Back to relaxing for me. Back to Iowa. Back to I-80. Back to West of the Mississippi. Back to K Land. Back to lots of wind. How many more “Back to” can I come up with?
What was cool the GPS decided not to take the I-80 out from Chicago back to Iowa. It suggested to use the I-88 which is a little north of the I-80. So got to see a different route. Both meet each other again a few miles before going into Iowa.
I didn’t mention all the tolls you have to pay going in and going out of Chicago on the Interstate. It’s quite a few. There were 5 going out. The interesting part is they don’t tell you how much it is until you are at the last sign before the toll plaza. I think they should tell you a little earlier. But this time we were prepared and had an enormous collection of quarters and nickels in the cupholders. Going in the stations were not manned at all. Something funny happened on the way in. I wasn’t driving so I don’t get the blame. Ha Ha Ha. It said it’s 30 cents. So Eric drops the money in and takes off. I said: Hey I couldn’t read the sign. I think it listed different prices based on the time at those coin net machines. The huge freeway signs said nothing about that. I also said I’m not sure if we got a green light. He didn’t know either. Oh well we said and had a conversation about tolls and not paying them. At the next toll plaza there was lots of traffic and it’s really confusing which lanes go to the plaza and others which are for the iPass. No it’s not a new Apple device. It’s so you can drive through without looking for change. Anyway guess what sure enough we realize we are in the wrong lane. But it was too late. You shouldn’t do unsafe lane changes like some crazy drivers so he drove through the iPass lanes. I held my iPhone to the toll plaza camera, but I realized too late that I need the iPass device. LOL. Actually I gave him such a hard time about it. It was so funny. I laughed so hard, because I knew why it happened. But it seems to be a common problem. I started to see signs everywhere which said: Forgot to pay your toll, go online to pay it. If they would improve their signage I’m sure it would cut down on those incidents. I don’t remember having this problem in Florida. I guess they just have too many bridges etc so they know how it’s supposed to be done.
They do have reststops in Illinois which they call Oases (singular Oasis). Basically it’s a reststop with services so you don’t have to pay a toll when you get off. You can only get to the reststop + restaurants and then back on. It’s exactly like the reststops with services on the Autobahns in Germany. If you need services like food or gas in the States you usually get thrown off into small towns and look for what you want. Also those Oases seem to be environmentally conscious. See the picture below.
After a bathroom stop I drove again. I missed the on-ramp to the freeway. There are two choices: 1) You could get mad about it or 2) Simple see it as a fun adventure and see what happens. I chose option 2. GPS realized it and re-routed to an on-ramp about 10 miles further west. It was fun. I got to drive through Illinois farmland on a small road. I love those little unexpected adventures. It makes everything much more interesting.
Ok I think I’ll take a little nap now. I’m feeling tired. Going to have dinner with the Smiths (Daniel & Kisha) tonight. Have to cancelled last time. Not good. I actually gave them a hard time about Mr. & Ms. Smith. Remember the movie? He He He.
About one more hour to go.
Zzzzzzz for me! :-)
