To Kankakee

Today was a weather day.

Team Levenberg made record time getting hitched and moving this morning (and for the record, soundly beat Teams Gauvreau and Palm). Unfortunately, what we were so efficient in moving toward was a big storm directly in our path.

We were very sad to say goodbye to the other Altoistes, but get to have an extended mini rally with another couple who is also heading to the KOA south of Chicago. We also got to share the ferry ride with Jim and Dale and that was fun.

About an hour after we got on the road, it started to rain. Then it rained a little harder, then it got serious, with lightning and thunder and wind. I drove slow, but never felt it was at a point of being dangerous. I appreciated not pulling a big metal box down the highway. Dory stayed right behind me, steady and solid.

It eventually let up and stayed dry until we got to our campground around 4. Car navigation took us on a very circuitous route through corn fields and small feeder roads, but I thought it was very pleasant. It also reminded me that I would be approaching familiar land again, and that felt comforting.

Richard flies home tomorrow and he is not a happy camper. Neither am I for that matter. Yes, I’m looking forward to having the kids join me, but I will miss my copilot for sure.

After pulling in, we went out to dinner with our mini rally Alto friends at a surprisingly good Mexican restaurant, located in an unlikely-to-be-a-prime-culinary-experience location next to a Dollar Store. We were getting ready to leave and the heavens opened up. I mean, it really started dumping. The wind was blowing the rain in waves going not quite sideways, and lightning was turning the whole sky into a fireworks show. Shopping carts and planter containers were blowing all over the parking lot and even the tall metal lamp posts were swaying a disturbing amount. While I was worrying about Dory being blown into another county, our friends were worrying about their dog, who was still back in the Alto at the campground.

No one thought it was a good idea to drive just yet. Many iPhones were rapidly consulted and weather reports corroborated an end to the storm at 8:15. In fact, that was pretty much when it started to let up. We drove anxiously back to the KOA, fully expecting to see felled trees and scatterings of trailer parts along the road. As it turned out, not only was everything, including the dog, just fine, but our friends’ table that had been left outside still held an undisturbed bottle of bug spray.

One last night for Richard. For now.

Total miles: 321.8, Engine time: 6 hours, 59 min, 16.3 mpg