Sunday 2 December - La Crosse WI to Chicago IL

The drive today took us along the I-90 including toll roads directly into the centre of Chicago and the Magic Mile. Once again the weather started off foggy but gradually lifted during the day until we had blue skies, sunshine and heatwave conditions i.e. temperatures in the mid-50s fahrenheit! We passed a number of location signs below which made us think that we were in other parts of the world and these are the only scenery shots that we have to share today.

Were we in Greece?

Were we in Wales?

Or were we home on the Gold Coast?

Well our trusty Navman navigator (affectionately referred to as Chuck) brought us in to central Chicago but at that point he lost the plot. Maybe road works had something to do with it. Philip who was driving almost got to the point where he wanted to abandon the car in any street where he could pull over. Chuck would announce instructions like - in 200 metres turn right - Philip would carefully move to the right lane and then Chuck would announce - Turn Left! After this happening a number of times as we drove along the Chicago River in the middle of the city, Alison told Philip to pull over and hopped out to see if she could actually see our hotel at street level. She sought the help of a local who used her smart phone to locate the hotel and surprise surprise Chuck finally had the right directions up on the screen. Alison jogged down the street pointing madly at the hotel facade while Philip and Jenny followed in the car. 

But oh no we still had to find the car rental depot some blocks away to return the car in time. Unpacked into our beautiful suite at Hampton Inn and then grasped the steering wheel and headed off without Chuck's help. Within 5 minutes we were driving into a basement parking garage which was the Alamo depot - yippee no more driving until 16 December.

Below is a shot from our hotel room.

To relieve our nerves we Googled the nearest Giordanos Pizza Restaurant and headed off there to buy one of their speciality pizzas fro dinner. Philip only consumed one small piece!

We chose the medium size which cost about $28 and it was yummy and we have more than half in the refrigerator for dinner tomorrow night. Now we are all relaxing on the internet and listening to the sirens of emergency vehicles heading off on calls from the fires station just around the corner.