Saturday, June 13, 2009

Road Trip 2009: Day Three - Part 1

Friday, June 12th - Today is best characterized by something Kat said. I don't remember her exact quote, so I'll paraphrase. She said, "Even though we're all the way out in Illinois, things don't seem so different. Living in Jersey gives you the best of the city, the best of the country, and prepares you for almost anything."

By the time we crossed the Mississippi River and entered IOWA, she rethought her comments, for we had truly entered a different world. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The day began in a flurry of booking tonight's hotel, finding mass transit to the Cubs game, and trying to figure out what our plan for tomorrow would be. We made it out of the hotel by checkout and then proceeded to the Orange Line Subway System where there was a Park and Ride.


The payment system for the Park and Ride wasn't quite as sophisticated as we're used to. It consisted of a board of slots with the number of the parking spaces above the slots where you folded your money three times, and then pressed it in through the tiny opening. You were then instructed to clear the slot with a car key. It was a little strange, but honestly, our car wasn't towed, so all was well.

We quickly learned the layout of the Chicago subway system (understand the Loop and you understand the key to getting around) and proceeded to the Red Line. The funny thing about the stop for Wrigley Field is that it's simply called "Addison Street." Nothing more. I actually had to cross-coordinate the location of the field with the nearest subway spot to find out which to take. You think they would have called it something like "Wrigley Field."

Of course, we could have just followed all the Cubs fans. That may have been a little easier.

Enjoy the rest of the pictures as it looks like we're on our way for Saturday's travels. I'll need to tell you about the rest of Friday tonight when we reach North Sioux City, SD. A long way to go today, but that means that tomorrow, we'll be at Mt. Rushmore. Awesome.



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