We drove about 8 hours today. But still arrived in Chicago in 7 thanks to the hour time change. :o)

This morning we shipped a couple of boxes of things from Ohio to Alaska to free up some space in the van. We also gave away a few non-shippable items like flammable liquids (think lotions, spray starch, lip balm, nail polish...). So that also freed up a little space. Then we swapped the softsided car topper for a hard sided version which was in my sister's garage. It holds a little more than the softsided one and is more water resistant.

Today's state line gifts were as follows:
Indiana: portable DVD player to share
Illinois: reading material
[We take pics at every "Welcome To..." sign at state lines. For the record, we didn't see one at Illinois... just a Welcome to Chicago sign. So I guess Chicago thinks it's a state!]

Stephen and Tess watched The Ringer in the last couple hours of today's journey.

The roads we travelled today went through endless flat cornfields. Corn as far as the eye could see. I don't think about Indiana that way, but there you have it. And flat as a board. We'll see more of that before the lumpy terrain picks up again.... It's the exact opposite of where we're headed! Our new home is as lumpy as it gets while still remaining on this continent!

We're in Chicago now visiting our cousins. We just got back from dinner where we had some Chicago pizza.... They live in a nice, medium sized house in a quaint family neighborhood in Chicago. One of the blocks on their street was blocked off for a Block Party when we arrived. Folks have sprinklers going and the cars are parallel parked on the street. The backs of the houses are on an alley on the other side of the street. Our cousins have a great backyard with lovely landscaping that Barb played a large role in orchestrating. All in all, it's really a great space. I could live in a city if it was in a nice neighborhood like this. Of course, we are moving to Anchorage.... almost the same.