Tonight, Bartlett, IL

Today we traveled from Van Wert, OH to Bartlett, IL. Not a particularly strenuous drive. We had a continental breakfast at the motel (which I supplement with a "smoothie" made of motel orange juice, vegetable protein powder and kiefer, both of which I bring with me. The kiefer is perpetuated by putting a ball of bacteria into a 1/2 pint jar of milk, and keeping it at room temperature in the car, allowing the bacteria to do their amazing work. Then each morning, I take out the ball of bacteria (which has usually gotten larger) and pour the milk (which has been "worked" by the bacteria) into my "smoothie" (which at home is more elaborate - juice, tofu, protein powder, cottage cheese, yogurt, fresh fruit, all blended; on a trip it is whatever I can find in the motel, usually just juice, plus what I bring) - and then putting the ball of bacteria back into the jar, pouring in milk from the motel  breakfast bar, and starting the process all over again). 

Before leaving, I took some pictures of the motel: 

Guest Keeper Inn entrance

     

Our room- No. 25

We got on the road at about 10:00a.m. We were on Route U.S. 30 - the Lincoln Highway - and one option was to take it all the way to suburban Chicago. But we had to go around Ft. Wayne, IN. As navigator, I decided it would be nicer to avoid that, so I took us off U.S. 30 onto a state road that would take us north up to U.S. 6. But Ellen wanted to try 30. SO we went a ways and then doubled back to 30 at Fort Wayne. U.S. 30 turned out to be not so great - a lot of traffic and trucks, congested, commercialized. Not much of it really rural. Live and learn. We did take it all the way almost to Joliet, IL, where we went on to I-355 up to U.S. 20 and on to Bartlett, arriving at 3:02 CDST. I read more aloud, from Islam; A Short History. We learned something about the Rashidun Caliphate - the leaders who followed Muhammad - Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman (ancestors of modern-day Sunnis) and Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth Caliph, to whom modern-day Shi'a look for their raison d'etre. It's a complicated and often violent history, but Armstrong does a pretty good job of navigating it. I also read from Richard Ford's Between Them, a memoir about his parents. A very different genre!  Quite delightful.

This evening, we were supposed to go to a Wine Fest in E. Dundee and meet much of my family there, but it rained hard and we went to Plan B, gathering at Moretti's Restaurant in Elgin instead. Nine of us gathered and had a chance to catch up on news. 

The gang at Moretti's

Dan and his friend, Julio, are flying to NYC tomorrow, where they will go to a Mets game with Katie and Michael Schoeck and Amy on Saturday! Dan hopes to see where Katie is working. She is teaching photography at an arts camp for teens located at Pace University in Manhattan. She texted today that she taught a class and "absolutely loved it." Wow! That's great.