On Thursday, Sherry and I presented ourselves at the Enterprise rental service–the only rental car company in Tiffin–and found ourselves presented with another Dodge Charger.  Instead of the screaming red Charger we took to North Carolina, this one was a stately steel.

Tooling down the Indiana turnpike, we were amused by a sign for the RV/Motorhome Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN.  I couldn’t help but think of the “conservation” museum Ted and I saw in Springfield, MO earlier this year; amidst the beautiful animals and habitats were “histories” of bass boats and what not: the whole thing was sponsored by Bass Pro Shops, which of course had a store right next door.  At any rate, if anyone is interested in the development of RV’s and projections into the RV future, Elkhart is the place to be.

Driving into Chicago from the east, you are presented with a choice, some may say a Hobbesian choice.  You can either take I-90 straight into the heart of the city, or you can take I-94, which hooks into a web of auxiliary routes that circle the city.  Since our goal is to reach Woodstock on the other side of town, each route has its advantages.  However, experience has taught us that no matter which option we choose, we’re going to get stuck in some kind of construction.  And no matter which option we choose, the other option is going to be better.  This trip, we decided on I-90 and were pleasantly surprised to be faced merely with vast masses of traffic that moved at a somewhat constant pace.  Thus, our trip–which Yahoo! Maps laughingly states should take 5.5 hours–took a little over 7.  In fact, the worst traffic we had was off the Interstate in Huntley, a tiny little burg that is not dealing very well with the fast and vast development taking place all around it.

We spent Friday and Saturday visiting with Katrine and other folks from MCC.  Our friend Deb gave us a neat little dish for holding condiments or drink garnishes.  (She gave Sherry something else, but I can’t remember what it is.)  Katrine presented us with an assortment of herbs and a small celtic painting from Prince Edward Island, as well as Sufjan Stevens’s album Come on feel the Illinoise.[review forthcoming]

In addition to visiting, we ate wonderful meals at some of our favorite Chicagoland restaurants: Pirro’s, Big Bowl, Bistro Wasabi, Le Creperie.  We did miss out on Portillo’s this time round, but we’ll make up for that next visit.

Due to the oppressive heat, we took in two films: Wordplay and A Scanner Darkly. I’m sure I’ll have more to say on that later.  Sunday morning we hopped back in the Charger and headed home. This time the traffic was heavy almost the whole way home as everyone in the world seemed to be leaving Chicago to get back home.