Road Trip Part 1

Thursday:
Well, the first stop was to get our oil changed. We were already 3k over the time to change the oil, and knew that we would be adding quite a few more miles on Cora (the name of our corolla). So off to Valvoline (dude, it was very expensive, now I remember why we were over). Chris, the navigator, took charge and said to head to Versailles. We went Route 60 to Interstate 64 to Louisville. In Louisville we took the bypass (I265) to I65. We took I65 all the way up to Chicago. We passed through Indianapolis, but didn't stop. We had both been there before and weren't too impressed. Indian wasn't all that great, but we were so excited at the thought of what we were doing that it didn't bother us that much. Right outside of Chicago we got on I94. At this point, it was probably 7:30ish. Traffic was pretty heavy. Thankfully we had switched so Chris was driving. I drove most of the time, until I was either too tired or we were going through a big city. I don't handle big city/ heavy traffic that well. Chris was a little nervous becauseof the traffic. We could see the skyline of Chicago and were frantically trying to decide whether to go INTO Chicago or just stay on 94 and get to Wisconsin. I could tell Chris was having a rough time, so I said I was fine either way. I'm not sure I would have been willing to go downtown if I was driving.

So, at the last minute Chris decided that it would be worth it to go see the sights. Neither one of us had very high expectations for Chicago, but we were both pleasantly surprised. We saw the Sears Tower, the Chicago Stock Exchange and lots of cool architecture downtown. We poked around a bit, and then decided to follow Lake Shore Drive along Lake Michigan. It was absolutely gorgeous!! There seem to be so many things to do in Chicago. There was a long foot path/trail/park between the road and the lake. We spent about 2 hours poking around. The only frustrating part is that it took a long time to get back on the interstate. We hadn't any dinner yet, and it was getting dark. We finally found the interstate, and were headed out of Chicago. We stopped at a sub shop (I'll add the name later, I can't think of it now) and then headed to Wisconsin. One of the things that we didn't expect on the trip was the number of toll roads. So there were a number of times where we were frantically search the car for just a few more dimes. Thank goodness we are so messy . Anyhow, they were doing some major road work on 94/41. They reduced the 3 lanes, into 1 lane. It took us an hour to go 20 miles. And they still made us pay 1.50. By this time, it was very very late. We were both exhausted, and realized it was time to stop. We made it into Wisconsin, and set out to find a cheap motel. Now I was always under the impression that a Motel 8 was a cheap motel. However, I don't consider 54.99 to be a cheap price. However, we were too tired to care. It was probably the worst night sleep in a long time. At home, we have a sleep number bed with a 3 inch memory foam mattress topper. We have a FABULOUS bed. I wasn't expecting anything even close at the Motel 8, but seriously, would have been more comfortable sleeping on the floor. The temperature was really impossible to regulate. And Chris discovered that I snore LOUDLY when we stay in beds that aren't our own. But he couldn't nudge me to get me to stop cause we were in seperate double beds. Chris also had stomach problems, and probably didn't get more than 3-4 hours of sleep.

more to come . . . .