Friday, October 21, 2005
Karyle and I got up early to finish packing, strip the beds, haul out the trash and load up the car before checking out of the Fairfield timeshare. It had rained earlier in the morning- the first substantial rain in over a month for Nashville. By the time we got loaded up and checked out (0830 hours), the sun was breaking through. .I drove Karyle to the Nashville Airport, only about 15 minutes from the unit. We saw an accident in the other direction on the narrow highway we were on. Traffic was backed up for miles as the lanes are all under construction. I’m glad the accident wasn’t in the direction we were traveling.
It seems like this same stretch has been under construction for the last two years or more. As a matter of fact, it seems like all freeways in the Nashville area are under construction right now. I got on I-40 and headed towards downtown Nashville and caught I-65 there and headed north. Indianapolis was my destination for the night. Once I got past downtown, traffic moved pretty good. I took a fair picture of downtown Nashville and the Coliseum (where the Titans play) while I was driving.
The colors were just gorgeous out today as I drove through Tennessee and Kentucky. I took a number of photos as I was driving. When I left Nashville we were on CDT. When I got into Kentucky, they were on EDT. There are three lanes both ways on I-65 south of Louisville, except where there is construction. I was driving in the construction zone area, and all of a sudden traffic came to a screeching halt.
We moved along at 10mph for about 15 minutes before we came upon an old beat up truck broken down in the right lane. There was a Highway Patrol car behind it blocking the lane. But because we were in a construction zone, there was nowhere to push the truck. There were two narrow lanes with concrete traffic dividers on the left, and metal rail guards on the right. I suppose they were awaiting a tow truck. But what a mess!
I arrived in Louisville around 1300 hours EDT and got off the freeway near where I stayed on the way down. I knew of a cheap gas station and filled up there at $2.41/gallon. Parked near the gas station were Louisville Engine 1 and Haz Mat 1. They were picking up food at a local restaurant. I got photos of both of them (the pump side of Engine 1 this time).
Just as I was going about to visit a few suburban stations, it became very overcast and looked like rain. I decided to continue up I-65 to Indy. It rained slightly a couple times on the way up and as I approached I-465, it started to raining harder. I headed up I-465W to the motel in Speedway, IN. I thought it was 1500 hours when I checked in. It was only 1400 hours, as I forgot that Indiana did not go on daylight savings time. It sounds like they will be going on daylight savings time next year, however.
I saw Speedway engine responding on a call shortly after my arrival. I lost them in traffic. It was pretty dark here at the time. I don’t think I would have been able to get a very good photo.
Ron Pearson’s brother, Jim, called me to tell me that Ron was in surgery from noon until 8:00 pm yesterday. They put Ron back together again and he will be recovering in the hospital for seven to ten days. He is currently in intensive care, and can’t have visitors. I will try to keep everybody posted.
For those of you that didn’t know it, Chicago had a 5-11 Alarm fire + one special a couple of nights ago. Last night, Steve Reddick posted some photos of it on the firepics.com website. I have a run-down of the alarm times and who responded that I’ll include here as a Word for Windows attachment.
Tomorrow, I will travel to the Windy City to visit with Paige and Donna Van Vorst. I head for home on Sunday morning.
That’s all for today.
