April | 2017 | Thompson Life & Travels – Never @ Home

After 10 hours of sleep, we were ready to tackle the 450 km journey from Tinley Park Illinois (just out of Chicago) to Mason Ohio (just out of Cincinnati). We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the Sleep Inn before hitting the road around 10:30 am.

The first thing that hits you is the amount of traffic particularly big rigs on the freeways. Luckily they are only single trailers and not road trains like back in Australia.

Apart from roadworks which seemed to be all the time, we were making good pace looking to be in Mason around 4:30 pm. The first mistake was not allowing for the time zone change as we crossed into Indiana. There goes an hour.

The weather was overcast and warm with temperatures around 27C but the further we travelled south, the darker the clouds got and the more thunderheads were appearing.

At one point we were travelling along with the large amount of other traffic at 70 mph and could see some rain up ahead but no-one was prepared for the shear volume of rain.

As soon as the rain hit, visibility went to around 50 metres with the windscreen wipers making no headway on clearing the water. Brakes and hazard lights were coming on all around and it was a matter of waiting for a hit to the front or rear and was a tense few minutes. Luckily all around us didn’t make contact and a couple of kilometres down the road it was clear again and back up to 70 mph we continued.

One stop we made intentionally along the way was to the Albanese Confectionery Factory in Merrillville Indiana. This is where the Gummi Bears are made. There was opportunity to sample the different flavours as well as purchase them for home. Comparing this factory with the Jelly Belly tour we did last year, the Jelly Belly is the better option to see how lollies are made as you get a chance to go out in the factory whereas today you look through a few windows at the store into the factory.

We arrived a little later than expected in Mason but were welcomed by Billy and Teri as well as the new addition to the family, Cali. You could see a lot of the same puppy traits in Cali that we have with Charley back home. After a great BBQ rib meal, time for some chatting and off to bed.

As a side note, it could be an interesting night with thunderstorms, severe weather and possibly tornadoes expected so it may be a night in the basement.

The morning started out relaxing having woken up earlier than I needed so there was time to have a relaxing coffee while waiting for Jenny to get ready as all the bags were packed last night.

It didn’t stay relaxing for long. Rachael had headed out to work and didn’t get that far with a phone call letting me know that her car had stopped again and wouldn’t start. Luckily she wasn’t that far away. A quick drive to jump start her car and that extra time we thought we had had evaporated. Maybe I will get that relaxing coffee at the airport.

Ian and Anne dropped us off at the airport with plenty of time but with a couple of sporting teams (I loosely call them sporting teams as they were headed to the Masters Games in Auckland) ahead of us in the International connections line, that extra time again just evaporated.

We failed to get the upgrade to Business on the Sydney leg so the Qantas Club was out of the picture this trip. Maybe the American Express Lounge in Sydney will be more rewarding.

The plane was loaded well ahead of time and we started to be pushed off then an announcement came over the PA of holdups for the gates in Sydney so they would rather wait on the ground in Adelaide than circle Sydney in the sky. I could see our window of opportunity evaporating once again for the lounge.

Sure enough we arrived late into Sydney and even though our bags were checked through to Chicago, we only had enough time to get the shuttle from the domestic terminal to the International terminal for the gate opening for boarding. There were delays again so we probably could have snuck in 30 minutes in the Amex Lounge.

The flight across the Pacific was uneventful with a few hours sleep achieved but again we landed 30 minutes late in San Francisco. Hope we have plain sailing through Customs and Immigration as we only had 1 hour before our next connecting flight.

The process this time seemed to be very seamless and efficient with the new electronic processing and we were through and dropping our bags for the next leg within 20 minutes. A quick AirTrain ride from the International terminal to Terminal 2 and we ready for our final flight. There was announcements of being a full flight so it was interesting to see if there were going to be people “dragged off” but it never happened (after all we weren’t flying United).

The aircraft was a new Airbus A321 which was nice and roomy compared to others we have flown in including the 747 we came across the Pacific in. The flight map on the TV screen was a lot better with it being an interactive map. I think Boeing and Qantas need to lift their game a bit.

For once we actually arrived ahead of schedule in Chicago with it still daylight and still some warmth in the air. After grabbing the bags, it was a bus ride to Budget Rentals to pick up the car.

I would like to say that we had hired a cop car with a cop motor, cop tires, cop suspension, and cop shocks but I had only booked a standard car. Apparently they were running out of standard cars so we got upgraded to a black SUV, so maybe we need to get black suits and sun glasses after all.

After 24 hours from the time we left home, the eye lids were starting to get a little heavy but it was still too early to hit the hay, so a stop for some food on the way to the motel at Culver’s in Bolingbrook which also happened to be a geocaching event ticked a couple of boxes. It was good to catch up with some local geocachers. I think we took the prize for the furthest travelled to the event.

Finally after 27 hours from home, we hit the sheets at the Sleep Inn at Tinley Park. Tomorrow we make the drive to Ohio.