To Madison

The following day we shockingly got going right on schedule. That didn't stop me from having the longest day ever, but I'll talk about that later. We had a nice drive through back roads for the first couple of hours. Everyone slept for most of the time, which I simply do not understand. I absolutely cannot sleep on a road trip, even in boring country, for fear of missing something. Eventually we got on US 30 and began powering our way across the plains, before I diverted once again to some lovely back roads. It's really amazing how pleasant boring flat plains become just be getting off the godforsaken freeway. I have come to the conclusion that I absolutely despise driving on freeways and especially turnpikes where you are stuck with worthless oases. Ugh, if you call that traveling, you probably call puking enlightenment. I do not hate freeways, in fact I quite like them. They are fantastic feats of human creation and are incredible for getting you to point B in minimal time. I just cannot stand traveling that way if it is not necessary. I quite like it when I have the occasion to write three two letter words in a row. OOh, time out for amazing sunset on the roof, post thunderstorm. The sun is just coming out under the cloud deck, over Midtown.
The green of the vegetation and the black of the soil of northern Indiana is just spectacular.
I dropped Jordan off at his parents' place on the South Side and was plugging quarters into the meter in front of Mike's place in Lincoln Park at 8:05 - quite impressive when I predicted an 8:00 arrival that morning. Liz was there already and they both had a laugh at my handlebar moustache, which I sported for the trip after shaving off the rest of my 6 month beard. I wished to relax a bit, but I was in logistics mode as Mike's (rideshare Mike) father had gotten misinformation from Mike's girlfriend about arrival time and had already arrived in Madison at noon. This was to be the first time they ever met, so quite an event. I had told his father earlier that I expected to be in town by about 2, but now Brandy's flight had been delayed two hours and I had to pick her up before leaving Chicago. The catch was the neither Mike nor his father had a cell phone. His father is a trucker and was just sitting in his car waiting for him at a truck stop. For an added kicker, Brandy had left her cell at home so I could not communicate with her either. I came to the quick conclusion that I could put Mike on the 10:15 bus to Madison and get someone to pick him up and take him to the truck stop at 1:30. Jennifer was at a show and in no condition to drive anywhere, so I reluctantly called Mel and she agreed. We rushed downtown to put him on the bus, giving him money for the ticket since he was out of cash. We were there with less than ten minutes to spare and all cheered. As soon as I got back to Chicago Mike's place, other Mike called and told me he missed the bus because he had been an idiot and gone to the bathroom in the station. I directed him to the bus to where we were, expecting him to become totally lost. Luckily he made his way back and after a brief nap we headed out to get Brandy and get moving. Eventually Mike's dad called and we told him the scoop, which he was not excited to hear.
We got in close to four and I died for a few hours.