildings. I had never visited previously and was soon happy to see the Windy City in my rearview mirror.
We'd start driving early, just as the night sky was lightening, and keep on truckin' until daylight was noticeably fading out.
A hamburger at an Irish pub in Mitchell, South Dakota, and Mexican food in South Bend, Indiana, served as rewards after checking into nice hotels following full days of driving. These hotels would have been about $100 to $120 pre-Omicron but are now more like $160 per night.
After a good night's sleep, we would then wake up in the morning, enjoy the complimentary buffet breakfast and hit the road again, cup of coffee in hand.
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| Norristown Farm Park Nature Trail |
As we reached the Pennsylvania Turnpike, "America's First Superhighway," it was like we'd passed into the color portion in that old family favorite movie, "The Wizard of Oz." Suddenly, brown trees had sprouted green leaves, and yellow plants were in bloom. Occasional flowering plum trees in a variety of hues, and other flowers could be seen intermittently.
Arriving in Ardmore, we found some flowers blooming in our garden planter that we'd ignored for months. We also were happy to feel that the heater still works, as despite some signs of spring, temperatures at or below 50 degrees were still chilly to us, former residents of Southern California.
We were soon back into our old routines, however, hiking the trails of Haverford College and around the neighborhood, watching favorite TV shows in our favorite chairs, and heading over in the afternoon to spend some time with granddaughter Emma when she returned home from school.
Julie made a priority of getting an appointment to attain our senior rail passes in Philadelphia, something that the pandemic had for rendered seemingly impossible when we'd last been in town.
On our first Tuesday back in Pennsylvania, we rode the light rail to our appointment and emerged with passes that will allow us to travel free on Septa lines and get half price on Amtrak even in surrounding states.
Gina's office is only a mile or so from that Septa building, so she invited us to join her for lunch. That allowed us to see her beautifully decorated new office at Drexel University Dornslife School of Public Health, where she earned her new role as Associate Dean for Education.
Rather than using our new passes on the bus, we walked to her impressive building in Drexel's urban campus and then to nearby Landmark Americana, where we shared a delicious lunch.
With our new rail passes, we rode free the next day to Norristown, the endpoint of the high speed rail that passes near our house, with a goal to hike the nature trails around Norristown Farm Park.
While disappointed to not see any farm animals, the Farm Park was a pleasant change of pace.
There's a stocked trout stream that runs near the nature trails, but according to the fishermen, none were biting on this day, probably because it was too early in the season.
We were amused by a groundhog scurrying about on our way out of the park. He must have seen his shadow, because he was outside his hole for quite awhile, but the air still seemed chilly to us.
On our bus ride from the train station, we had entered the gates of a brick complex surrounded by rolling lawns. The words Pennsylvania State made us believe at first that it might be a college undergoing renovations, but then barbed wire atop high chain-link fences made it seem more like a prison. We determined it must be a mental institution, and confirmed that online.
The mental institution was on the other side of the park from the Farm Park entrance, so the bus driver could have dropped us off there 20 minutes before where he dropped us, but he wasn't exactly sure where to do that. Besides, the official entrance made a better first impression.
When we exited the park, we were next to the institution, calling to mind visions of some episode of "Psyche" or other shows where the heroes become mistakenly or maliciously checked in as mental patients.
Rather than wait 40 minutes for a bus, we decided to walk 35 minutes back to the train station.
No orderlies carrying straight jackets or guards tried to stop us as we walked through the grounds and out into urban Norristown.
Norristown is not a bucolic suburb as much as a small-scale inner city. We stopped at a deli for some chips and Diet Coke that served as lunch as we walked.
Short highspeed trains arrive and depart every few minutes, and we were soon on our way back past Villanova, Bryn Mawr and Haverford College to our home.
With Gina's family soon to leave for Budapest and the weather not warming, we decided at the last minute to book a cruise from New Jersey to the Bahamas, where we hopefully wouldn't need cold-weather jackets.
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