We're Off

We are off and running. After Becky’s hard work at packing, we jammed everything into the car and headed out.

The beginning of a trip is always exiting and then settles into a humdrum of road noise. We had a late breakfast in Norwalk and then jumped on the turnpike and headed west. It took a long time to leave our stomping grounds and feel that we were actually starting a trip. For me, this happened as we approached Gary, Indiana.

What a mixture of sights. It’s an old industrial city of the type I didn’t think existed anymore. The first thing that struck me were the Roosevelt era WPA buildings—many cities have now torn these down. I’ve never seen such a spider web of our electric grid as I say today. The giant towers were going in all directions and gave the impression of trying to prevent birds from leaving the area. There is a vast array of steel mills and related factories that reminded me of Cleveland’s and Pittsburgh’s hey day. Most were working but appeared dilapidated with sparsely filled parking lots.

Right after Gary, we saw the Chicago skyline from the highflying Sky Bridge that enters the area from the south. I never tire of seeing big city skylines. You can just feel the energy of the city when you see that array of buildings with plane after plane coming into and leaving the airport. We got there at rush hour and it went slow but relatively well. The rush hour drivers displayed much more courtesy that I’ve seen in Columbus or Charlotte or San Diego and many other places.
We’re in Wisconsin now and hope to see the beginnings of the West sometime tomorrow.