Rocket Science

I was in a hotel last week where the elevator had two great features.

The first, the ability to de-select a floor. Say you enter the elevator and hit floor 15, but decided you really wanted 17. In most elevators you’ll have to stop on the 15th floor, wait for the door to open and close, and then proceed. In this elevator, you could simply press the 15 button to de-select the floor. Rocket Science!

The second, the elevator said it was “Full” when it had reached maximum capacity. No buzzing horns, no random stops. The elevator clearly communicated it was full! (I wasn’t on the elevator, so it’s not because *I* weigh too much.)

What was I thinking? 2579 mile drive…more later.

Day 3 was an easy driving day just from Joliet, Illinois to Livonia, Michigan. I met up with Terri and her family for lunch in Michigan City, Indiana (yeah, go figure). And I ended up in Livonia, Michgan to spend some time with Tina and Trish. I think I’ll spend a day in Michigan to let the storms finish their eastward journey and finish my drive on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Day 2 of the great eastward migration was much easier. I got a bit later start, after my crazy long Friday. I managed to continue through Nebraska, all the way through Iowa and got about halfway through to Joliet, Illinois. (And no, I did not have to stay in the prison!) All told about 12 hours on the road and 10 hours of driving. My big goal was to arrive into Illinois after a storm and succeeded in doing that.

(A brief aside about Iowa. The first trip I was supposed to make as NEEDS Project Manager in 1995 was to visit Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. I never got to make that trip because I got sick. Nor have I had the opportunity to visit Iowa since then. So yesterday’s drive through Iowa, you could say, was 14 years in the making.)

Well, I managed to survive Day 1 and ended the night in Kearney, Nebraska. I spent about 15 hours traveling on Friday, with about 12.5 hours of actual driving. (I had planned on leaving Thursday, but had a false-start. I decided to do a “do-over” and leave on Friday morning instead.)

I made it out out of Utah, through Wyoming (which was relatively pretty) and about a halfway through Nebraska. Thankfully my Nebraska driving yesterday was done in the dark so the “flatness” will be all new to me today! For about half of the time in Wyoming there wasn’t any snow on the ground, and the other half had maybe an inch or two. All the way through Wyoming and Nebraska the wind has been blowing like crazy. And there was a hairy 50 mile stretch on the eastern side of Wyoming before Laramie with ice on the road and blowing snow that slowed me up.

I spent the night in Kearney, NE in a hotel that had a full parking lot. (And the other hotels around have full lots too…I wonder what’s going on.)

Today’s Day 2. My goals are the eastern edge of Iowa or west of Chicago depending on the weather going through the area.