It’s our last weekend in Chicago, and since most of you have
probably read posts from previous years’ travel through Montana and the
Dakotas, I will spare you….no need for me to repeat those musings. We’re too
early for the Testicle Festival, so that’s out, and nothing else would be too
interesting. We’ll drive home over I-90, which kind of means we just point the
car in the right direction and let it take us home.
So, for my last blog of the trip, I’m going to whine about
driving in Chicago. Specifically, driving in Chicago in a large truck instead
of a small car. It’s a royal pain. Folks here don’t much believe in traffic
rules – even the cops ignore them. If you’re driving down the street and you
maybe run through a stop sign, you might hear a “beepbeepbeepbeep” – that’s the
cop on the corner. He’s not going to do anything about it, he’s just letting
you know that he saw it and you should probably remember not to do that again
(at least, not at the next corner). Chicago cops are ‘way too busy to worry
about those steenkeen’ traffic laws. Hey! This is the most dangerous city in
the country (at least that’s what the news tells us – not to mention the
President of the country)….they’ve got gang-bangers to catch.
Drivers here think nothing of changing their minds. Going
West on Diversey and realize you wanted to go East? No problem. It’s Rush Hour?
Who cares? Make a U-turn in the middle of the block. Just ignore those people
who are honking. What do they know? If you change your mind in the next block,
just do it again. This happens daily – at least, whenever we are out and about.
The other day, we were on Fullerton – a 4-lane street running East and West – (remember,
street parking is allowed on both sides of the streets, so even though there
are 4 lanes, there aren’t really FOUR lanes – but there ARE 4 lines of traffic,
squeezing into the remaining space) and we were at a red light as we were
heading for an overpass. An empty 18-wheel car truck (you know, those trucks
that carry new cars) came down the ramp and decided to make a right turn….the
ramp is on the left side of this highway – so this turn would be about 120
degrees. Narrow street, parking on both sides, two lanes of cars heading toward
the truck. We are in the front. Ummmm, there is no way that this truck is going
to make it, unless we back up about half a block. But there is a line of cars
behind and next to us. All honking – at US. What they wanted from us was
unclear. Finally, the guy behind us got out of his car and waved at all the
cars behind him to back up. (He put it a hair coarser than I may have “BACK THE
F*&% UP” is what I believe I heard.) So people backed up and the truck
finally made it. Immediately after he passed, a young guy in a speedy little
car roared past us on the right, honking and waving at us – and thoughtfully
shared with us that he had a limited IQ of one digit - at least, I’m pretty sure that’s what he
was indicating…..It’s good to let people know your limitations. Otherwise, I
might have been irritated by this. But. knowing that he had some mental
disabilities made me much more patient. J
We’re leaving here on Monday or Tuesday, after babysitting
over the weekend. Yesterday was Miles’ 11th birthday and tomorrow is
Trina’s 47th birthday. Wow, both my grandkids and my kids are really
getting old! The temps are dropping here, and we’ve had snow the past couple of
days, so I’m ready to go home where the snow USUALLY stays in the mountains,
where it belongs….
So, if you’re out driving around the West next week and you
see us go by in Big Red, wave and honk…we’ll wave back, honest!
