Day One - Chicago

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DAY ONE:  CHICAGO

 Loading the car in the morning turned out to be way more involved than I expected it to be, but, master puzzler that I am, I was able to safely load a lot more than I thought I could… bonus for us.  Less to ship later.  

As I was loading, a monarch butterfly (when was the last time I saw one of those?) came and circled the load.  Isn’t the monarch supposed to represent change and newness?  I took that as a good sign.

There were many heartfelt and tearful goodbyes.  My friends and family have become accustomed to this, though.

Just as we were getting on the highway, my trip odometer (that’s the smaller one) had just made its way around to triple zeros.  I asked my son if he’d reset it while we were visiting.  He claims innocence.  I’m taking it as another sign.  Even my wonderful little car has bought into this move.  We’re finally on the road.

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We pass three major accidents before we leave Michigan.  One of them has the eastbound lanes of I-94 shut down completely, and traffic on that side is backed up for miles and miles and miles.  We’re going west.  Later, my sister tells me about what’s happened in Minnesota today.  That was originally supposed to be our first destination.  My youngest brother is an attorney there, and we had planned to visit, but, fortunately, he is out of the country right now.  I do not have to worry about him. Our hearts go out to those affected by this tragedy.

Not exactly on the itinerary, we took a spontaneous detour through my old stomping grounds in Chicago to visit close friends and a dynamic dog.  We drove past the old apartment.  For some reason I forgot that the El ran right up against the building.  Ha!  In my memory, it’s two blocks away.  I must have gotten accustomed to the noise.  Strangeness.  In my memory, it’s also 2 ½ blocks from Lake Michigan and the beach.  That part was correct!  Ilan did what has become a “Chicago tradition” for him.  He ran and jumped into the lake (with his clothes on).  

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The highlight was seeing Jolie, my beautiful shepherd-lab mix.  She is so vivacious, and we miss her so much.  Ilan, especially, had a ball rolling around on the floor with her.  We met up with some friends and had ribs at a place in RiverWest called Smoke Daddy’s.  All-in-all, it was an amazing first day.  

We’re somewhere in central Illinois, getting ready to head for St. Louis and Kansas City today.  We’ve resolved to stay off the highways for the rest of the trip.  You just don’t get to see too much from the highways, and we’re not in any hurry, whatsoever.