While going from one job to the next… rushing from one place to another…
trying to fit in everything I had to do… making sure I would get to see my friends
before heading over to Lillstreet for the Holiday Opening Party… it was great
to squeeze in a little bit of quiet time… even if it was just for five minutes!!!

Okay, so I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that I don’t get a lot of sunsets.
Generally, I find that all of the buildings, posts & wires kind of get in the way
of a good sunset photo. Well, the crazy weather coming off of Hurricane Sandy
gave us a really incredible sunset tonight. The colors were so incredible…
especially the “layered” effects. So I had to make an exception… and found that
with a little extra effort, you can get a pretty good sunset picture from the
third floor of Lillstreet Art Center. Who knew?!

So my car was all packed up… jam packed. And I was headed north.
It’s always such a relief to finally be driving. The rush, the hassle, the panic of
prepping, packing & loading done. At that point, it is what it is. Now it’s just time
for an enjoyable road trip. And I love road trips. Beautiful scenery, good snacks
and great music to sing along with the entire way! And let me just say…
I sound pitch-perfect incredible when I’m singing in the car by myself.

As I was leaving Chicago, it was dark, gray and rainy! I had kind of hunkered down
and mentally prepared myself for a long gloomy drive. But when I got up to the Madison
area, the gloom ended and blue skies began. And the rest of my drive was beautiful!!!

The Fall colors were stunning as I was driving past them. You know I had to snap a picture!
Who needs to stop?… or slow down?… these were taken through the car window at 70mph.

And you know you’re in Wisconsin when you pull up behind this at a stop light…

As my drive continued and started to feel a little too long, I was treated to a beautiful sunset.
I had hope to get to Amy’s while the sun was still up… looks like that’s not going to happen.

By the time I finally got to the Rhinelander exit, the sun had gone down – and was casting
a beautiful glow across the sky. So moody with reflections across the lakes.

When I got to Pigeon Road, Amy had just gotten home from work and had bought take-out
Chinese food for dinner. My favorite part was the fortune in my fortune cookie.
One of the funniest I’ve ever gotten!!! Gotta save this one…

I’ve been “trapped” inside all day firing my kiln. It’s going well…
cones are dropping fast and I just started introducing the soda mixture. Then I
finally looked out the window and saw that there’s fun stuff going on outside too!!!

My next door neighbor Melanie sent me a picture of the sunrise she saw this morning
over Glen Lake, Michigan. Apparently, she was on the “other side” of gloomy!
Because this sunrise is stunning!!! And I’d rather be there…

It was a warm “sweltering” holiday weekend… so it felt great this morning to get out
for the morning ride and NOT be sweating before I started pedaling!!!
And so nice to see the lifeguard chairs back on the lakefront. A nice harbinger of summer…

And then the sun broke through…

As I was getting ready to head home, I stopped for gas and a grape pop… my favorite!
When I turned around there was an incredible sunset coming together on the airport’s horizon.
There was a huge storm coming through – and it looked like it was going to open up any
minute! Kinda looks like a scene out of “Wizard Of Oz”… before it turns to full color!

Well, it was a very long day… with a LOT of pottery!!! And while I was starting to wear down,
and needed a good night’s sleep in the worst way, we went out for dinner and were saluted
with this stunning sunset as a beautiful end to our day. Almost…

With a little after-dinner, second-wind we decided to head back to Bob Briscoe’s place
for a little Post Party! Every year he hosts a little get-together for the artists & friends.
It was great to go back, relax around the campfire and chat with a few more potters.
And then finally to bed… for some much-needed shut-eye before Tour Day Two!

Okay, so by now you’ve probably figured out that I like sunrises.
I may have taken a few photos of them over the years?! But I do like sunsets as well.
I just don’t get to see that many of the without a lot of “stuff” in front of it?! Living
in the city, it seems like there’s always a skyscraper or something in the way.

So I was excited tonight when the sunset exploded across the sky…
and there were only a few telephone wires in the way!

Well, the cable guy FINALLY came by and fixed my cable!
So I got a little bit of a late start headed off to The Hilly Hundred today.
My friend Chris was about an hour ahead of me… so I was anxious to make it
down there to check-in, set up our sleeping space, shop the Expo Tent and relax!

The ride was pretty uneventful through northern Indiana. Then in the center of
the state there’s great windmill farm… with a nice Dairy Queen in the middle!
As I got closer to Indianapolis, the storm clouds started to build. And by the time
I was getting off the beltway, and heading south on Route 37… the storm was brewing!

Luckily, the storm stayed in the Indianapolis area… and as I drove further south,
the storm seemed to dissipate and was replaced by beautiful clouds! A great sign
of the beautiful weather to come for the weekend bike ride!