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Travel Central on GraciousJaneMarie Jill's Teach Abroad Experience Jill's Study Abroad Adventures Using Airline Miles and Hotel Points
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March 31, 2008: All scheduled flights from Oklahoma City to Chicago's O'Hare Airport were cancelled due to weather. Cary and I decided to drive there in order to make our connection to Shanghai, but Hertz would not do a one way rental and actually told me to call Avis. With one name, Cary's, on the Avis rental contract, we hit the trail about 1:45 p.m. "Leaving Cherokee Nation" is not a sign you expect to see on your way to China. While Oklahoma signs say, "Do Not Drive Into Smoke" and Texas signs say, "Drive Friendly," Missouri signs say, "Drive Smart." In no time (hours later), we passed the Missouri exit for the home of our Beloved Contributing Editor, Bonnie. You can see the beauty of the land even in the brown of an early Ozark spring. Sadly, Lady Bird Johnson's campaign to get rid of billboards wasn't effective. Those things are everywhere, and the cost to get rid of them and of putting power lines underground would be in the billions. But think of the views. Think of missing Branson-based comedian Yakov Smirnoff's exciting billboard with many sparkly, whirly things. We did not stop at the George Washington Carver Monument or Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, but often had to slow down for the thousands of truckers who were beginning a one day work stoppage to protest the high costs of diesel fuel and insurance. We paused at "Famous for Clean Restrooms" Redmon's for free candy. (One, and one only, piece of taffy - I hate taffy.) They do not take travelers' checks for gas or anything else as another customer discovered to his sorrow. Sometime in the dark of an Illinois night, we had dealings with a highway named for former US Senator Paul Simon - we could have driven over it or simply crossed it on our journey. It is memorable because the sign, like the senator, sported a bow tie. Burger King has the best fast food milkshakes, especially when they add extra chocolate. They fueled us (Cary) for the rest of the drive, which ended with a Chicago airport expressway that demanded three sets of exact change tolls. At 3 something in the morning, only the middle one was manned. The other two ate our all US coins and then took a strong dislike to the quarter-sized Chinese yuan I was forced to feed it. Any day now, I expect to hear from someone in authority with a ticket in hand. Shortly thereafter, Avis got its Dodge Charger back, and the shuttle took us to the O'Hare Hilton - slightly over 800 miles from home. Cary got two free bottles of water, an upgrade to a very nice junior suite and 1000 Hilton points for using Hilton points to stay there??? Three hours later, we were up, dressed and ready for TSA security. Our flights were long - 14 hours to Shanghai over the North Pole, Russian airspace and the Gobi Desert, and 12 hours from Shanghai back to O'Hare Airport over Japan's Mt. Fuji - were long and boring. We feared the April American Airlines plane inspections would strand us in Chicago on the way home, but we were merely delayed by several hours. Whew. coming soon:
Rental car note: Hertz let us down while Avis came through, but we did not like the Dodge Charger from Avis - the seats were too low and the mirrors huge and obtrusive. Next time, we'll call another company. July 7, 2008: Jill has been home for several days now, and we in the middle of extensive preparations for her cross country move to grad school, but the Olympics are coming and souvenirs are everywhere. China is part of our past and everyone's future.
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Citizens of Dongyang, China, celebrate spring with eggs boiled in boys' urine.
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