Sunday, November 27, 2005

I’m off and on the road again. Karyle traded her timeshare in Orlando for a week in Indian Rocks Beach, FL from December 3-10. Karyle is flying down and, as usual, I’m driving down.

I had planned on leaving on Monday, November 28th, but weather conditions forced me to leave a day earlier. I left Minneapolis around 0730 hours Sunday under favorable driving conditions. It started raining near Eau Claire and rained pretty much the rest of the way into Chicago- my first nights stop.

Traffic was really heavy all along I-94 all the way into Madison from holiday travelers returning home from the Thanksgiving Holiday. When I got near Beloit, WI traffic was stop and start for about 45 minutes. I thought there might have been an accident on thr tollway. What it turned out to be was a long, long backup at the first Illinois Tollway tollbooth. When I got to the tollbooth I couldn’t believe it. There were only three of five lanes open on this busy, busy day. What ever were they thinking?

What’s worse, the northbound traffic was backed up even further back at the same northernmost tollbooth. I felt really sorry for those heading north. Once I got through the first tollbooth, it was pretty clear sailing most of the way in. The only other backup was at the last tollbooth, near O’Hare. It had been raining off and on the entire way in.

I finally got to Paige and Donna Van Vorst’s home in Chicago around 3PM. The Van Vorst Family was busy putting up the Christmas tree when I arrived. I spent a very enjoyable evening with Paige and his family and then hit the hay shortly after watching the weather on WGN. My intentions were to get up early Monday morning, leave by 6AM and beat the rush hour traffic. I had planned to get as far as Nashville the next day, if the weather would allow.

There are NO photos for day 1