Day 2: Chicago to La Crosse

Thursday, Thanksgiving Day was a short drive – we started a lazy morning in Chicago with T’s parents and giant starch lunch – mac and cheese, broccoli casserole and mashed potatoes, with turkey and a spoon of cranberry relish on the side. We hit the road and hit that typical Chicago traffic all the way past O’Hare – and hit four or five toll booths before we left the state. At least we were able to grab that grande eggnog latte from the oasis of the roads before leaving the state for good.

We stopped earlier than we’d expected – but had built in time in the schedule for this sort of adjustment, so instead of going the extra 5 hours to Sioux Falls, we stayed in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Leftover Thanksgiving dinner was still warm from being planted next to the car’s heater, and we watched the end of a movie on Lifetime (TV for Women!) and the end of Close Encounters of the Third Kind before crashing for the night.

Grendel’s been panting since we left New York – and the dry hot air in the car hasn’t done much for his already crusty nose. Benadryl hasn’t done much for helping him sleep in the car (or at night), and he’s only responding to human food, turning his craggy little snout up to his gourmet fish and sweet potato dog food. Tonight we’re aiming for a McDonald’s or somewhere I can get French fries – that might encourage him to eat a meal. Of course, it’s only about 15 degrees outside so it’s not like any of us want to go out for a walk.

If Wednesday was full of goth and 80s, today seemed more full of traditional rock. And because we were in Chicago, we spent much of the time in traffic listening to Jack FM (We Play What We Want!). The playlist below is from my iPod, I didn’t track Jack’s stuff.