Friday, August 6, 2010

Zipper It - Time with Grandsons

(Fair Oaks, IN) –  We never did see any northern lights last night. We drove down the road a few miles into the dark but no luck.  Tuesday and Wednesday was suppose to be the best days, but it was raining.  I guess we’ll have to wait till next time.

Jim had a lousy start to the day.  We need propane, one of the tanks ran out and he took it to a nearby place to get it filled up.  The only problem is there was road construction right where he had to turn into the place.   He couldn’t get into the place so he came back home.  Maybe he'll have better luck tomorrow.

He couldn't go back later today because we had to leave to go to Aurora, IL to pick up our grandson Jack at his daycare center.  Instead of going on the interstates like we usually do we decided to drive the back roads so we could see some scenery other than trucks and traffic.  It is really pretty in the northeast Illinois area and we even saw some TREES instead of cornfields.  And we saw some really gorgeous country homes.  Part of the route was on I-55, but only for about 13 miles.  But once we drove onto the ramp to I-55 traffic came to a dead stop.  Due to construction trucks and cars were merging from three lanes down to one.  It took almost an hour to go the 13 miles.  There was another stretch of construction after we left the interstate. 
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I don’t normally go on a rant but this one is overdue. When you see a sign that says a lane is closing in one mile, why do some people have to make the merge RIGHT NOW?  All that does is slow traffic go a crawl.  If they'd wait until they reach the point of the merge and then alternate (like a zipper), it would go so much smoother.  Once we got onto the one-lane portion traffic started moving right along.  It was aggravating today, but hey... we're retired.  We're trying to not let things like that bother us.  :)
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We got to the daycare center about 45 minutes later than we planned.  Once we got back to Rick’s we played baseball and hockey with Jack.  Grandpa did a good job while I took pictures.  After a while we went inside and watched Jack play with his toys.  He tried out this fitness ball.  It was bigger than him, so he gave up quickly.
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Rick was out for the evening so we got to spend time with Laura, Joey and Ellice.  We had pizza delivered for dinner, and after some after-dinner socializing we left for home.  It was slow going because of Friday evening traffic but we finally got home and just crashed.  We’ll be going back tomorrow for Jack’s birthday party.  It was a tiring day on the road but we loved spending more time with Jack and the rest of the family.

6 comments:

FD5, Retired said...

They never ran out of construction projects while we were there. Have fun with Jack.

Stay Safe

Gypsy said...

I think many roads were let go without maintenance for too long, so hopefully all the construction going on all over the country will improve the driving for us.

Jessica Riker said...

Your thought about the merge struck me as so funny because I have always been bugged by the exact opposite thing - people who see the signs for a mile, and then wait to the last minute to try to get over!! haha - I guess it just goes to show how people can think very different things about the same situation!!

Sam&Donna Weibel said...

Grabdson's are God's git to Grandpa's ,Jim will be in heaven while he has his grandson with you.I know that Grandma will spoil him also. we truly enjoy our time with Adam, Our vacation was made so much neater by having him along, they jst add so much ti life. Hope to see you guys when you head west. If you are starting plans remember the Lake campground where Sam had the membership closes on Oct 31st till April 1st. It is usally great weather up there into the first week of October, Adam was swimming with Grandpa last year on Oct 7th. You can't beat the price for ten dollars a night. Be safe out there. Sam & Donna

Kathy said...

How blessed to be able to spend that time with the family! K

justmealmn said...

to bad you could've stay over night then Jack could've had a slumber party with the grandparents....Didn
't you know tis the season,,,,ROAD CONSTRUCTION.....they have such a short season to get things finished. Hope you two keep enjoying your RVing. Linda says HI to you both. Till later your MN friends

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