Day 1 – Chicago, Illinois to Austin, Minnesota

Long day - more details to follows

Tuesday, September 11th
I left Chicago much later than planned. There were several reasons but the main one was the patio. I moved into my pace in 2004. There was landscaping done but most people removed it and paved the area. I never did so but every month or so I would weed the landscaping. While I was away in India for a year some keen gardeners rented my place. They planted more plants than you could believe possible in such a small area. Alas they also upset the weed resistant cover, so in the middle of Chicago there soon became a wild area. It required weeding every two weeks. I abandoned it for over a month. During this time there was heavy rain and the most enormous mushrooms grew. Also my apartment had a beetle problem – the exterminator recommended I remove the vegetation from the door. It was obvious, something had to be done. Since I quit my job it made sense to do it myself so the week after stopping working I went to the home depot and b ought all the necessary supplies. They stood for many weeks in my garage until finally the week before my trip to Yellowstone I started work. There was a lot more work than I had expected. I dug and dug until I hit stone mixed with earth. Then I removed the stone mixed with earth. Then I sorted the stone from the earth and left the stone in the area. Despite many days of work, the front of my house looked like a building site. I knew there was no hope to finish the job before I left but at the very least I had make it respectable. I did this from 9.00am to noon. Then I started getting ready for the trip. Some things had been done – Lara bars bought (lara bars taste great even though there are in the health food section. They are basically flavoured dates but they are filling and convenient so I bought 30 of them), clothes washed. But one big thing remained – my new computer had only been used to surf the internet and to play computer games. I planned to bring it on my trip and wanted to transfer some files. This took ages especially the iPod files. As I left it off to do things I would go and so some other packing. Everything seemed to take ages – the clock continued to tick. I worried I would hit rush hour in Chicago. Finally at 4 pm I left. The first hour was terrible. The roads were busy and I only went 20 miles. I thought about the long drive through Wisconsin and into Minnesota. Finally the I-90 and I-94 separated and I continued on the I-90. All was well. The late start didn’t seem so bad. I was hungry and I was relatively near Madison, Wisconsin. My friend David had recommended I go there but I never had. Given my imminent departure it seemed like this could well be my last opportunity, so I ventured off the itinerary to Madison. It was really lovely – dominated by a blue lake around which people cycled, jogged and walked. The town was also pleasant centered around the state house. The streets were full of university students. I found a pleasant Italian restaurant and ate. When I left darkness had fallen but fortunately I found my way from Madison to the I-90 without difficulty. Then it was just straight driving for many hours. I arrived in Wall after 11pm but found the hotel easily and slept well – it had been a long day