Driving, Deep-Dish Pizza, and Lessons Learned

First off: Ah!! It’s actually happening! We are ON a road trip!!:D

So. Since we shortened our trip, yesterday became a huge driving day for us. It also significantly shortened our time in Chicago, which is a bummer, but we figured we can visit Chicago more easily than most of our other stops. Yesterday was also  what we hope to be the beginning of a huge learning curve..!
Yesterday we ended up beginning our drive at 5.30am arriving at our hotel at 11pm. Granted, we did make some stops, but we also made a lot of mistakes that added unnecessary time to our schedule (more about those later… J). We took I-90 east, passing through Minnesota and Illinois, hitting Chicago, passing through Indiana, and ending near Toledo, Ohio.

Our view of downtown Chicago 

While we didn’t get to stop in downtown Chicago, we did stop in a suburb for Lou Malnati’s Chicago-style pizza, which was deeelicious! We also gave ourselves the opportunity to hit the bulk of Chicago rush-hour traffic… haha. The thing about the traffic though, was that it really did give us a chance to see some Chicago highlights, at a nice, slow pace. So it wasn’t all bad! 

The dreaded toll bridge

As for our learning curve… this is where our trip turned from what should have taken 13 hours, plus stops to 18 hours. We realized too late that we had taken too much time at the beginning of the day and would be hitting Chicago during rush-hour. We also dropped about $20 on tolls. Even though I knew there were some tolls in and around Chicago, I was too niave to take them seriously. I also didn’t realize that our GPS had an option to avoid toll roads. I figured a dollar here, a dollar there, we would be just fine! Then, we got to Indiana, and by the time we left 2 hours later, owed $7.70, just for driving on their roads, which was our last straw. We looked at the GPS, found the “Avoid Tolls” button, and upon entering Ohio, switched to the side roads. Mistake! By that time, it was dark, it was rainy, and the roads were very small and seemed secluded. We only lasted a few minutes before getting back on the Ohio turnpike and shelling out another $2.25. This morning, we learned our lesson and started early with “Avoid Tolls” button checked, so it’s been smooth sailing. J 

Indiana was a bit dreary, full of fog.

-Allie