Day Three - Chicago to Austin (MN)

Not a lot of driving, but also not little, yesterday. We got up and got out at 10. Sadly, I forgot to double check mom's preparedness. We eventually got a call from Mary saying that mom's slippers and a pair of glasses had remained behind to keep her and Sybil company. Sigh. She will mail them to a friend who shall henceforth be known as "She who wants not to be named" where they will wait for our arrival.

First stop, gas station. I only got a couple of gallons because the prices were exorbitant! Glarg even! But that was enough to get us out of town. That took a little while because traffic was heavy for some reason. I wouldn't have thought traffic would be heavy on a Saturday at 10ish leaving Chicago. Maybe a lot of people were heading out of town for the day or weekend. Who knows?!

Eventually, we got clear of urban-ness and found a relatively inexpensive gas station. Yay! Isn't driving scintillating? (One thing I would like in blogger, is emoticons. Hello, are you listening blogger people?)

I had decided to stop for a decent lunch since it wasn't going to be a marathon driving day. I picked a place in Madison Wisconsin and invited a friend to meet us there. Never heard back from her. Maybe she doesn't check Facebook as obsessively as some people. Or get notifications on her phone from Facebook. Whatever. Oh, maybe she doesn't like me anymore and hasn't bothered to de-friend me. Or maybe it isn't about me at all. Then again, it is my universe, so isn't everything about me? Hmm?

Great Dane Pub has four locations in the Madison Area. I chose Eastside as it looked close to the Freeway. It was - just no exit there - which I didn't know, but of course, the GPS did. It took us on a nice side road excursion to get there. Mom was worried, as usual, that we were not actually going to find the place. This worry is partially based on fact - a while ago, I put an address in the GPS and the address turned out to be wrong - ending us up in the middle of farm country, not at the movie theatre we thought we were headed to. This, though, has been the exception. Yay GPSs!

The pub reminded me a little of a Jillian's or a place along that line. Not as big, but the same sort of feel. A little bit of everything - a pool table, bar, dining area. Two stories tall, nice view fromt he second floor. Mom and I sat in a booth and had the lovely Tia as our server. I love mid-West accents! Anyway, mom had a hamburger - actually an apple bacon Gorgonzola burger that looked really good! I had a tuna salad with sesame encrusted seared tuna. Yum! I also has a taste of one beer, and four sample glasses of four other beers.

All the beers were tasty, which isn't always the case when a brewery makes 12 beers. The first taste I had was their Belgian Style quad, which was highly alcoholic and rich and malty! Yay! I also sampled four beers: Scotch ale was good for the style - malty and a little thick and syrupy the way I like it; two porters, both good but not that different from each other; and an Imperial IPA that was good but not great. All in all, a satisfactory experience!

On the road again, we looked at the sights. Well, mom looked at the sights as I drove along. We passed a nice rock outcropping - nothing like what we will see in the South West, but nice anyway. Later we spent some time driving along and across the mighty Mississippi, which is even mighty this far North. Mom was impressed and oohed and ahhed quite appropriately. This sort of thing makes the trip a success in my book. The drive took a little longer than I thought it would, but we did eventually arrive in Austin, MN (where Mary G spent some of her formative years apparently).

Our Rodeway Inn is very pleasant. Seems like it has been recently renovated. All the motels are a lot more expensive than they were 10 years ago when I drove around the country. I hate money. (Ok, money, if you are listening, I don't really hate you, I just think you are avoiding me for some reason, and that is frustrating. Come to me and I will pass you along gratefully!) I had a pleasant chat with the fill-in desk clerk - gathering intel for our foray into the booming (24k people) metropolis of Austin (MN).

We headed to Walmart first - to get some supplies - replacement slippers, some sticky stuff for mom's toilet seat (more on this in another post) and some chapstick. Then to Torge's (pronounced Tor (hard g) Gees)(short of Torgenson - the owner's name apparently). It was a sports bar. Beer! And food. The food was simple and surprisingly good - we had smothered chicken with a baked potato, salad and an extra side of Onion Rings. I had two beers - a Nordeaster Grain Belt - no one knew what style it was - I thought it tasted like an Oktoberfest or maybe a dopplebock, turns out it was an amber. Our great server, Becky (Jo), suggested a Crooked Tree for my second beer - an IPA that was decent. Becky was great and she listened patiently as I regaled her with beer knowledge, some of which might actually be correct! :)

Great Day Three!

