Two Hams on the Road

Tuesday, October 15, 2014

Steve and Natasha got up early and went and got the Uhaul truck.  The loading took a few hours, but we beat the heavy rain. 

 I should say they got the truck loaded, as Steve, Natasha and Olga did almost all the work.  Salami and Sonia quietly stayed out of the way in their crate.  Quietly, but not happily! 

 

Maria slept and entertained herself. She jabbers away and plays quietly.

 

 

Olga made us an early lunch and then we headed out in the pouring rain.  We were headed for Uhaul to pick up the trailer for Natasha's car.  We got lost on the way and ended up in an older neighborhood with lovely houses. Tudors, cape cods, salt boxes, colonials, even a Swiss chalet. Made me wonder when we stopped building houses like that. I know in the building boom after WWII ranch houses spring up everywhere and at some point split levels were in every development. But I don't think Steve appreciated the unexpected tour.  We finally found Uhaul and they helped us get hooked up and loaded, in the rain.  We finally headed out about 2 pm.

 

Because of the directions of the roads, we hit I80 and I74 much later than we expected.  They made us feel as if we hadn't made much progress.  Our goal for today was Springfield, IL.  We had reservations at a Drury Inn that allows pets.

 

We took 355 out of Chicago and then I55 toward Springfield.  Unfortunately, construction on a bridge held us up so we didn't get into Springfield until 7 pm.  Just in time to miss the free appetizers!

  

But in spite of the rain, it was an interesting drive.  We drove through a bird refuge/sanctuary and saw lots of Canadian geese flying in formation.  I want to come back this way sometime, as I55 seems to follow the old Route 66 (and if you're young enough that you don't know what that is, google it) and passes by the Route 66 information center.

  

Salami is with us and is terribly confused.  She has been sitting quietly between us in the truck, staring at Steve.  And I mean sitting, not lying down.  At about 5:30 she crawled into my lap for all of 5 minutes.  At six, she finally lay down, but didn't take her eyes off Steve.  Here in the hotel, she makes sure she has at least one of us in her sight.  Steve ran next door to Steak and Shake and brought back dinner so we wouldn't have to leave her alone

  

Now we're settled in for the evening and hope for a reasonably early departure tomorrow.  And that we find another pet friendly hotel for tomorrow night!

 

Deb