Sometimes the best-laid plans don’t go as intended. Our goal when we left Indiana Dunes National Park’s campground was to hit the road around 9:30 a.m., hoping to avoid Chicago traffic.
Well, that didn’t happen. Our slide-outs wouldn’t close, and we couldn’t figure out why. The solar batteries were sitting around 40%, so we didn’t think that was the issue. We plugged in the generator, thinking that would help—no luck. So I drove up to the front office to see if they had any recommendations for a mobile tech who could help. (Remember, no service at the campground.)
Just as I was about to pull into the office, Bernard called to say he got the slide-outs working. Good thing, because the office was closed! We lost about an hour dealing with that.
I’m the driver today, and we’re heading toward the outskirts of Chicago. It’s BUSY. And there’s construction—lots of it. At times, my speed barely hit three miles per hour. I swear I could have walked faster. And when people see a big rig? They love to cut us off. Bad idea. This thing does not stop on a dime.
All that added another 1.5 hours to our trip.
When we have long drives like this, we switch drivers. It’s just safer. Long days and heavy traffic are stressful, so it helps to share the load and stay fresh.
We finally made it to Wisconsin. The sunset here is so late—9:30 p.m. and still plenty of daylight. After 6.5 hours of driving, that feels like a reward. Bonus: the A/C is blasting. We’re going to sleep well tonight.