Is the trip about 300 miles or is it a 328-mile (or insert odometer reading here) trip? That distinction without a difference has generated much conversation over many years about scores of trips along essentially the same route.
The difference is in driving styles. And this trip provided a striking contrast. Going to the cousins gathering, my brother choose a route that took two tollways, two four-lane highways, a quick dogleg between a tollway and a highway, and a few side streets. My brother has always been a car guy. I suggested a route, obviously ignored, that involved two four-lane highways and the bare minimum of side streets. Ahem. He couldn’t understand why I suggested that route, I couldn’t understand why he made the trip so complicated.
I was stopping at my goddaughter’s home on the way out of town; my brother’s suggested routes weren’t complicated but numerous — how to get around construction, highways vs. tollways, avoiding traffic (I was leaving during the Monday morning rush), etc.
Traffic be damned, I took two-four lane highways to the tollway, straight into construction. As traffic thickened, doubt arose. But I rocked the roadways, making excellent time. Then there was getting from the goddaughter’s house to home. Again, many options were offered. That seems to be very much a Chicago thing; drives the hubs (pun intended) nuts. All the better he wasn’t with me this trip.
Fortunately, she offered the perfect route: Plank Road turns into Peace Road which connects to the tollway. Mid-morning drive along a rural two-lane highway. Blue skies, green fields, and just the right amount of gentle turns and rolling hills; nothing could be more peaceful.
I may be related to my brother by blood, but I’m clearly related to my goddaughter in spirit.
(image from Google Maps)
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