From Springfield to Chicago

After another late night with the Batchelders, the McLains were a little slow rolling out of bed this morning. We had a quiet morning at the KOA campground (or is it Kampground?) in Rochester and prepared the rig for the drive to Chicago. Prior to leaving town, we headed to the Batchelders for one last morning together. We played a few hands of rook, boys versus girls whiffle ball, in which the boys won, and lunch.

We had about the quietest drive we've had so far, with Jll, Alastair, and Magnolia all sawing logs. Adelaide and Dagny read to themselves, and I got my fill of talk radio. We pulled in to New Lenox just before dinner time, unloaded the car, and headed over to Smith Crossing in Orland Park, the home of Wilma McLain, the matriarch of the McLain family. My father and step-mother are still here as are my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Charlie from New Jersey. After spending a little while catching up, we headed to dinner with my dad, step-mother, Aunt Kathy, and Uncle Charlie. Unfortunately we missed the run to Fox's pizza last night, so we made do with a local Mexican restaurant. My grandmother was not feeling very well, so she stayed behind and visited with one of her good friends, Fran Carlson, who had come to see her.

After dinner we went to spend a little more time with my grandmother before hitting the rack. I had dreams of getting a few hands of poker in tonight, but it wasn't meant to be. By the time we got back to the RV, I was more ready for bed than for the poker rooms in Joliet. They will have to wait until tomorrow. I need to bankroll myself to a few more tanks of gas.

- Dave