Traffic? What traffic?

The past two days have certainly been about traffic -- and driving in said traffic. For a couple of people whose greatest traffic challenge is usually Calgary's Deerfoot Trail on a Friday evening rush hour, yesterday and today were interesting.

Just about anyone who lives in Canada has heard horror stories of driving on Ontario's Hwy 401, most notably through the metro Toronto area. A bazillion lanes of traffic in each direction, express lanes, collector lanes, construction...any one of these would be enough to freeze the knuckles of Alberta drivers, but put them altogether in one trip, and look out! The navigator (that would be yours truly) decided it would be best to stay in the center lane on the express side because that way, it was more likely the 'fat dots' (yes, that's what my brother called the wider line markings on the roadway that indicated the lane was going to end) would be on our right side, and that we wouldn't run out of roadway. Maneuvering 38 feet of motorhome that's also towing a little car on a dolly can be trying at the best of times, but in heavy traffic, it's definitely a challenge. There was certainly no down time as we trundled our way from east to west, certainly not enough for me to even jump over to the couch to snap some pics of downtown TO off in the distance! Still not sure what this is all about...don't push him out of the ditch?

After we got through the Toronto area, the rest of the drive was pretty uneventful. The picture out my window from the bridge at Sarnia looking towards Lake Huron was absolutely breathtaking though!

The colours in the water were so blue...I was just in awe. We had about a 20-minute wait at the border, which wasn't too bad, and I only lost a tomato from Mexico. The border guy didn't ask about alcohol, meat, or anything else, but boy, better not have any Mexican veggies! What's really stupid is that I bought it in Walmart in Great Falls, MT. Yeah, I know....

We stayed that night at the Holiday Shores RV Resort in Durand, MI. This place is beautiful! There are over 500 sites in this resort, and a 9-hole golf course. Most of the sites were long term guests; whether owners or renters, I don't know. Many of these retired people were cruising the resort on their golf carts like we used to cruise downtown on a Saturday night! Everyone was really friendly, and it was just a really pleasant place to stay.

We got on the road early Friday morning, heading for Chicago. On paper, the trip shouldn't have taken more than 5 hours. On paper wasn't accounting for construction season in the Chicago area, nor was it accounting for two nitwits who made silly choices in how to get around tolls and the like. We found way more construction that we likely would have come across had we just paid the toll and stayed on I-80. But then again, there was one point after our little detour where it took us over half an hour to go seven miles! Of course that little delay allowed me to take this neat photo of the Des Plaines River in Joliet...

The metro Chicago region is HUGE! We drove and drove, and we drove some more! But we finally made it to our destination. We're in the Sycamore RV Resort in Sycamore, IL. It's a nice little RV park with small lakes, walking trails, a very small beach, and nice calm, quiet environment. We have enough room for the motorhome, the car, and a cement pad for the patio chairs. We spent last evening sitting on our 'deck,' enjoying nice wine, uploading photos, and working on the blog. Watching the fireflies was kinda cool too!

On our travels yesterday, we did find a couple Costco stores where we plan to pick up some tri-tip roasts -- absolutely to-die-for cuts of beef! And of course, I've already scoped out the location of the Premium Outlet Mall. Tonight, we're having dinner with a long-time (I was going to say 'old' but he's bigger than me, and there's no snow around here for a face-down snow angel!), dear friend. Tomorrow we'll be meeting up with a number of Ger's buddies who are getting together. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we'll have time to get into Chicago proper and see what there is to see there. Someday, we'll be back, and some tall friend of mine will have to give us the grand tour!

As usual, pictures are on Flickr.