Because I again woke up very early that morning I got to say goodbye to Ashley. She was very amused with me because apparently when her boyfriend Omar got home I was already asleep, but I woke up long enough to say hi and "Thanks again for letting me sleep on your floor." and then promptly feel right back to sleep. She said that was when she decided she really liked me. I liked Ashley too. She was very cool.
I woke up early and went out to a picnic table outside to make Ashley and Omar a tour poster. I do have a picture of the tour poster even though my camera was out of batteries, because I somehow had the disposable camera I had bought in Webster NY in my backpack, so that is one there with the Anna pics and will be developed..... eventually.
Ria got up shortly after I finished drawing. She ended up getting on the computer and doing work stuff (because digital editors for newspapers can post from anywhere.) Since I was already up and moving I decided to go hunting down some of the things we needed. I went to triple A store in Columbus and went a little crazy with maps and tourbooks. I got pretty much every map we needed for the trip, and two tourbooks that included Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas, and some other states. They were very nice, and I agree with Dave's assessment that triple A is one of the few buracracies that actually works the way it is supposed to. I am a fan of Triple A.
We then made a small detour so I could get yarn and good camera batteries. We had decided that our hosts shoudl recieve gifts of some sort. Dave got Max Brenner's Chocolate. Ashley and Omar got Hershey bears. We had wine for Meg, and I decided that Dan and Jacob were going to get scarves. I had been knitting a rather wide scarf and had run out of yarn in the first skein, so since Columbus is a land of many malls, we went to one with a yarn store.
There we met the knitting angel, one of many wonderful and helpful people we were to meet along the way. She did not have the yarn that I was looking for. She did however help me tie off the yarn I had been working on and sold me yarn for Dan's scarf so I could get started. She also gave me her card and told me to call if I have any problems. She apparently teaches knitting regularly. So happily with yarn in a bag we started off for Michigan with Ria driving.
If you are driving from Columbus to Ann Arbor you will see signs for the town of Waldo, Ohio. This led me with my new piles of maps to look up and go "Where's waldo?" both Ria and I to burst out laughing and then me to say "No really... I want to see if I can find it" and then find it on the map.
I drove into Ann Arbor, because Ann arbor did not seem big city to me, and Ria had done her driving. We found Meg's happy home, and were thrilled to meet her and Dre, and of course the rambunctious O'Malley. Again I did not take immediate pictures, because hugging and talking took precendence. I will yank some from Ria the paparazzi, who took MANY. O'Malley is slightly nuts, but a cute slightly nuts of a dog. Meg had a Mohawk, and looked contented in her home. We decided we had enough driving so we went for a walk so she could show off her town. Apparently Ann Arbor is famous for it's fairy doors
It had some very nice street art including this mural we passed along the way.
Meg took us to the bookstore of a close friend of a Hartiwck (our college) professor proving once again it is a small world. We also passed through the bar Meg works at, and a number of cute little shops before going on a tour of the University of Michigan. Meg seems very proud of her school, and happy there. 
Those on the shelves... Those are dissertations. Meg's is in progress. It's on alchemy. She's going to be a history professor. She will be moving shortly because as a professor you go where teh job is. However there are not a lot of postings yet, which is probably good because she is still working hard in dissertation land. After the Michigan tour we went back through the shops and got ice cream at this great local place. At this point Angela joined us. 
Meanwhile back at the house Dre was cooking up a storm. We brought back beer, and dinner was amazing, and healthy vegetarian too. After dinner Ria treated us all to a showing of the movie Wanted. After the movie Ang went home, Dre and Meg both got massages from Ria, and during Meg's massage I read American Gods aloud, because it's good to have stories before bed. We again stayed up fairly late talking, but it was definitely worth it. I think all three of us resolved either some old feelings thoughts or something. And I was glad.
I don't remember if it was this day or the next, but we looked through old Hartwick photos that Meg has. The scrapbook was beautiful and sent waves of nostalgia through me, leading to reminiscents on a number of stories. It also made me realize how few photos I have from those times, and it made me greatful that even though I never get the just meeting someone shot, I did make sure to get pictures of people this trip so I will have them.
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