Windmills to Toll Booths

Today, we could really see that we were leaving "the South" and heading to new areas. Last night, we sat outside (without jackets) and enjoyed our dinner. This morning, we woke up to cooler weather and started heading north. (on the road by 7:10 again!) As we moved north through Indiana, we couldn't get over the steady wind trying to push our car off the road. Then, we started seeing windmills - 100's and 100's of them. They really made you feel that you were in the 21st century - harnessing the wind for power. But, then we were getting closer to Chicago. Our welcome to the outskirts of Chicago were the toll booths - seemed like hundreds. What amazed us was that the cash

booth (yes only 1 per exit) that took cash. You literally had to hand feed coins, one by one, into a slot. What happened to the old basket where you threw a hand full of change and it would sort through them? But, we made it through - to the tune of about $14! Driving through Chicago really had us thinking about why people live where they live. A book by Rand McNally summed it up very well. Normally, you live where you live for 1 of 3 reasons: you grew up there and that's where your family is, you followed a job there, or that is where you decided that you wanted to be. In Barbara and my case, we settled in WNC after a lot of research. It is where we decided we wanted to live and we have been very fortunate to find a place that fits us so well. Well, it is almost 6 AM and time for breakfast. Should be interesting to see what today brings!