On the road again, smoother sailing than last year

For a few minutes this morning I was sure I made a big mistake by not leaving on Wednesday as we originally planned. I was also questioning my decision to  delay the trip again on Friday when the weather went to heck again yesterday.

Grimy car

Today was supposed to be clean and green all the way through Chicago, but when we arrived in Flint about 8:30 a.m. the snow was coming down at a pretty good clip. The snow continued through Lansing, but the roads were wet and as we traveled south, conditions improved.

In fact the area I expected problems, the section of I-94 near Benton Harbor, was clear and dry. That is usually where we find lake effect snow, but not today. The further we drove, the better the conditions became.

I was very glad that we left the trailer in Amarillo as I was not looking forward to another snowy adventure on the trip south like we had last year.

Chicago was a breeze (it was Saturday morning after all) and the Detroit Red Wings versus the Chicago Blackhawk game came on at 12:30 p.m. (eastern time) which gave me the game to listen to almost the entire second half of today’s trip. The fact the Red Wings won in overtime just added a little icing to the cake.

Salt mud

This trip, at least through Amarillo, Texas, will be the mirror image of the one we just made in October when we returned from Arizona. Tonight we are staying in the same motel we stayed in on the way home and tomorrow night we will stay in the same place we stayed in Oklahoma City. We liked both places and so didn’t see a need to seek a new one.

Tonight we ate at the same restaurant,  Cavataio’s that we ate at last October with equally satisfying results. Joan had the Chicken Parmesan and I had the mostaccioli. It came with a nice soup and salad bar.

The car is a mess from all the salt spray on the roads, but by the time I thought to take a photo it was dark so I'll shoot a photo in the morning and add the photo tomorrow night.

With two NFL playoff games to watch we’ll be happy in our room tonight. Tomorrow we’ll get up at a normal hour and head to Oklahoma City.

Mileage out: 3135

Time out: 8 a.m.

Mileage in: 3660

Time in: 3:05 p.m. (Central time – travel time 8 hours and 5 minutes)