I had a rough start to the day when I discovered my GPS had erased all its maps while I was trying to download some updates. Of all days, the day I needed to get around or through Chicago!
Well, nothing could be done about it so I jotted down some brief notes about my route through the area, prayed extra hard, and headed out just after 6:30 am. I wasn't very far from Monticello when the morning rush hour heading into Minneapolis started backing up. It actually wasn't that bad, just a couple of spots where we actually stopped, but overall the traffic moved really well.
I saw a sight in Minneapolis that made me swear to myself I had to come back another time and check it out. So there's this spot where there are three or four freeways jumbled together high and low, and then I looked ahead and saw this massive cathedral towering over the freeway (I was on the lowest level, so it did look really really high). There was another huge cathedral looking thing just a bit further down, too. Oh, how I wish I could have taken a picture! It looked so freakish and sci-fi, these two huge holy buildings looming over the frantic mess that is rush hour traffic, and I felt like I was driving down a narrow canyon between them. I'll have to google pictures of Minneapolis and see if I can find that shot.
Shortly after the drive through the twin cities I found myself in Wisconsin. If I didn't go back to that area to see more of Minneapolis I'd go back just to take in the beauty that is Wisconsin all over again. Oh my word, it was spectacular. Hilly, green, peaceful, beautiful stands of trees and clean farms and beautiful vistas; I had no idea it was such a lovely state. By the time I crossed into Illinois it was much flatter. Illinois gave off a pretty industrial vibe and most of my time in the state was trying to keep up with the most incredible number of semis I've seen in my life, all of us in a rush to get through the maze of construction cones all around Chicago. By the time I'd completed the western part of my Chicago avoidance I really had to pee, so I found a K-mart and bought myself a box of Cap'n Crunch with Crunchberries because you can NOT get those in Canada!! So I munched a bunch of those while the traffic inched along on the freeways on the south end of Lake Michigan. Finally, somewhere in Indiana, the traffic tapered off and we could zip along again. It's amazing how hot the cities get with all the traffic and 10 lanes of heat-reflecting concrete road surfaces. I got into Michigan and stopped at a visitor's center and was so happy to find it was much cooler outside there. Michigan, so far, is quite hilly and very forested. I'm in Kalamazoo at the moment, typing away in my huge king suite. The ceiling in here is about 14 feet high, I have a sitting area with a little kitchenette and then on the other side of a stub wall is the massive bed, computer desk and Sony LCD TV.
I was on the road for 12 hours today. I didn't get any pictures (well, I did take some of the room because it kind of blew me away) but I might get around to uploading them here tomorrow or Friday, we'll see what happens when I get to Toronto. Definitely looking forward to sitting still for a few days.
So despite the GPS issue, I actually had a great day. I spent all day listening to talks by John Bytheway, and he really inspired me in a lot of ways. This is a guy who loves the scriptures so much and knows them so well that he can really bring them to life and show us how those examples and principles from so long ago really do apply to us today. He directs his talks to the youth in the church, but his lessons really apply to anyone. I need to buy the second set of CDs now since I finished the last one today and have actually started reruns!
Yikes, it's 9:30 here now. I'm on eastern time for the next week and a bit. I need to get to bed. Goodnight!
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