The menu at the Great Dane Pub

Woof! I like their tap handles!

My four beers

Mom's hamburger

At the Great Dane

The capital building can be made out if you squint!

Our purchases

Torge's!

My first beer was the Grain Belt

We are both looking a little concerned for some reason...

Do not look at mom in the back of this picture!

Day Two - Chicago (land)

A day of rest and exploration in Chicago. Much needed after the ten hour drive the day before. Mary has been living here for 6 years and before that went to school here, years ago. She likes it. Her apartment is great - in Hyde Park - two blocks from Lake Michigan! Great location, great space. She seems very happy here. Yay!

We got up and sort of made a plan for the day. Which we sort of followed. First up, a walk to the lake shore. It took us quite a while to actually make it to the lake - stopping and sitting at a shady bench on the way. Mom just doesn't like to walk more than twenty paces. And when she does, she complains constantly. It isn't pleasant. Mary, though, is amazing with her. I wish I had her demeanor. Sigh. We did, eventually make it part of the way that Mary wanted to achieve. (Weird sentence) She had an ulterior motive - sand bagging. She wanted to actually bag some sand to help her sprout some rosebush cuttings. And since she lives near a beach, why buy it? Mom would never have made it all the way to the beach and back in a timely fashion (under 3 hours). So we sat on another bench while Mary walked to the beach, nabbed her sand (from the overflow on the concrete near the beach) and hurried back to us. All told, maybe 10 minutes. Mary kept waiting for the police to pounce!

The walk back was fairly smooth. Going back always seems a little less onerous for mom. We stopped at the same bench we used the first time, but had to ask the woman sitting there if we could share. She graciously allowed us to sit. We chatted about this and that - I showed her Flippety, since she had an iPhone. And she talked with us about Christian Science. My mom has had a lot of experience with Christan Science. Maybe Ernst and Betty can tell me about our relation to Christian Science and who the woman was whose portrait we have in the dining room is.

Next stop, lunch! We went to Snail - a Thai restaurant, run by a person that Mary knows. The food was good, the service was fast and the ambiance was pleasant. Yay! Mary tried something new to her, and I had beef and broccoli which wasn't as Thai-like or gingery as I would have liked. Still tasty, though! And a Thai iced tea. Yum! Mom had a spicy shrimp curry - I think the best dish of the three.

Nap time! We went back to Mary's apartment and sacked out. For a long time. I got some work done - mostly on Flippety - added a button to erase the high scores, added a clean-up method. I think I want to add a call to bring up an alert window so that there will be no glitch when one is actually called later in the game. And I meditated for a bit when I heard snoring from the other rooms.

We had sort of planned to take a drive around Chicago for a tour. Mary, though, understandably, seemed reluctant to give up her parking place. Apparently parking in Hyde Park is dog-eat-dog like. The tour didn't happen. We did go and look at the lovely garden in the back of the building. Mary had planned for us to walk to the dinner restaurant, but mom started to fuss before we had taken ten steps and I just wasn't going to walk three blocks with her going on and on. So I drove. Yes, I gave up my parking space! We got there way earlier than anticipated so the owner set up a table for us. The place was really, really full! Apparently there is a graduation going on around here just now.

Dinner was good. I like eating at Italian restaurants because nothing is bad. But I don't know what I like, so I just order whatever strikes my fancy. Mary had clams, mom had salmon and I had tortellini with peas and bacon in a cream sauce. All tasty. I ate all of mine. I am eating way too much...

After dinner, I dropped mom and Mary at the apartment building and went in search of parking. Luckily, someone pulled out right around the corner from Mary's place! Yay! That will make leaving today a little easier. I then walked (about a mile) to Woodlawn Tap (aka Jimmy's) for a beer. They had some local beer on tap, so I tried it. The Leinenkugel Red again had a little dirt taste. Can anyone tell me what that is and why it is there? The Argus IPA was good - not great. Hoppy but not overwhelming. I chatted with the owner a bit and a couple of other people before heading back for a good night's sleep!

