Somewhere in the stark darkness of Wisconsin...

Well, I took over driving after the madness of a snowy rush hour in Chicago, and had it pretty easy until we crossed over from Illinois into Wisconsin, with a blizzard to contend with for an hour or more in Madison. We are now 800 miles into this journey since leaving Sevierville prior to sunrise, and our GPS display indicates that there are no signs of life on this barren landscape north of nowhere. I am beginning to gain a significant gratitude for the terrain of home. At the last stop, a Subway/BP perilously near the Arctic Circle, there were rumours amongst the grizzled truck drivers littering the joint that I-90 was about to be closed as the pavement begins to ice up. We are determined to press on for the 280 or so miles remaining to the winter hamlet of St. Cloud. If the state troopers here in whatever random cheese community we are treading on want to change our goals, we will comply at their compulsion to stop us.

I would like to say that Indiana is a whole lot of nothingness, save the occasional grain silo, farm house, irrigation device. Whoever is charged with census taking in rural Indiana can essentially complete their business in the span of time it takes to read a comic book. Indianapolis was much smaller than I had expected, you can fit the entire business district in Lucas Oil Stadium.

Chicago was cold, gray, and forboding, but was a welcomed site in comparison to it's cousin Gary, Indiana, situated in it's back yard like some mangy old dog rummaging through the garbage cans behind your garage. On it's best day Gary, Indiana is a scene from some post-apocalyptic movie, and today certainly wasn't one of it's best days. We decided that should we get stranded in Gary due to the car stalling we would dispatch an airstrike and call for a Blackhawk rescue chopper to retrieve us. I have seen restrooms at truckstops that I would prefer to reside in over that place!

I am going to sign off now and pry open another redbull, the lack of anything whatsoever in Wisconsin is making me sleepy...

BW