Observations between Chicago and Indianapolis

I had to produce an expert for deposition in Indianapolis last Friday. Opposing counsel and I agreed on a noon EDT start so we could drive down and back in a single day. I wasn't too worried about the deposition running long because the other attorney needed to get home for the start of Rosh Hashanah; actually, I'd been pleasantly surprised he'd agreed to the Friday date at all.

Indianapolis is "close" to Chicago, in national terms, but it's still a 200 mile drive through a lot of open country. It gave me plenty of time to think -- mapping out Monday's heavier-than-usual post, for example. Herewith some other observations:

• Some farm smells are wonderful -- new mown hay, for example. Cow manure, on the other hand... not so much;
• Gasoline prices in Chicago are hovering around the $2.70 per gallon mark, down from $3.30 or so just a short time back. In Indiana, though, prices were dramatically less: $2.12, $2.09, $2.15 -- the highest price I saw in Indiana was near the Illinois border ($2.39).
• An election is looming, the Republicans are in danger of losing control of Congress -- and gas prices are all of a sudden falling. Coincidence -- or not?
• Gas prices are lower in Indiana, a red state, than in Illinois, a blue state. Coincidence -- or not?
• I parked my car a block from the Indiana Capitol and walked a block and a half to the Class A skyscraper where the court reporter maintains its offices. I walked through the open lobby without challenge -- no ID check -- no building pass.
• When I went to the court reporter's office, I inquired where I could freshen up after my journey. The very nice lady who was showing me around anticipated my next question: "No," she told me, "you don't need a key." No key to use the washroom!
• Later in the proceedings, I again needed a short break. I'd observed a side door from the hallway -- and sure enough, when I went out the door I was in the hallway where I wanted to be -- and I returned by the same route. The door was not locked!
  
• I'd apparently traveled 200 miles and gone back in time.
• This is such a big country -- I was safely within the Midwest at either end of my little jaunt Friday and yet that same distance would, for instance, take me three-quarters of the way down the entire length of Israel. Madison Street, the dividing line between north and south in the City of Chicago, would run more than two miles beyond the width of Israel at it's narrowest, pre-1967 middle. (I looked it up after I got home.)
  

The deposition concluded, and it was time to go visit Older Daughter. She lives in Indianapolis now. But more on that later. I'm actually going to try and get some work done first....