Chi-Town, Indy, and a few cornfields in between...

Friends,

As I mentioned in my last blog, today I spent the morning on the south side of Chicago, one of my favorite cities! I caught a few glimpses of the skyline over the lake driving in from the Indiana side and though it was pretty overcast today, it was still quite a sight to see! I only wish my view was as good as the picture I attached!! This afternoon was spent mainly in the Indiana countryside, and I'm thankful I didn't fall asleep behind the wheel tonight driving to my hotel in Indy! I can't stand driving in this state. The roads are ok, but there ain't much to look at...

It's funny, I keep visiting cities in which my brother used to live (Columbus, Indy), yet he now lives in Cali, so it's kind of ironic that my job is taking me through his old stomping grounds!

That's all for now, counting down the days til my vacation in the Carolinas!

On the road,

Matt

Spring Football

All,

After driving 1500+ miles last week in Michigan, I was ready for a break this weekend! Luckily, I was able to spend the weekend in Columbus, and watch the Ohio State spring game on Saturday. It was a typical Big Ten afternoon - cold and rainy - and these conditions made for some great football. It was cool getting to be in town for this, and I'm lucky it timed out with my hectic travel schedule.

Tonight I write from my hotel in Valparaiso, IN, about an hour East of Chicago. I got in fairly late, so I was unable to drive into the city tonight, unfortunately. Tomorrow, I'll spend much of the day working in Chicago, before ending up in Indianapolis tomorrow night. It's funny, though, after spending all day in inner-city Detroit on Friday, tomorrow will be a walk in the park!

Wednesday night I'm in Cincinnati, and Thursday after work, I'll drive to Louisville and spend the night with my parents. Beginning Friday, I'll be on vacation for a little over a week, time off I plan to enjoy in the Carolinas.

Hopefully you're all doing well!

On the road,

Matt

Back in God's Country

Friends,

I'm back in Ohio now, thankfully. I've had about enough of the crappy roads and accents I encountered the last few days in Michigan. In all seriousness, I feel lucky that I made it south of the border without a flat tire!

I'm staying the night just south of Toledo, in the town of Rossford. I'll spend tomorrow in the Toledo area, with stops in the Detroit metro area, as well. When I wrap up tomorrow afternoon, I'll drive down to Columbus, where I'll spend the weekend with friends watching the Ohio State spring game at the 'Shoe. I'm excited about this and hoping for nice weather Saturday.

Next week I'll be in Indiana, beginning in Fort Wayne Monday, Valpo/Chicago Tuesday, Indy Wednesday and finishing up in Cincy/SE IN Thursday. I'll stay with my parents in Louisville Thursday night, before heading to the Carolinas for a wonderful week off beginning Friday.

Hopefully you're all doing well. Thanks for reading!

On the road,

Matt

Northern Michigan and a Woody Hayes sighting. Not bad for a Wednesday.

All,



Let me first clarify the picture in my last post - it's a picture of Terrelle Pryor, the Ohio State recruit who recently chose the buckeyes over Michigan. I felt compelled to throw a picture up because I was in the heart of Go Blue country, and it felt good. I'm now in Spartan country, crashing for the night in Lansing, MI, after spending the day in the northern Michigan, in towns like Mio, Cadillac, Houghton Lake and Grayling (see picture attached).
Today was an exciting day, I must say, because I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Woody Hayes, or at least his long-lost twin. I kid you not, the sales rep I worked with all day today looked exactly like Woody. I wanted to take a picture of him to prove it to you all, but that would've just been weird, so I ask you to simply take my word for it. He never died, he just moved to Northern Michigan to get away from the limelight (noone would suspect a thing!) and he decided to pass the time by selling hardware. Conspiracy theory, I know, but you just had to see this guy and you'd agree with me...

Anyway, I'm in Lansing tomorrow, Toledo/Detroit Friday, and this weekend's a little bit up in the air. Either I'll spend the weekend in Columbus for the OSU spring game, or head to Indiana, where I'll be next week, and explore a little bit and maybe drive over to Chicago. We'll see.

All for now. Hope you're all well.

On the road,
Matt

In Detroit...I know you're jealous

All,





As much as I want to tease Detroit and/or the whole state of Michigan, it's hard to argue how beautiful it is here! My hotel is in Northville, which is west of the city, thankfully (because I forgot my kevlar at home!). I'm near the towns of Novi and Farmington Hills, which is where I'll probably spend most of my day working tomorrow. Most of the week will be spent in "the state up north," as I head to Cadillac tomorrow night and Lansing on Wednesday, before wrapping the week up in the border towns around Detroit and Toledo. Once again, I'm fortunate to be in a cold part of the country in April, rather than the dead of winter!





This past weekend was spent in Columbus where I got to hang out with my buddy Jim, whom I grew up with in Centerville. It was good to get out of hotels for a couple days and not eat out for every meal! It was a typical cold, dreary weekend in Ohio, but it was fun, nonetheless.

Thank you for your posts and thoughts. Your support has helped make this crazy year fly by!

On the road,

Matt

Home Sweet Home

Friends,

My travels have brought me back to my roots of Dayton, OH. I've been mostly north of the city, in small towns such as West Milton, New Carlisle, and more amish communities in Eastern Indiana, just outside of Richmond. My day ended today in downtown Dayton, which was nice. It really makes me appreciate how small the world is that I would be back here in my hometown doing what I do. There is a ton of construction going on up here as they're finally solving the problem at the interchange of I-70 and I-75 (malfunction junction), but because of that, traffic was a little crazy. Besides that, everything looked pretty much the same as the last time I'd seen it. I didn't get down to Centerville at all, unfortunately, as there just wasn't time in the day to get down. Hopefully in a two weeks when I'm in Cincinnati, I'll be able to spend some time in "Warm and Cheerful!" I'll be north of town again tomorrow, in the towns Bellefontaine, Minster, and Botkins, all places I recognize from the old days of summer baseball back in Centerville.

This weekend I'll head to Columbus, then it's off to Michigan Sunday afternoon.

Thanks for reading. You all are in my thoughts.

On the road,

Matt

Pittsburgh, C-town, and a little bit in between

Friends,

I know, I know, it's been awhile since my last post. I'm sorry, I've been pretty busy lately. As I recall, my last comments were about amish country in Pennsylvania. Well it's funny, today I spent much of the day in Ohio's amish country. Apparently, these guys really like our tools!! It was downright hot today in central Ohio-78 degrees this afternoon! For an area that's been pounded with snow this winter, people were pretty much dancing in the streets.

Friday, I was back in Pittsburgh for the day. I feel like I've been doing circles around the same places lately, as I was in the Southern tier of New York during the middle of last week, the same area I was in three weeks ago. I'll be in Ohio all week this week, though, so I'm looking forward to it. My time in Ohio kicked off this past weekend in Cleveland, as I spent a few days with Stephanie, the girl I've been seeing the last couple months, who is originally from the Cleveland area. We had a great time and it was nice to be in a home and not hotels...for a couple days, anyway!

I'm staying in St. Clairsville, OH tonight (SE Ohio) and I'll be working my way towards DAYTON tomorrow (insert fist pump). Needless to say, I'm pretty excited to be back in the hometown again. I'll be in "the 937" Thursday and Friday, before spending the weekend in Columbus. Next week will be spent in Michigan, with things kicking off in Tip O' Thumb, MI on Monday. Yes, I'll be in the thumb of Michigan...how funny is that? I'll have some nice comments about that, I'm sure!

Hope you're all well and as always, thanks for reading!

On the road,

Matt