Chicago Night

Tuesday, July, 17th, 2012

 

      Ah Chicagoland.  It is certainly much nicer at night.  The contrast of light and darkness makes for a splendid scene.  Driving right through town, one gets to see avenues doubly lit with street  lights, standing in regimented precise rows, like an honor guard of some sort.  The Sears Tower (I understand it has been renamed, but it will always be Sears to me) stands both bright and dark against the hazy orange backdrop of the city sky.  Speaking of sky, there is a road called the Skyway.  This is I-90 for the laymen.  It is, of course, a toll road, equipped with toll booths of the older variety.  No, they are not of the Phantom Toll Booth variety, but they are lit with classy neon signs.  No art deco sadly.  One thing that struck me as odd was the McDonald's right on the toll way, next to the booths.  I imagine that a Big Mac attack would have to be of dire proportions to merit building a fast food place right there.

      Before the sky way, there is s stretch where I-94 and  I-90 run the same route.  This road is called the "Kennedy (expressway)".  I imagine that they can tell an out of towner by whether or not they know the names of the expressways.  The Dan Ryan commences after I-94 splits off of I-90, and I have no idea who that is.  Probably an old Bears player or something.  Along the Kennedy, there is a long stretch that is posted at 45 mph.  I imagine this would be more relevant in the day time.  Personally, I was going 55.  I was by far the slowest vehicle on the road.  A couple guys blew past me as if I were standing still.  Blew my doors right off.

       I decided to drive straight through Indiana, and past Toledo, Ohio.  Looking down, it occurred to me that I had driven just over 300 miles without stopping.  Even better, I managed to get to Breezewood, which is certainly farther than I had anticipated.  By 50 miles.  I even had time left to spare.  For now, I'll stay here for the night, and the bulk of the day tomorrow.  My delivery is about 2 to 3 hours away, and I suppose I could get closer in the morning, but we'll see about that.  I'm not feeling the rush to get there honestly.