The Drive West

 A few years ago, I documented a solo drive on Interstate 80 from Des Moines to eastern Pennsylvania, on a road trip to Philadelphia.  This week, I did the opposite, a solo drive from Philadelphia to Des Moines.  I intentionally took a different route back via a few different interstate roads -- here's my summary:

* In Pennsylvania, Interstate 76 doubles as the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  The eastern half is mundane until your reach Harrisburg, where the terrain takes on the Allegheny Mountain range to the border.  You actually go through three fairly long tunnels carved out of those mountains.

* Who knew that as I-76 morphs into Interstate 70, you drive through just a few miles of West Virginia before entering Ohio?  I didn't.

* I-70 through Ohio isn't memorable, not even going through Columbus -- it's not like you see their famous zoo, or any of Ohio State University.  The closest thing to interesting is near Dayton, where you come quite close to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which you can't see, either.

* The interstate through Indiana is equally boring, except for Indianapolis.  It turns out the quickest way to get from I-70 to Interstate 74 is by taking the road that goes through Speedway, Indiana, right by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  As you might expect, seemingly every business around it uses the word 'Speedway' in it.

* Once in Illinois and back on Central Time, the super-flat drive quickly goes through a bunch of college towns: Champaign (University of Illinois), Normal (Illinois State), and Peoria (Bradley).  Seems like a bunch of places not to stop right now, as college kids become potential COVID-19 super-spreaders.

* Just west of the Quad Cities, it's time to make a final stop at the I-80 Truck Stop near Walcott, the largest truck stop in the country.  It's a tourist attraction.  It even has a trucking museum....I'm just saying.

A Pod Would Be Good For You

Now that it's August 2020, it's time to take a vacation from writing about topics related to pandemics and politics.  I'm going to write about another 'p' word instead -- podcasts.

With a lack of original content currently being made by TV and movie studios, podcasts have become a go-to for original digital content.  There are so many podcasts available now, most of them free to hear as long as you don't mind skipping over some advertising.

Podcasts might be about sports, music, comedy, politics, economics, and so forth.  I've listened to podcasts in all of those genres, but I've currently settled on a couple that I try to listen to weekly, each about 50 minutes long.

It isn't always easy to keep up with the content, especially since I don't have a commute to work. I try to listen on bike rides or at the edges of the day.  The thing is, it doesn't take 50 minutes to listen to them, since you can make the audio run at 1.5x or 2x speed.

My #1 podcast, one that I've listened to for years, is still Freakonomics Radio.  Like the best selling books that preceded it, the author / host uses economic theory to explore the hidden side of topics.  It surely won't appeal to everyone, but for me it's very informative, not to mention intellectually stimulating.

It remains to be seen if the podcasting boom is temporary or permanent.  It's become a very crowded space.  There's only so much advertising to go around in a bad economy, and eventually the original TV and motion picture apparatus will return.