Spent 1.5 hours at TRS outside of Chicago trying to fix our generator. Looks like it needs to be replaced, so we gave up. Let's hope we don’t need it – especially in the hot southwest (yipes…).

The burners on the stove aren’t working either. But Bill jerry-rigged a way to make them work. I’m getting to be a pro at cooking everything on high without burning it.

Dropped Molli at Petsmart in Orland Park. She gets a vacation and haircut while we spend a couple of days in Chicago.

We decided to stay in the Chicago burbs and take the train in to the city rather than deal with driving/parking the RV. Bill suggested that I make a reservation, but there were tons of large hotels in the area and it was well south of the city. "We’ll find a place, easily," I say confidently. So we drag into town, exhausted and ready to stop for the night and guess what, no hotel rooms. Luckily they called all over town for us. We ended up at La Quinta, which is really nice on the west coast. This one is a bit of a pit. Was expecting to spend some time at a nice hotel. Oh well.

DAILY ENTERTAINMENT... courtesy of Shannon
Road Blackout: Took us two days to finally get the first one done. I suggested that I do the sign of the cross and Dad call me “dear” and we could check that one off as “Deer Crossing”… Dad saw a VW and then pointed to a bug splat on the window and called it "VW Bug.”

STATS
Day: 10, 9/13
Leave: 7:30 am, Oxford, IA
Breakfast: While driving
Lunch: Crooked Creek Woods, near Orland Park, IL

Dinner: Buffalo Wild Wings, Tinley, IL
Arrive: 5:30 pm, La Quinta, Tinley Park, IL
Travelled: 10 hours, 244 miles
Comments: Wouldn’t recommend this place, but it was the only room left in town.