AllGuinness

The trip to Chicago was a mixed success. Actually, it was better than just mixed, though there were a couple of things that frustrated me on the trip.

Wife and I left out from Sacramento around noon on a Thursday. Driving at a good pace, we made Salt Lake City that evening. We were up early the next morning and drove for fourteen hours to Omaha. Get a map. It is really quite far. After that we had just four or five hours to go to Galesburg Illinois, where we were entertained by M&Em. They have a delightful house in a cute college town, but the area right outside of the town is corn. If you like corn, that is the place to be. Yeah, e85, I get it, now shut up. People driving east drive slightly slower than the speed limit, and are only in the left lane to pass. Very courteous drivers. There didn’t seem to be much urgency in their driving, and I think this can be attributed to the fact that they were headed east. Anyhow, the next morning we were once again on the road for the short ride into Chicago.

Hey Chicago. What the fuck is up with your freeway signs? Pull your head out of your ass and reevaluate your system. Seriously, it makes little sense at best.

Chicago is, of course, a town best traversed by mass transportation. I had the car, and I don’t know the town, so I was not using mass transportation, and thus my chagrin. There was taste of Chicago, and the fireworks to contend with, plus it was a very busy travel weekend, and these things conspired to make all of downtown a clusterfuck of prodigious proportions. Still, we got in ok, and checked into the Palmer House Hilton. The lobby and common areas were all nice, but the rooms were a little on the small side for what you paid. This is really just how it is in older hotels, but knocking a little off the thirty-eight dollars a day to park would have been nice. Whatever.

The wedding and reception were really nice and everyone had a good time. The food was Lebanese, and quite tasty. I think it would be quite easy for me to live on all middle eastern food. Tasty stuff.

Wife and I are early to bedders and kinda loserish, so we went right to bed in the evenings when most of the crew was congregating and having fun. I don’t seem to have the energy anymore.

On the third we went to the Field Museum after having breakfast at a little joint around the corner from the hotel. The Field is all natural history, and is pretty good. A couple of the exhibits are a little too aimed at children, but overall it was pretty interesting. Speaking of children, Tojo, the Commander, and I all found some things really funny about the presentations (please touch these clams; this bone is for you to touch), but we are silly.

Giant Beaver.

We were in the museum quite late, and when we got out we began to realize how screwed we really were. We started driving in really heavy traffic, and noticed that a lot of the streets were closed because of the fireworks show. Why they had to close streets for this remains a mystery. The result was that there was a block of streets that were closed, and no way to penetrate it. Wouldn’t you know it, our hotel was inside the block of streets. This was a hassle. We were tired and wanted to rest. sadly there was nothing to be done about it, so it was time to go off on a mission from god. Happily, I happened to have just such a mission arranged. We drove around trying to figure out where we were in this strange town for a while until we finally came to Superdawg. I add it to my list of things to see in Chicago. Sears Tower is played out, but Superdawg is the best. It basically saved the evening. We went there twice. We left to find another hot dog place that was closed, so we came back. Car-hops, delicious dogs, I even got the t-shirt. It saved what would have been a lost night.

The next morning we went to the Art Institute of Chicago. They got lots of good arts there. We saw the American Gothic, and that one with the Diner and a Phillies ad on top. Plus there are a ton of Monet stuff and other famous dudes. pretty good stuff that is recognizable. oddly enough the exhibit that was most interesting to me was the Thorne Miniature rooms. Perhaps not as artistic in vision, but just knock your socks off cool. That was fun, then we left.

We dropped Wife (had to get back for work) and Tojo off at the airport, and headed back to M&Em’s house. I stayed there for the next two nights. Em’s brother rode into the area, and I do mean rode. He is on a cross country bike trip that is wrapping up a trip around the world. It’s pretty amazing to me what people can put their mind to and do, while I wallow here. After my pleasant stay there, I was on the road again.

This time I wasn’t messing around. Not satisfied with my driving of fourteen hours, on this day I drove from Galesburg Illinois to Evanston Wyoming, which is right on the border with Utah. I was about an hour from Salt Lake, but couldn’t continue. The next day I made Sacramento by about five in the afternoon.

Other trip notes:

I think the place is called the Country Kitchen. I really advise you stop in and check it out, if only to know what the worst food ever tastes like. The one I went to was in the middle of Nebraska. You can’t miss it. There is nothing in the middle of Nebraska. Seriously awful food.

People drive worse as you get toward larger cities or California. I think it is a misplaced sense of entitlement. It isn’t that California drivers are worse in isolation (if anything they would be better), but it is that they are bigger assholes, and that causes problems.

What is the problem understanding the need for left turn signals? all over these things seem to be missing. Signs also suck in other parts of the country.

If you are ever going to drive cross country, and can go only one way, go east to west. It gets constantly prettier, and suddenly at times, like when you get around Reno and suddenly punch into California. It is no wonder people want to get in here.