Rain in Indiana

Finally left Ohio and reached Indiana. I've traveled over 1000 miles, but not that far westward. In fact, I think I'm only a little more than 1/4 of the way to San Francisco. The landscape has been gradually flattening out ever since I left West Virginia. I entered Indiana near the highest point in the state, 1257'. The state population is pretty low, too, only about 6 million. The weather forecasts have been threatening thunderstorms for days, but the first rain I've seen landed about 5 minutes before I arrived at my motel in Indianapolis, about 3:30 pm. How appropriate to be here on the day of the Indy 500. Many of the drivers in the city seem to think they are competing in the Indy. But the Indy was rain-delayed, as was the French Open. I caught the tail-end of a reshowing of the 2006 French Open final between Federer and Nadal. Two hours later the sun came out, and I went to dinner. It rained again while I was eating, but stopped before I finished.

At a rest stop in Ohio, a sign gave distances to other cities. It was only 70 miles to the Indiana "boarder." But I didn't see him along the way. By the way, the rest stops and state information centers on the interstates across country are terrific. Only in California are they infrequent and tacky. I guess California doesn't think it needs to boost tourism. The greeter at the Indiana Welcome Center is rooting for Danica.

And Indiana now has Daylight Savings Time. They passed it in 2005 after only 40 years of debate.