Start:  Sturgis, MI – Amigo Campground
Destination:  Chicago, IL
Odometer:  102,137 (start)    102,387 (end)    250 miles
Date:  August 31st, 2011

It was bound to happen:  rain.  The peaceful sound of chirping was replaced by the sound of rain pitter-pattering on the tent.  The review and design indicated it performed well in heavy downpours and wind, but whether we had it setup correctly and whether it would work for us had yet to be established.  I am glad to report:  it worked.  While we were relieved, it was still 3am, we were now awake, and not inclined to go out in the rain (we need to remember to pack umbrellas in the tent).  Fortunately, around 5am the rain stopped and a much-needed trip to the nearby bathroom was in order.  Nature can be the best alarm clock.

In my experience, the annoying part about rain when camping is not so much it getting in the tent, but having to break down the camp site while its raining or after its rained.  Fortunately, the yuppie tent was quick to takedown and stuff in its bag (the bag is intentionally designed to be much bigger than needed so you don’t need to perform a tight roll of the tent like I’ve had to do on most).  While I took a nice hot shower, Dad packed most of the supplies into the car.  By 6:45am, we were on our way.

Now, when doing a quick takedown, certain details are often overlooked. In my case, there were two.  First, there was the lantern I had placed and forgotten on the roof of the car.  Fortunately, when it fell after driving a few yards along the dirt road out of the site, it was easy to find since the light was still on and it was still dark.  Unfortunately, the dial for adjusting its output had broken off.  Second, there were my keys and cell phone.  This tent, like others, has meshed pockets inside the tent for storing items, but these can be overlooked when taking items out of the tent.  My Dad’s keys were already in the ignition, and so it wasn’t until about 15 minutes out when I went for my phone that it dawned on me that they were now in a wet tent packed away in the trunk.  I was confident that the keys would be OK, but I was not so sure about my phone.

I kept driving though until about 8am when the sun was out, the air was dryer, and we were hungry for some breakfast.    We pulled into a rest stop and took care of business.  First, we popped up the instant tent on the concrete and I ventured in for my personal items. The keys and phone were both wet, but both were working.  The <a href="en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Centro">Palm Centro</a> lives on.  After shaking the water off the tent and making some breakfast, we were back on the road to Chicago.

I dare say/hope the drive into Chicago will be the worst driving experience we’ll have on the trip. Interesting factoid:  there’s no Welcome to Illinois sign when crossing over the Chicago river from Gary, IN.  Instead, there’s a small sign on the bridge: Welcome to Chicago, Mayor Emmanuel.  I guess there’s Chicago, and then there’s Illinois. After our driving experience, we might suggest adding the advisory:  Check Your Brakes.  It was quite a change going from 75-80 mph on the highways to stop and go traffic for over an hour to get to our destination around Skokie, IL.  Hopefully once we get past Chicago and into the western states, we won’t have such problems.

The goal of today and the visit to Chicago are visiting people we hadn’t seen in a long time.  The first stop was in Rogers Park near Skokie to visit my Dad’s nephew’s family:  Kenny, Chani, and their five kids.  My Dad hadn’t seen them since the funeral of Joyce Goldman, who was Kenny’s Mom, and my Dad’s sister-in-law.  I hadn’t seen them since I was 14 or 15, when they were recently married, living in MA, and I was attending a computer summer camp nearby (yeah, I went to a computer camp for one summer).

Despite the traffic, we had left early enough that we had time to relax and so we went to the local library to use the internet and work on our first blog post.  Around noon, we headed over to their home for lunch.

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It was great seeing them again, and, for me, meeting my second-cousins for the first time.  Akiba is into collecting pens and playing the drums, Adina and Danya are twins who brought fun and energy into the house, and Ezra and Zvi were younger kids who were quiet / good listeners.  Kenny and Chani were wonderful hosts who made us feel welcome and made a good impression to their kids for us prior to our visit.  We hope we didn’t disappoint and we’ll see them again soon.  It was also interesting seeing Kenny again and his resemblance to my brother David.   The great thing about family is that despite geographic distances, less than ideal frequency of communication, and various other differences, there’s commonality and closeness that can be found.

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Myron (my Dad), Kenny, Chani, and Zvi (back, left to right)
Adina and Akiba (front, left to right)

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(reviewing geography and our trip with Adina)

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(Danya joins the picture and Sammy, a friend of the family, is in the doorway)

After leaving their home, we ventured back onto the highways of Chicago to Naperville, IL to visit George and Lynn.  My Dad was George’s Junior High math teacher back in 1975 and was significant in teaching and mentoring him and a group of other precocious students in a less-than-precocious school.  He and his family have been part of our family ever since.  Aside from seeing and catching up with the two of them (their kids are off at college) and replenishing our supply of ice, part of this trip was the opportunity to see their new home.

<a href="http://www.richgoldman.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/102_1176.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-68" title="102_1176" src="http://www.richgoldman.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/102_1176-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>

<a href="http://www.richgoldman.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/102_1185.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-69" title="102_1185" src="http://www.richgoldman.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/102_1185-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>George has been very successful in his career, and as they have moved with different companies around the country, has been able to live in some very impressive homes.  We got the grand tour.  The house had been designed by a CEO with seven kids.  There is definitely not a want for full bathrooms, large closets, rooms, and what any home should have:  a small basketball court.  In addition to the well-designed structure of the house, Lynn did a great job of designing and furnishing the interior of the home.  Each room had its own style while still fitting into the overall feel of the house.

After the tour, we went with George and Lynn to a nice Italian restaurant, Biaggi’s, where they are regulars and are treated as VIPs.  Dad enjoyed his Veal Ptarmigan and I had a good Chicago-style Mediterranean/vegetarian pizza with anchovies (yes, anchovies on pizza are great, you should try it).  It was fun catching up about work, family, and future life directions.

After talking awhile longer back at the house, it was time to retire to our individual bedrooms.  I got yesterday’s blog post online, and got some sleep in what is scheduled to be our last night in “civilization” for nearly 20 days.

Tomorrow, we head out to Mitchell, SD.