We made it!

Still learning how to use GasBuddy, we bought gas where we could easily get on and off the highway. The traffic was surprisingly heavy. Those population scientists may be on to something . . .

We are on a nosebleed floor in the Hyatt attached to the McCormick Place Convention Center tho attached is a loose interpretation. (The elevators consistently pop our ears and one of them sticks on the 27th floor) It might be a mile from our room to the SLA section of this place which probably is as big as a small NC town. You can get there from here, and do it indoors, but I'm glad I brought my walking shoes. We did walk the building tonight to locate my class tomorrow, the registration area, and food vendors. The place was totally empty except for a couple of security guards. It absolutely dwarfs the place we were for APLIC in DC. I'll be curious to see it busy and full tomorrow. 

Folks have been basically friendly and helpful. There is a Metra station in the building for Jessie's convenience. The reservation was garbled and lots of incidentals will be automatically charged to the room so Gina and I will have a good chat over my checkbook when I get back. And I may be able to talk them into parsing it all out before I check out on Wednesday. At this point, I'm glad they figured out how to give us the same room all 5 days so I wasn't going to be fussy about the bill in that moment. So we are here and settling in and making friends with the Concierge.

The trip was mostly uneventful Interstate except for a run through downtown Indianapolis and around the Monument Circle, which Jessie had never seen and I hadn't seen in years. At Christmas, they string lights from the top down to the fountains (the picture is only the base, it is a substantial obelisk) which become skating rinks and they sometimes have horse drawn carriages out. A very good urban revitalization project.

In northern Indiana, in the middle of the BFE, there was an enormous, meandering windfarm with large fields of corn and soybeans underneath. Look closely and you can see windmills to the horizon--it was so in all directions, stuck here and there between fields and barns. Pretty incredible to see, difficult to photograph from the road. But encouraging. I suspect good for the farmers as well as the environment.

So with the time change, I'm off to bed early, Chicago time. See you tomorrow!