Day 13 - Hoosier Daddy?!

Louisville, KY was our final destination for today.  We will be spending the 4th of July weekend with family in Louisville.  The drive here today wasn't going to be short by any stretch and I knew Shale was not looking forward to it - not to mention that dinner last night hadn't settled very will with him so he wasn't feeling exactly 100% from the get go this morning. There are just over 300 miles between Chicago and Louisville and most of that travel time is through the entire state of Indiana. What should take about 4.5 hours to drive, took us an hour and a half more because of traffic, bad freeway signs, poorly paved roads, rain and dumb people....sorry Indiana, but Shale is NOT a fan!

This morning started with Dunkin' Donuts...of course!  I know we just had a Dunkin' open in Laguna Hills but come on, you know it isn't the same (ok, I do)!  Off to check out Millennium Park was next.  It was a cool 65 degrees when we left the hotel and oh how happy I was!  Chicago in the summertime can be hot and humid and just plain nasty.  Today, it was lovely!  Lots of people out walking around, sightseeing, riding bikes, making their way through the crowds on Segways and eating outside on the cafe patios that connect themselves to the deliciousness of Chicago.

Ahhh, how I love this city.

  

Millennium Park - Chicago, IL

Since we didn't have time to take our "End of the Mother Road" selfie last night when we pulled into town, we did it today!

End of the Road
Corner of E. Jackson and S. Michigan Avenue

I think it is pretty cool that Chicago provided us with an "End" sign.  They also have a "Begin" sign one street over on Adams so regardless if you start or end in Chicago, there's a sign to send you on your way or welcome you!  Why doesn't someone in CA get smart and hang up a Route 66 "Begin" sign at the Santa Monica Pier for those of us that decide to travel the road backwards?!!!

I love this photo of the kids jumping!

We grabbed some lunch and a few bags of Garret's Popcorn and hit the road to go recover the trailer we abandoned for the night. Spending only a few hours in Chicago is just simply put, not nearly enough time!  We barely scratched the surface.  Like I said yesterday, we definitely could have used a day or two more for this trip! So if you do end up planning to cram yourselves into a car and drive....give yourself a full two weeks - you'll thank me for it!  

I am not too happy with Indiana myself right now either for my own selfish reasons!  The below photo was the only one I could capture of the "Welcome" sign as we made our way into Indiana on the jammed up Skyway, which...if you must know, charged us a total (between 3 toll booths) just over $25 to drive on this crappy road.  What I'd like to know is, where is the money being spent that is collected in these toll-booths, because it isn't on paving!!  This so called highway was worse than any part of Old 66 that we drove over for the past 12 days!  What this is....is Highway Robbery!

There....I have added us to the photo (please note that
Shale and I are NOT smiling)!  Truthfully, even if the sign
would have been on the side of the road, there is no way we
 would have been able to pull over and take a photo of ourselves!

Kentucky didn't get much better as we drove over the Ohio River and out of Indiana.  This is when it started to rain.  Shale couldn't see the lines on the road, there was wind, large puddles of water on the road, construction and poor signage, again!   Where is the Kentucky sign for us to take a photo in front of?........Forget about it!  Kentucky, the Bluegrass State - zero photo!  At this point, making our way over to Matt and Laurel's was not going to happen.  We needed to get ourselves (let's be honest.....I needed to get Shale) to the RV park to be done with this day.  The poor guy was pulling his hair out and had been for a few hours.  

The call was made to family and we got ourselves to the RV park.  We are all set up, the kids have showered and are asleep, Shale is watching a movie and could not be happier to be off the road for a few days!  He has until Sunday to regroup and get a break from the stress of being behind the wheel before he and I motor on to make our way back to California. The kids will stay in Kentucky to spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa, Aunts and Uncles and cousins.

Shale compared today (the driving part specifically) to the movie, ".......the Terrible, Horrible , No Good Very Bad Day! I can see his point.  Should I bring up the fact now, that it is also '"Day13"?  He definitely had a bad day and there were a few moments of completely justified mild road-rage (thankfully the kids had headphones on) but we are all safe and sound tonight because of him and I am thankful!  The below, I think, is a fairly accurate depiction of how horrible the poor guy felt today (no, you didn't look this bad)!  Steve Carell, a picture says a thousand words  - thank you!

Day 14 will be much better - I am certain!  Until then......

Who's your Daddy?!