-Chicago!-

last thursday i drove down all by my lil lonesome to Chicago. the drive really wasnt that bad. from my house to the hotel in schaumburg, it was a 6 1/2 hour drive. i did have to pay about 5 bucks in road tolls though. that seems pretty dumb to me. but i am not a road toll expert, so...

my original plan was to drive back today and go back to work tomorrow. but i couldnt take today off of work because someone else already had taken the day off. so i drove home yesterday. this morning i went in to work and found my truck has a "major transmission leak" and "is not drivable". so here i sit at home. i couldve stayed another day!

anyways, Chicago was a blast. Patrick Rew met me at the hotel on Thursday. he was nice enough to drive me into and around downtown Chicago on Thursday evening. a quick side-note: people in Chicago drive like overly aggressive idiots. im glad he was driving and not me. Friday we took the train into the city and walked EVERYWHERE. we honestly walked about 15 miles and saw a lot of downtown and the lake area. it was a blast. by the time we got back to the hotel i had blisters on my feet, sore legs, a sore back and a nice case of sunburn. but it was worth it. saturday we jumped on the train and went back into town. we took the subway over to Wrigley Field to see the Twins play the Cubs. it rained on us all morning...the forecast called for rain and thunderstorms for most of the day. but in an apparant answer to my whiny prayers it stopped raining at noon and the game started at 12:35. only a 20 minute delay! the Twins went on to win a tense game 2-0. soooo many Twins fans! it was cool to see that many people travel down to support the team. it was near a 50/50 ratio of twins/cubs fans. it was great to see Mankato/St Peter kids too!

sunday...i slept a bit...then got on the road at about 10 am. i stopped once for food and gas and made it home by 4:30. not too bad. the drive was so much easier than i thought it would be, that i am now thinking Chicago might be a nice place to roadtrip to on a regular basis. maybe.

tonight...i have 2 softball games. it'll be the first double header ive got to be a part of so far this season. 6:15 and 7:15. my favorite times for a double header. should be fun. but i will be sore and tired tonight and tomorrow. its just a guarantee.