Midwest-Day 1

Up at 5 am to fly from Raleigh to Chicago for my vacation. It's amazing that it was still raining in North Carolina after it rained all of Wednesday. My Uber driver arrived 15 minutes early and I was crestfallen to see the Patriots sticker on his bumper. My first thought was there goes his tip. Anyway, it was pretty easy to get through RDU and I got my seat pretty easily as I figured I would. Last I checked there has been 6 opens eats and  was first on the standby list. 

After landing around 9 am, I rented my car from Budget through Costco. That line was way longer than any of the other rental car lines, they must have some good deals going on. Even Hertz and Avis had maybe 2-3 people on line, Budget was more like 25 people. And one family of 3 stayed at the same counter for 20 minutes, they would not get out. So they held the rest of us up. As for me, I was done in like 6 minutes.

I was given the choice of a few different cars: an SUV, a Prius (which I immediately turned down), but I went with the Silver Honda Civic Sport. I didn't even know until later that it had a Virginia license plate on the back. Pretty ironic. 

The weather was much better in the Midwest than back hone. Now there had been reports during the week about poor air quality due to the latest round of Canadian wildfires and the smoke working its way down into the northern part of our country. But there was nothing noticeable during my time in Illinois and Wisconsin.

Lunch was in Naperville at Crosstown Pub, one of the best wing joints in the country. And the wings are half off on Thursday, so that made it even better. I went with Chili lime dry rub, which is the perfect blend of heat and flavor. A little bleu cheese dip and I'm ready to go. Truth is I should have just gotten those. I also combined the Carolina Q mustard sauce and Mesquite BBQ dry rub. They had ran out of 3 Floyd's Gumballhead, so I went with a Revolution Anti-Hero. Had to go local. Just one beer was enough. The restaurant is a bit dingy, a bit beat up, but the quality of the wings is just so good.

Then I headed a little north to Wheaton, where I walked around Herrick Lake, a spot I walked many many times when I was a teenager. Took Hogan there a lot too. Had we had his ashes, that's probably where we would have sprinkled them. But then again, he didn't exactly love going IN the water. I completed 3.1 miles, which was one lap around the 0.75 mile lake and another 1.25 down one of the trails and then another 1.25 back to the rental car.

From there, it was driving by my old homes. Wheaton, Winfield, St Charles, They all have their memories. I lived in the first for 1 year, the second for 5, and the third for 14. It was a lot of years. I did make a detour to Wheaton Academy. I got to go inside the old alumni chapel which looks as basic and dilapidated as it did 25 years ago. I ran on my old baseball field, though it's not the same from when I was playing on it. Now they have field turf. And I know I do some running, but my legs are not equipped to handle the sudden starts and stops, plus sprints involved in playing baseball.

After a Target stop for water, Prime, baby carrots, etc, I had to get 2 hot dogs from Portillo's. No fries, just the dogs, dragged through the garden. I was acting in a disciplined manner, clearly. Such good dogs. The drive to Antioch took almost an hour and a half up Route 59. It's located on the Illinois and Wisconsin border, and it's where Matt and Mary Beth now live. I rang the doorbell and it took a few minutes for them to come to the door. I guess they had to get their baby Gianluca ready, plus restrain the dogs, Oakley and Ranger. I guess those are the 3rd and 4th dogs I encountered. Matt had told me they would give me a mug filled with baby carrots to feed Oakley and Ranger and that would help endear me to them. That's why I got a bag of carrots at Target, to help replenish the supply.

Well those nutjobs went through the whole mug. Took 15-20 minutes, but all of a sudden they warmed up to me. Oakley shed extensively, and I knew my allergies would set in, but I'd do it all over again. 

For dinner, we drove to Small Cheval in Rosemont. Basically a burger joint. I had the double cheeseburger with Dijonnaise, chopped onion, pickles, lettuce, and tomato. Also drank my can of  Gumballhead beer. We also got a box of half a dozen Stan's donuts (which was right next door), and later that night, I had their cinnamon glazed twist. Fantastic donut. 

Meanwhile, we watched 2 episodes of the documentary about MH370, the flight that went missing in the South China Sea and was never recovered. All the while, I was still petting Oakley and Ranger.