This past weekend I traveled up to the Northwest Chicago suburbs to visit my girls and to celebrate my eldest daughter’s 24th birthday. Travel-wise, it was one of the worst trips in recent memory. Or ever. Yeah, I think EVER.
I left STL after work at 5pm and drove up to my sister’s apartment in Decatur, IL, which is roughly 2 1/2 – 3 hours from STL. She has the H & R Block tax program and has done my U.S. Federal return for several years, which saves me about $100. It’s always great to hang with my bestie, and we talked, had wine, and finally went to sleep.
There had been discussion between me, my ex-husband Larry, and my sister regarding possible bad weather across the Central part of the state, but I had no real idea what to expect. You just never know about Illinois weather at this time of year: snow might never materialize or blizzard conditions could come out of nowhere.
You guessed it … I had blizzard.
9 inches of snow fell on Chenoa, IL, where I had stopped. I got a room at the only hotel in the town as there was no way, in a Mazda Miata convertible, I would’ve made it much farther than that. Plus, seeing about 6 large vehicles and 3 semis in the center median/ditch, pretty much cemented my decision to bail on driving.
That’s a minivan in the ditch in the first photo. The roads don’t look too bad in these pics, but later on, there was basically NO road to be seen. Here are a couple more photos from outside the window of my hotel room:
I got to my ex’s home the next day about noon. That evening, he and I took our birthday girl and our baby daughter (with her live-in) out to Bob Chinn’s Crab House in Wheeling, IL. WARNING: Do NOT go there without a bucket of money. That shit is expensive.
I had to leave the next day (!), so I was on the road by 10:30am. Everything was great, flyin’ down the highway….. until Bloomington, IL:
torrential rain for 172 miles. Plus fog closer to the Mississippi River.
This was the trip from absolute hell.
I LOVE traveling, I LOVE seeing my children, but I HAAAATE the Midwest sometimes!
Gotta say, though, it was worth the hell-weather to hold my daughters in my arms. It is then that all is right in my world.
Glad you’re OK Gwen. What we don’t do for our kids, especially on their birthdays.
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I know …
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Wooo. That’s rough.
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Glad you’re safe and sound!
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