On the Road: Chicago to Newport
We were feeling very settled in Chicago, and then it was time to leave! Packing our bags and loading the car went smoothly - we’re getting pretty good at this. Steve even found room for the two camping chairs we had acquired in Chicago, since we would need them in Newport. They are great chairs!
There would be at least 1,200 miles to cover, so Steve took a week off from work, and we were officially on vacation. It was a sunny Saturday morning, and as we drove south on Lake Shore Drive, we enjoyed a last look at Lake Michigan and admired a few more iconic Chicago buildings: the Field Museum, Soldier Field, and McCormick Place. We agreed we would definitely come back to Chicago again in a future summer.
Unfortunately, the fun ended barely 30 minutes into our trip, just after we crossed the state line and sang “Gary, Indiana.” In hindsight, we should have stayed far away from the Indiana Toll Road. With no E-ZPass, and no pay-by-plate apparent, we had stop and wait in long lines three times to pay tolls via credit card. It felt very old-fashioned and was really annoying. I think we wasted nearly an hour waiting to pay tolls. Ugh. (We also find it annoying that our federally-funded interstate highway system includes toll roads, but that’s a complex topic for another day.)
Soon after leaving the toll road, as we headed south through Indiana on Interstate 65, our ears were assaulted by a deafening, thumping ROAR. We didn’t have a flat tire; it was the sound from vibrations as we drove on the concrete pavement. There was a yellow diamond sign that said “ROAD NOISE.” Really, Indiana? You’re not going to fix this horrible road, you’re just going to put up a sign stating the obvious? Although this notorious stretch of I-65 was (reportedly) only six miles long, it felt ten times longer. UGH.
I don’t remember too much more about our long drive on I-65 through Indiana. There were a lot of farms, mostly cornfields. I didn’t take any photos during that 260-mile stretch, which says something. Fortunately, things got much more interesting and fun after Indiana.
The next few days were a blur, in a good way. We connected with longtime friends and made new ones. We toured iconic places. And we did a lot more driving, through Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and New York. It was hectic and wonderful! By the time we reached Newport, Rhode Island, we had driven over 1,400 miles.
For more about the stops we made on this trip from Chicago to Newport, see our posts:
