Today I spent most of my time on the road. It was an interesting drive to O'Hare Airport, but a more mind-provoking one on the way back - at least, for me. An interesting end to an interesting three-day weekend.


Easter Weekend

My weekend, and my roadtripping, started early Saturday morning, right after my donation (i.e. selling) of my plasma. Logan and I loaded up for our drive to central Iowa (Carlisle for Logan and Ankeny for me) for Easter. I let Logan drive my car so that my arm had time to heal from the donation. He had to do some last minute errands before his flight to Paris on Monday. But finally (about half an hour after we had intended) we got on the road towards Des Moines.

About an hour into our trip we hit our first bump. Traffic had come to a stand-still. Logan had to call his family to tell them he was going to be late. After about 20 minutes (and sadly 2 miles) we came the cause of our delay; a semi had been run off the road and lay in the median. We saw no truck (not a complete one, anyways) but the trailer was spread across the median on its side. Logan said it looked like it had been knocked over (rather than fallen over). Regardless, we were past the mess and back on our trip. After a brief stop in Altoona to drop Logan off (he asked his dad to pick him up there so I wouldn't have to drive out of my way), I finished my drive alone.

I had reached my first destination, but my trip was not done yet. After spending my afternoon napping and watching sports, I gathered myself together and drove to Ames. This day was the restart of the Victorian-age Vampire LARP, and I wanted to be there for it. I wanted to make sure I started it off right, which it did. I wanted to know what my character's background was going to look like (dependent on the people in charge). And I wanted to know what position my character would hold on his return (dependent on another player, who didn't show up). Ultimately, though, her lack of presence resulted in my favor, anyways. Well, after the game a group of us went out to Perkins to eat, where we shared entertaining conversation about conversations Malkavians might have (a particularly insane clan - individually and as a whole). Finally, though, I returned to Ankeny to rest.

The next morning was Easter morning (and luckily the 'rents hadn't made me wake up for church, likely because of my presence last weekend at the Easter Cantata). The day really started when people began arriving for Easter dinner, which was more like a lunch due to the 1pm feeding time. The feasters were comprised of the 'rents, my brother Matt and his "special friend" Jessica, brother Grant and his new girlfriend Zara and myself. Afterwards my mother suggested we play Killer Bunnies - which I brought home just for that purpose. What's the fun of Easter without bunnies killing each other for a magic carrot?

Two by two we left, having satisfactorily (is that a word?) found the magic carrot. Finally, it was my turn to round up Logan and leave. We said our goodbyes to our respective families, gathered our Easter baskets and drove back to Coralville. We were less than a day from beginning Logan's trek to Paris. In preparation for this, he wanted to spend as little time sleeping as possible. So we invited Jay over to play some midnight frisbee. Two of my favorite activities - playing frisbee and staying up all hours of the night. We ended the night watching Galaxy Quest.


Trip to Chicago

The day had finally arrived - the day Logan and I left for Chicago. He gathered his luggage and we headed for the gas station for some roadtrip munchies. Then, we were off. Our first detour came at the border - our chosen route into Illinois was not recommended. So, we took a trip South and into the state from there. Of course, this affected our entire trip plan, resulting in Logan searching through his map for an alternate route. As we drove into Chicago, we hit a snare - a tollroad. It was only 30 cents, but I only had 50, which I paid, thinking that was that. Unfortunately, there was also a toll to get off the road (to get off the damn road!) of 80 cents - what a rip off. Logan and I could only muster 65, so we threw that in and drove off, wondering if I'd get a fine for a lowly 15 cents. But eventually, we did make it through Chicago and to O'Hare International Airport. I dropped Logan off at his terminal, wished him luck and drove off.

After finding my way out of the airport, I stopped at a gas station to buy some more food and prepare myself for further tollroads. When I returned to my car and started playing my iPod, I heard a strange noise - not coming from the speakers. It was music; Logan had left his phone in my car! So, I backtracked to the airport, wondering how I was ever going to find him in that huge airport. I searched desperately for some short-term parking, finally finding it by the International Terminal. Wonderful, I thought, Logan's flight should be leaving from here! Wrong.

At this time, I received a call from Jeff - apparently the only number Logan could remember that had a chance of getting a hold of me. He told me to turn around and go back to the airport (ha!). I explained the situation to him as I walked through the terminal. We sorted out where Logan was and I began my way towards him. As I passed through the terminal to the transit to the rest of the terminals, I though about the last time I was there - wearing the same shirt I had on (my green one for the INSTAP Study Center on Crete) an probably the same pants, as well. I thought back to my flight from there to Zurich, waiting for 8 hours between flights, playing war and eating a meal of McDonalds.

I hopped on the transit and made my way to Logan's Terminal and eventually caught up with him, returning his phone. Realizing that I now was paying for parking, I decided that I might as well stay and keep him company while he waited to go through security. He told me it was a little calming to have me there with him. He also told me he could survive without his phone, but he couldn't survive Jen without his phone. Then, for a second time, we said our goodbyes, wishing each other a safe journey.


The Return Home

A second time I made my way out of the airport and this time out of Chicago. I hit another tollroad and this time, or so I thought, I was prepared. In fact, I was for this one, but not for the ones following it. After the third stop to pay for this one road ($2 frickin bucks, no less! er, 10 cents less) I decided it was time to find another way back to Iowa. I hopped onto a southbound highway towards the Interstate we had initially drove in on. But at this time, my gas light finally came on and I was in the mode of finding a gas station.

One exit passed with no indication of gas. And another. And another. Finally, I sent a prayer up and just got off, heading hopefully towards a town. Which apparently didn't exist. Now I was heading down the backroads of Illinois, in the middle of nowhere, and was that a frickin weight station? My God! They have a fucking weight station out in the middle of nowhere but no fucking gas station?!

Ten more miles and still nothing. I'm getting desperate, so I turned towards a town called Lee Center. My hopes were lifted a little when I saw signs of civilization (aside from the random farmer), then are quickly dashed as I saw the end of town coming up. So I turned back around and parked, looking for an inviting door to knock on and ask for directions to the nearest gas station. As luck would have it, a guy drove out of his driveway on a bike. I didn't make it to him in time, but I did find a couple of his friends (family?) in the garage. All of them had the typical Hell's Angels look - tattooes, armless shirts, full beards and bandanas on their heads. But despite their looks they were more than happy to help me. "About four miles south" they told me. "Good," I replied. "That's about how much I think I have left in the tank."

With a newfound hope I made the drive down to the Casey's at Sublette, praying I wouldn't run out of gas before then. I didn't, but after gassing up I realized how close I had come. I filled an 11 gallon tank with 10.985 gallons of gas. Smiling at my close call (and a little at the attractive young woman smoking outside the store), I climbed back into my car and made my way back to the backroad I was on before Lee Center and directed myself back towards Iowa.

At this time the sun was setting. It didn't look much different from the backroads in Iowa at sunset. I felt perfectly content imagining what would have been if only I had talked to that pretty girl and admiring the sunset.