Day 23 - Still driving....

Another long travel day L  The triptik said 16 hours from our hotel location just outside of Chicago to home. It’s a two day trip…we can do it!!! Originally we planned to stop at Cedar Point and possibly even Rock & Roll hall of fame, but both these options have been removed from the list. We are now on a mission; even the kids want to get home.

After another breakfast of egg sandwiches, pancakes, yogurt and juice (same setup at every best western) we were on our way. Told the kids no bathroom breaks for 4 hours!!! That is a little unrealistic for Ally and I, but it’s a good thought. 

We did, however, stop at University of Notre Dame in Indiana to look around. I had always wanted to tour the campus and never did end up getting there so we thought, why not???? It’s a HUGE school! The athletic complex I think is bigger than the whole Providence campus. We couldn’t get into the stadium because they are renovating. I told them who we were, but that didn’t seem to matter ;-)

After walking through the campus and bookstore for an hour or so, we hopped back in the car to continue the journey. I did ask Ally if she wanted to start filling out the application now, but she didn’t seem overly interested. The ride through Indiana is much different than the states we traveled through over these past few weeks. A lot more traffic here and it has a definite ‘eastern’ feel to it. Lots of construction and oh yeah, the speed limit is no longer 75, UGH! After driving 75+ for so long I don’t know how I will get used to 55 again. Stop laughing, I know I never do 55, but I never get to drive 75 without getting a ticket!!!

The big bummer of the day is we pulled up to a fastlane toll and my transponder didn’t work. So yes, we were one of those people who held up the line while we actually had to get out of the car to go accept the ticket from the machine. It wasn’t bad, only 20-25 cars in line behind us. I don’t think we got any fingers, but we did get a horn. Then I remembered, a little late of course, that my credit card was compromised 12 days before the trip and I had to have it replaced. I forgot to check which accounts were linked to it on a monthly basis, fastlane being one of them. I’m expecting to arrive home to some interesting voice mails. Oh well, for the rest of the trip we will be ‘cash only’ drivers on the toll roads. Mark isn’t too happy with me right now.

For some reason today seemed to fly by. Maybe it was the diversion of stopping at ND or maybe it was because we actually crossed the borders for 5 states, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. This gave the kids something to celebrate. I know it’s minor, but it’s something to look forward too! We pulled off in a little town outside of Buffalo called Findley Lake. It’s a blip on the map, but we found a great little restaurant on a lake. This is one of the best meals we’ve had in days! Mark and I sat and enjoyed a couple of beers while the kids explored down at the lake. It was relaxing for all of us.

Tomorrow is the last leg of this trip. I definitely have mixed emotions right now, but I’m really looking forward to getting home. We’re missing the pets, our beds and most importantly our friends & family. We have 7 ½ hours to go…let’s hope the car holds up for these last 516 miles!