We started the day from our motel near Fremont, Ohio. We got a little bit of a late start, and neither of us was in the mood for a real sit-down breakfast, so we stopped quickly at Burger King, gassed up, and got on the road.
As we drove through Ohio we tried to read the license plate slogan for the state. Originally, Lisa thought it read "Birthplace of America." A quick google search revealed that although Ohio is the birthplace of the most American Presidents, it does not hold or deserve this title. The real slogan is, "Birthplace of Aviation," which, in my opinion, it does not deserve either. According to wikipedia, the Wright Brothers apparently built their airplane in Dayton, Ohio, and then brought it to Kittyhawk for the famous first flight. Ohio had been fighting for nearly a century to take the title back from North Carolina, and in 2003 Congress voted to give Ohio its due. As far as I'm concerned though, Kittyhawk, NC is still the birthplace of Aviation, because that's where the wheels finally left the ground for the first time. I guess Congress disagrees, but what do they know?
Driving through Indiana was boring. I don't really know what else to say about this. I'm pretty sure we listened to some Something Corporate and The Smiths. There's really nothing else exciting about Indiana, except that everyone drives like they're at the Indianapolis Speedway. I would normally appreciate this, but the Jeep really can't keep up with speed demons like this.
We got through Indiana and arrived in Chicago. I had heard many wonderful things about the city, and although we only spent a few hours there, it did not disappoint. On the recommendation of Pete and Andy (two douchbags I used to work with), we stopped at Jimmy John's for sandwiches and then swung over to Streeter's Pub for a drink. Apparently, Pete used to live upstairs in this building. The sandwiches were delicious, and the beer at Streeter's is nice and cold. We didn't stop to play ping pong, mainly because Lisa was afraid I'd beat her too badly.
We originally intended to park the car and walk around for a bit, but it was cold and windy. Instead we took a driving tour of the city, checking out the unique and awesome architecture and getting a picture of the giant reflecting lima bean in Grant Park. We decided to get back on the road, to escape the pricey downtown hotels in favor of our standard backcountry motels.
We drove south towards St. Louis, finally stopping in a small town called Bloomington, IL, which is the home of Illinois State University. It's also right next to a town called Normal, and on the highway the two are listed at Bloomington-Normal, which made us giggle (to steal a line from Lee). We stopped in a college bar for a burger, found a motel, and quickly fell asleep. Tomorrow promised to be a big day, as we were going to try to drive through St. Louis and part of Kansas, in order to put Denver only one more day out of reach.
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