Route 66-based story
written by OC,SH’s founder, inspired by his September 2009 Route 66 road trip

CHAPTER 57: PLANNING TO LEAVE DWIGHT

“So, when are we leaving Dwight?” the youngest bluntly asked his older brother. The 2 brothers & their cousin were standing in the kitchen of their cousin’s home; the younger brother was yawning & stretching, trying to come to life.

“Well, I don’t know,” the eldest replied. “Have we spent enough time here?”

The youngest shrugged & smiled. “I’m just along for the ride.”

“You are welcome to stay with us as long as you want,” their cousin interjected. “Or not, too. It’s been great seeing you both, but I can tell you both are eager to get your Route 66 road trip started.”

“Yeah, I am,” the eldest nodded.

“Me, too,” offered the youngest.

“Well,” contemplated the eldest & turning to his brother, “do you want to leave yet today? We could drive down to Pontiac, visit the museums this afternoon & stay somewhere there so you could do broadcasts, if you want.”

“That’s about a half hour south of here,” their cousin said. “Doesn’t quite make sense for you to stay overnight there….”

“I know,” the eldest replied, turning to his cousin, “but keep in mind it’ll probably take us over an hour to get to Pontiac since we’ll want to make some stops, including the gas station in Odell.”

The cousin nodded, while the youngest brother spoke: “Or, we could stay here 1 more night & then leave early in the morning?”

“Yep, we could,” the eldest agreed.

“If you stay here tonight yet, we could accompany you to Pontiac & visit the museums with you, before you head further south,” the cousin suggested.

“Where are you saying we’ll be?” queried the cousin’s wife, who’d just entered the kitchen after running her morning errands.

The 3 men turned towards her, while the cousin spoke: “Well, they’re debating about when to leave Dwight & I suggested that, instead of them staying overnight in Pontiac tonight, they should stay here with us today, then we’ll go down to Pontiac with them to visit the museums. Then, we’ll come back home while they continue south.”

“Oh, I kinda like that idea,” the cousin’s wife said, putting down the bags on the kitchen counter.

“Well, actually,” the youngest thought out loud, “I’ll probably do a broadcast from 1 of the museums in Pontiac, so we may stay there longer anyway.”

“Ah,” the cousin said.

“We could go today, too,” the cousin’s wife suggested.

“Nah,” the eldest said. “I think we’ll just stay here today & leave tomorrow. If we leave early enough, we’ll have time to get to Springfield Illinois for the night.”

“Sounds good to me,” agreed the youngest. “I’ll contact Kyle to let him know I can do broadcasts tomorrow.”

“Cool,” the eldest said, thinking about a rough schedule. “If we leave here, say, around 8a, we could be to Pontiac by 9:30. Visit the 2 museums between then & 11:30, maybe grab a bite to eat, then you could do a broadcast, say 2 hours. Then, we could leave for Springfield around 2:30p or so & get there about dinner time. Then, we can spend some time tomorrow evening mapping out a rough timeframe for the rest of the trip so you can give Kyle a tentative heads up. I know we didn’t want to map out any timeframes, but it might be a good idea to get a general idea. We have the EZ guidebook &, after tomorrow, we’ll have a better idea of how timing may go….”

“Yeah, I like it,” replied the youngest. “I’ll text Kyle now.”

“I like it, too,” said the cousin. “Should be a fun day.”

“Indeed,” agreed the cousin’s wife. “That way, we can take care of some chores here today…”

Her voice trailed off while she gave her husband a playful grin.

“Maybe we could go ahead & go today?” the cousin jokingly pleaded with his 2 cousins.

“Nope,” grinned the eldest, “we leave tomorrow!”

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