By the time I left Pittsburgh, I was actually looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, but I was still somewhat loath to take I-70.  Leaving the motel, I stayed on U.S. 22 West-bound out of Pennsylvania and into Ohio, skipping between Weirton and Steubenville.  

     Climbing out of the Ohio Valley, I saw this:

     to which I asked, rhetorically I guess: "Really?  'Lovers Lane'?"  But of course I had to take a photo.

     Some minor road construction along 22 did introduce me to a novel invention: the portable stop light!  Instead of full-time flag men (or women) it seems Ohio prefers solar-powered equipment

     I did pick up the Interstate somewhere East of Zanesville, just in time to drive under a line of thunderstorms.  Out the back of the cloudline, I paused at a rest stop and looked back to see the mass that had just rained down on my parade:

     It wasn't until I was processing this (composite photo) that I noticed the old motor coach that I had just got in-frame:

                                            What a way to go!

     After that I took the bypass around Columbus before setting back out on the two-lanes North-west of that city.  I didn't stop often - though abandoning the Interstate, I was mostly interested in NOT driving any more - save for a couple shots of the afternoon countryside:

    Though this was the end of the "official" road trip,  I still had in mind a furtherance of following Mr. Dreiser.  To that end, I began the "post trip jaunts:"  first to Warsaw, IN, and later to Terre Haute, two of several small cities where the Dreiser family lived for most of the years from Theodore's birth until he lighted out for Chicago at 16 to take a chance at making a living.  While the family had spent a brief period in Chicago before moving to Warsaw, and would again following Theodore's returning there, it was Indiana that he would make the sojourn to in 1915 - it was his childhood, and his Mother in Indiana, that he was recollecting.

     As of this writing, I have yet to get past Terre Haute.  Sullivan and Evansville are farther South, and "one of these days -- "  Well, they're on that ever-growing list, anyway, as one of these days I want to get down to Clifty Falls, too, but that needs planning. Warsaw?  Warsaw's easy - it's only an hour-plus by car, and can be done fairly easily.  Clifty Falls is more like 3 hours.

So, "one of these days!"