mister_terrific (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mister_terrific) wrote2013-07-16 11:39 am
mister_terrific) wrote2013-07-16 11:39 am
(Mis) Adventures in Travel
The plan was simple. We'd get up early, have a nice breakfast at Uncle Bill's Pancake House (a St. Louis Institution), and drive up to Chicago on I-55 (which is right up there in the top 5 Most Boring Highways). It's about a 5-hour drive, so assuming we left around 7:30 or so, we'd get there about 12:30-1:00. The Japanese Consulate accepts visa applications between 1-4 weekdays, so that would give us PLENTY of time to turn Daughter's in, and then the ladies could shop their hearts out.
Great plan. You can guess what's coming.
There were three factors that I didn't a) know about b) think about c) couldn't do anything about.
First--and I knew this--the Cardinals were playing the Cubs that weekend at Wrigley. I'd forgotten about the Great Red Migration that takes place when this happens.
Second, they're doing some major road construction just outside Joliet. We hit it at 11:30. We got through it around 1:00-1:30. Still, PLENTY of time, right?
Third, this was the weekend for Taste of Chicago. Downtown. We CRAWLED down I-55 to Lake Shore Drive, and that was practically a parking lot. When we tried to turn into the Loop proper, it was even MORE congested.
I am still not sure how we managed to do it, but Daughter got her paperwork turned in...at 3:59 p.m.
And best of all...we get to do it AGAIN this week to pick the visa up. Now mind you, of the three factors listed above, only the construction is going to still come into play (so far as we know), but I'm looking forward to this like a root canal.
But I'm a dad. It's my job.
Great plan. You can guess what's coming.
There were three factors that I didn't a) know about b) think about c) couldn't do anything about.
First--and I knew this--the Cardinals were playing the Cubs that weekend at Wrigley. I'd forgotten about the Great Red Migration that takes place when this happens.
Second, they're doing some major road construction just outside Joliet. We hit it at 11:30. We got through it around 1:00-1:30. Still, PLENTY of time, right?
Third, this was the weekend for Taste of Chicago. Downtown. We CRAWLED down I-55 to Lake Shore Drive, and that was practically a parking lot. When we tried to turn into the Loop proper, it was even MORE congested.
I am still not sure how we managed to do it, but Daughter got her paperwork turned in...at 3:59 p.m.
And best of all...we get to do it AGAIN this week to pick the visa up. Now mind you, of the three factors listed above, only the construction is going to still come into play (so far as we know), but I'm looking forward to this like a root canal.
But I'm a dad. It's my job.