Prelude to Dawn
The time finally came for us to start out on the road trip. Number One Son (NOS) was waiting at our place for me when I got off work at noon. We had to run a few things up to his place and finally at about 3 we headed toward the Interstate. Gassed the car just before that and pointed the nose south. It was a Friday and we expected traffic at some point - blessedly it waited until we were right around Schaumburg - but then we discovered that the Vette does not play well in traffic. The coolant temp was creeping up toward the redline and cars in front of us were not moving. I envisioned us on the roadside, not even at our hotel, waiting for road service to haul a steaming Corvette to a radiator shop. We arrived at an exit before that could happen, though, and once we got onto a surface street and got the car moving it started to cool down some. We let it rest and then resolved to stay off the parking lot they laughingly call the Expressway. Then we made another discovery - that if you run the heater, it acts as a second radiator and the engine is kept at a happy temperature. Voila - no more overheating! That accomplished, we arrived at the Best Western Grant Park and checked in just a bit before sundown.
Dinner at the Weber Grill was astoundingly good - why can’t mere mortals cook like that at home? - and rather than riding the CTA back to the hotel we opted to walk. Personalities in Chicago run the gamut from urbane to inscrutable and I think we saw a little of everything in between. As an added bonus there was a city truck pumping out a sewer line, that produced a smell that distilled all the most disgusting odors you can conceive into one horrendous nasal assault. We ran around the truck to escape the stench, and saw three young ladies, dressed to the nines, walking the opposite way. Likely they were headed for dates or to a bar; they passed on the downwind side of the truck and must have made quite an impression on their arrival!
