Alaska Bound Day 86 and 87

Day 86 Miles 125 Ginny’s house, Clarendon Hills, Il A beautiful summer day again and clean up time at the Davidson’s. I’m not sure how many people slept on the property last night but heads kept popping up during the morning. Emily, Brett, and I caught a mid morning breakfast and then prepared for our departure. I decided to take back roads and avoid Illinois’ toll way system which penalizes for not having an I Pass card by charging double and causing you to go off the road into a toll area. It added time and some miles but the roads I took luckily were lightly traveled on a Sunday afternoon.
My plan is to start for Florida on Wednesday and perhaps arrive by the weekend. I sense that I am ready to get home and “regroup.” It was great to see Ginny and her beautiful summer gardens. She’s a friend of 40 years and a winter neighbor as well. It’s almost like being home to visit her.

Day 87 Clarendon Hills, IL Michael and Katherine picked me up and we headed for the Brookfield Zoo. She loved the bears which were surprisingly active for a summer day. They cooled off in their pools and then moved about looking for food. There were polar and black bears from Alaska. We bought some lunch after visiting the children’s zoo. She was starting to get sleepy and so was Grandma, so not long afterwards we headed out.

The Lutzow’s invited me for dinner which was a delicious cookout eaten on their patio. Very few bugs joined the crowd. Getting in and out of Ginny’s narrow driveway is a challenge but I managed ok coming in the dark. I’m leaving Chicago without making many of the contacts I planned. I regret this but I think it is a sign that I am getting anxious to get the next few days of straight interstate driving behind me. The Chicago area with family and friends is a “return engagement.”