Mom likes Mary's cat statue

Mom and Mary

What animal is this?

Lake Michigan

Patricia, Mom and Mary

Snail

Mom, Mary, Me

Dinner Location

Mary and mom

Tortellini!

aka Jimmy's

Leinenkugels Red

Argus IPA

Day One - Geneva, NY to Chicago Il

10 hours on the road, give or take. With a couple of stops for food for mom and gas for the car. Ok, so that is a longish drive! Not one that I would enjoy making often. Every once in a while, fine, but monthly would be taxing in the extreme!

We did get up at decent times. I did my yoga, wrote a blog post (lucky you) and was about to head down to the car to do some much needed neatening, sorting and rearranging, when mom walked down the hall! I like it when I don't have to wake her up!

The car didn't take too long to get ready. Since we were all packed, it was fairly effortless to get everything in. Even room for an extra passenger if need be. I have two boxes of books (Diary of a Plate Addict and Bar Dreams) with me - just in case. And my sales sign. We shall see if I actually sell any copies. Mom found a couple more things she wanted to put in her suitcase, after it was in the car, but there was still room, so I got them in there eventually (when we reached Chicago, in fact).

At around 9:40 am, we hit the road. First stop, gas in Geneva. Wow, prices have really dropped! If only it would get below three dollars again. Or even below two. Or free gas for everyone for a month! That would be nifty! Or for life... who says I don't dream big? The drive through NY seemed long, but really wasn't. I am always surprised by how close Buffalo really is. I always think it is three hours away from Geneva, and it isn't. It is only two! Anyway, we eventually got out of NY, zipped into the little nubbin of PA where we made our first pit stop.

Mom had a fish sandwich and I ate two or three of her French fries. I can't eat too much or else I am sure to get sleepy as I drive. Maybe it is just psychosomatic, but that has seemed to be my driving/eating experience over the years. Gas wasn't too expensive.

Back on the road again, we entered Ohio. Hey, when did that part of 90 become a toll highway? Oh, I just looked it up. I guess it has always been. I haven't been on it in a while and was a little surprised. Happy, though, that EZ-Pass is accepted. And apparently it is cheaper for EZ-Pass users. Yay! The scenery was not scintillating. We hit a little traffic in Cleveland. I haven't made much use of the traffic feature of my GPS, having luckily avoided most traffic recently. This time, though, we were in a traffic jam. My GPS flashed a little banner asking if I wanted to take an alternate route that might save me ten minutes. Heck yes! And it did! Exit, zip, zoom, Bob's your Uncle and we were sailing right along again! Yay GPS!

We stopped a second time at the far end of Ohio. They are redoing all of their rest stops and this one looked brand spanking new! Mom got an order of onion rings from Brin, a young woman cook turned new cashier. And I had a chat with Meredith and Matt about this and that. Even gave them a card! Who knows, maybe someone they know will buy a copy of one of my books or eventually download Flippety. Anything is possible.

Next stop, a gas station. Sadly, the gas on the Indiana toll road was exorbitant (was there ever an h in that word?). Little did I know that it would be even more expensive in Chicago. No one tells me these things. Sigh. Anyway, the GPS guided me straight to Mary's building. Great location, two blocks from Lake Shore Blvd in Hyde Park. I do hope that we will be able to come back and have a proper visit at some point. Chicago is too cool a city to spend such little time visiting. I found parking right outside the building.

Mary has a great space - a little labyrinthine for my tastes, but a good amount of space! I have a suite basically to myself while she and mom share the main space. Yay! She went out of her way to cook a yummy dinner and cake for us. Truthfully, I was so exhausted that I don't think I contributed much to the social interaction and begged off to sleep as soon as I could comfortably do so.

The back seat got some stuff

Still have room!

Bye house! Be there when we get back, please!

Geneva Gas Stop

I think this was in PA

Ohio rest stop - Flippety is teaching me recognize state flags!

Moderne! :)

Mom and Mary

Jerome helped!

Front of the Park Shore building

Mary's main bedroom

My sleeping arrangements

Mary's living room

Table ready for dinner

Mary's cat Sybil

Yum, food!

