Chicago, IL to some rest stop in PA
~900 miles
~22 hours driving

The Long March
I left Chicago at about 9:30, later than I was intending. Said bye to Dave, Jen, and Amber, and headed south through Chicago on the interstate. The traffic was pretty crappy all the way to Indiana, then cleared up abruptly. I headed toward Fort Wayne then south to the Indiana state highpoint--Hoosier Hill. It's just a small hillock on some farm, but the farmer has a nice signed pull-off for it and a short trail. The "summit" is in a small patch of forest and features a picnic table, a register mailbox, and a small sign. A pleasant place, if not a monumental climb...

From there it was east across the border into Ohio to Bellefontaine. Here I found the Ohio state highpoint, Campbell Hill, which is a radio antenna site on top of a reasonable hill within the campus of a community college. I parked by the cosmetology building and walked up. I had arrived about an hour after the campus usually closes (it is fenced in and the gates are usually closed at 5) but there was some special event going on that kept one of the gates open.

This was my 29th state highpoint, which puts me finally on track for my stated goal of having as many state highpoints completed as I am years old through age 50. Now the question is, can I keep this up for the next 21 years?

From Bellefontaine, I drove to Columbus and tried to call my Uncle Bob, who was going to meet me somewhere in PA for a bite to eat. Unfortunately he was working in the steel plant and couldn't get cell service. I left a message but he didn't get it until I was well past Pittsburgh. As he was the only reason I had to stop driving, and because I seemed to be oddly awake, I just kept going. I drove more or less all night and into the following morning. I took a brief nap for about an hour at around midnight, and a longer nap from 3:30 to 7:00, but otherwise drove straight through to Middletown, CT.