Sunday, August 01, 1999
Day 1: Clare, MI - Chicago, IL
After getting up too late and some last minute packing, Chris & I finally hit the road about 8:30 instead of the 7:00 I had hoped for. The trip to Chicago was uneventful until we hit I-94 just west of downtown where it turned into a parking lot. For the next hour we were pretty much as a slow crawl and standstill. The Aurora was missing badly, and the "check engine" light came on, and I kept watching the temperature gauge as it crept toward the red line. I must say though, I DIDN'T LOSE IT!!!!! Good for me. Chris can verify this.
We found the "Economy Parking" lot a long way away from O'Hare and picked a spot for the Aurora. We had noticed the National Car Rental place was just a few blocks up the street, so we decided to walk. Once again, we underestimated the distance to the office, but after the 6 hour ride, the walk felt good....even the in 95 degree heat (yeah, right!). We picked up a white Grand Am. Chris was dismayed to see it didn't have a CD player, but we rigged one up with a power and cassette adapter so now we can listen to Limp Bizkit and Snot and Godsmack for the next two weeks (I'm serious, those are really CD's he has). I was able to get him to listen to some Steve Dahl in Chicago. He's a talk radio/comedian and he was on an extended phone call with his wife. Steve's wife was ragging on him about how he didn't do anything around the house and how he was always grumpy, and how he wasn't spending enough time with her or the family, and how he was spending money just on the things he wanted, etc. Chris said, "Deja Vu". I wonder what he meant by that......
Anyway, the trip downtown was much faster. We were able to get in the express lanes of the freeway and see all the poor suckers waiting at a dead stop.
Next stop was our place of lodging for the night in downtown Chicago....the world famous "Ohio House." It was run by an Arab with an attitude. He was none too friendly and none too helpful. But we were able to get our room. Kinda seedy, but OK. The A/C worked, THANK GOD!!! We ate supper at the Hard Rock Cafe, then took off for the Tom Petty Concert. I got a LITTLE lost, but found the place in plenty of time. He was playing at an outdoor venue called the "New World Music Theater about 30 miles south of Chicago. The warmup band was Lucinda Williams. Chris & I both thought she sucked. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were absolutely great, though. They played for almost 2 1/2 hours. In spite of the seating at the amphitheater, I was surprised to see everyone stand up through the whole show. Got my toe-toes a little tired....but there we were, dancin' & jammin'. Great show.
Got back to our hotel about midnight, only to find NO PARKING PLACES AVAILABLE. The Arab guy said...."sorry for your luck" (say with an Arabic accent) in so many words. I double parked and notice a young couple crawling all over each other. The woman obviously had her car there along with the guy. Well anyway, my car was blocking her car, and they both came and sat on the lip of the trunk until almost 1:30.....I stayed in the car, because I couldn't leave it double parked. Chris went up and went to bed....the louse.....didn't care if his dad had to spend the night in the car. FINALLY, the two lovebirds asked me to let them out, so I did & immediately took her parking place....only to find her blocking ME in the next am, by the way.
I had to pound on the window to wake Chris up to let me in, but finally hit the sack about 2:00 am Chicago time.......long day.......great concert.
We start Route 66 tomorrow am.
We found the "Economy Parking" lot a long way away from O'Hare and picked a spot for the Aurora. We had noticed the National Car Rental place was just a few blocks up the street, so we decided to walk. Once again, we underestimated the distance to the office, but after the 6 hour ride, the walk felt good....even the in 95 degree heat (yeah, right!). We picked up a white Grand Am. Chris was dismayed to see it didn't have a CD player, but we rigged one up with a power and cassette adapter so now we can listen to Limp Bizkit and Snot and Godsmack for the next two weeks (I'm serious, those are really CD's he has). I was able to get him to listen to some Steve Dahl in Chicago. He's a talk radio/comedian and he was on an extended phone call with his wife. Steve's wife was ragging on him about how he didn't do anything around the house and how he was always grumpy, and how he wasn't spending enough time with her or the family, and how he was spending money just on the things he wanted, etc. Chris said, "Deja Vu". I wonder what he meant by that......
Anyway, the trip downtown was much faster. We were able to get in the express lanes of the freeway and see all the poor suckers waiting at a dead stop.
Next stop was our place of lodging for the night in downtown Chicago....the world famous "Ohio House." It was run by an Arab with an attitude. He was none too friendly and none too helpful. But we were able to get our room. Kinda seedy, but OK. The A/C worked, THANK GOD!!! We ate supper at the Hard Rock Cafe, then took off for the Tom Petty Concert. I got a LITTLE lost, but found the place in plenty of time. He was playing at an outdoor venue called the "New World Music Theater about 30 miles south of Chicago. The warmup band was Lucinda Williams. Chris & I both thought she sucked. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were absolutely great, though. They played for almost 2 1/2 hours. In spite of the seating at the amphitheater, I was surprised to see everyone stand up through the whole show. Got my toe-toes a little tired....but there we were, dancin' & jammin'. Great show.
Got back to our hotel about midnight, only to find NO PARKING PLACES AVAILABLE. The Arab guy said...."sorry for your luck" (say with an Arabic accent) in so many words. I double parked and notice a young couple crawling all over each other. The woman obviously had her car there along with the guy. Well anyway, my car was blocking her car, and they both came and sat on the lip of the trunk until almost 1:30.....I stayed in the car, because I couldn't leave it double parked. Chris went up and went to bed....the louse.....didn't care if his dad had to spend the night in the car. FINALLY, the two lovebirds asked me to let them out, so I did & immediately took her parking place....only to find her blocking ME in the next am, by the way.
I had to pound on the window to wake Chris up to let me in, but finally hit the sack about 2:00 am Chicago time.......long day.......great concert.
We start Route 66 tomorrow am.