Mary made a birthday cake to celebrate all of our birthdays!

Pre Trip Day

Much of the day was spent getting ready for the trip.

One last load of laundry. And I forgot the jar of quarters at home. Luckily quarters are easy to manifest from the change machine. This has always been my favorite machine in a casino (though they are mostly gone now). I always feel like a winner when I put my money in and quarters tinkle and crash into the tray. Yay winning! While the clothes were washing themselves, I ran a couple errands downtown. Bank, where I chatted with a new summer teller whose name is a palindrome. I also got to see Tatiana from Leaf Kitchen! Next stop, the post office to stop the mail. I didn't realize that they only hold mail for 30 days. I wonder what one is supposed to do if one is gone for longer than 30 days. Hmm.

Back to the laundromat and successfully transferred the clothing to a dryer. Delicate mission, that. Ok, not really. I decided to just dry everything, rather than bringing some of mom's things back to be hung up. I just couldn't take the chance that things would dry in time to be packed. Not much to fold. :( I like to fold laundry. And no one exciting at the laundromat. Oh, took a walk around the mall to see what goings on were happening. The Peebles building is getting doner. And a something is opening up where the blockbuster used to be. Maybe it will be there when we get back from the trip. I feel like capitalizing that: THE TRIP.

Home, we had a visit from Justin again who listened to mom about her plants. I hope most of them survive. Good thing they aren't in my care! He also brought over a knife sharpener for us to carry to Mary G's house in Chicago. And he is bringing over some rose bush cuttings this morning for her as well. And I repacked some books on the hopeful thought that I will sell a bunch of them somehow while on the road. Anything is possible (most things are unlikely).

Next stop, Studio Salon for mom to get her chin waxed (I was thinking of getting my nose waxed, but I really like the little hairs on top of it...) and her toes tended to. I sat and vegetated while she was pampered. Sadly, the chin thing didn't work that well. I wonder why that is. But I think she had fun. I had decided that we would try a new restaurant for our last, for a while, Geneva dinner: Joe's Hots. I met Joe a long time ago at the Beautiful Beef and Brew. And people had been talking about it for a while, so I thought it would be a good idea to check it out. Glad I did. The food was good, mom had a great looking bacon cheeseburger and I had a pulled pork sandwich - we shared some onion rings and some baked beans - the prices were reasonable and the people were nice. Can't really beat that!

At home, we packed. First mom. It didn't take long. She kept wanting to take weird things, and I mostly acquiesced. I just hope that this morning isn't delayed tremendously by her asking where everything is and unpacking stuff to find things and wanting to take more. We have a long driving day ahead of us. Later in the evening, I packed my own stuff. As I remind her, though, we aren't going to be in the hinter lands - we can always resupply and fill in gaps in our packing on the road.

So, all done, all ready. Now, all I need to do is pack some food and clean out and pack the car. Easy Peasy! Still looking for people to visit on the way!

Peebles/Goody's getting closer to done!

Mom and Justin staring down a plant!

Pulled pork

Beans and Onion Rings

Mom's burger

Feeling Discombobulated

This too shall pass. I know that it will. Most things pass. Eventually.

Yesterday was a relax day. I really did almost nothing. I did go for a walk. And get Chinese food for dinner. And helped mom a bit with her packing. Oh, and looked at accommodations near Hood River. Eeek! Plan B will be in place there. The least expensive I saw was almost $200 a night. That isn't going to happen on our budget. I hate money. Which is probably why there are issues with it in my life. Glarg.

Speaking of money, it is bill paying time here at Chez Schoen-René. Nerp.

As for Flippety - I know I have some work to do but I just can't get my mind around doing it. Truth be told, I just don't want to do anything...

Paid the bills and I am feeling a bit better. Oh, and food helped too.

Getting ready for the big trip. Asking people if they want to be seen. So far, the response has been underwhelming. Which is not surprising. Sad, but not surprising. People fear commitment generally.  No one wants to say, "Hey, I will go out of my way in my tough existence to try and fit in a visit with you." Why should they?

Now it is time to pack. I can hardly wait...

Seen on Campus

Church that looks like a castle

$10 worth of Chinese food

Same food divvied up