Timeline - JM to Univ and mini vacation 2013

Timeline - Vacation 2013

10 September - 7 October 2013
Taking Joseph to Univ. of Chicago and mini-vacation in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan

a map of our travels (click on map for larger version)

Monday, 10 September 2013 - Left McAllen, TX the morning
Drove non-stop to Houston where we stayed with relatives. Tuesday, 11 September - Houston to Hot Springs, Arkansas, where we stayed with a retired librry friend.
Wednesday, 12 September on to St. Louis, Missouri for a short visit with a friend of Joseph's who is a student at Washington Univ.

We drove west to Jefferson City, MO and spent the night with family friends.

Thursday, 13 September we did the long drive, east back to St. Louis then on to Springfield, IL
and north to Rockford, IL (to miss Chicago trafffic).
we crossed into Wisconsin at Beloit, drove east through early evening traffic in Milwaukee
then on to my cousin's in Sheboygan.
An interesting wrinkle in Sheboygan... the GPS took us to construction just blocks from her condo
including a - bridge out - so we navigated around it in the dark, by the GPS on Joseph's phone and bits of my memory. We arrived in the evening.

14 through 19 September We got reacquainted with lots of relatives for several days, did some shopping.

Friday, 20 September drove to Chicago, stopping at the big REI store in Northbrook, IL for winter outerware and shoes. A sales person who is a retired postal letter carrier gave us lots of pracical advice on surviving a Chicago winter.
We checked in to the Chicago South Loop Hotel waiting for Mona and Jenny to fly up from McAllen.

Hurricane Ingrid a minimal storm, but very wet, turned into Mexico on Monday, 16 September and rained heavily through Monday 23 September, unsettled the weather enough
that Mona and Jenny's flight from McAllen to Houston was delayed until the last connecting flight to Chicago had already left. They got a flight early the next morning, and instead of arriving near midnight on Friday/saturday they arrived 10:40 Saturday morning, very tired.
After picking them up and a short rest at the hotel we launched out for a blitz driving tour of the Univ. of Chicago campus... and an excellent middle eastern meal at the Nile restaurant on the north edge of the campus.
We did some serious shopping at a Target store south of U. Chicago,
then drove along Lakeshore Drive to a Target store just north of our hotel and finished some shopping. Rested an hour at the hotel then off to find a Chicago Deep Dish pizza for supper in downtown.

Sunday, 22 September. Got up early and parked near the front of Joseph's dorm to be ready for the -move in-. As it turned out Joseph's roommate and his dad came to park just 1 car behind us, and they moved in nearly together. We had a family lunch with our students at the Ida Noyes Hall then left Joseph to a meeting and visited some of the new family festivities includin an underground tour of the Mansueto Library. We headed back to the hotel for a rest and supper in the hotel dining room.

Monday, 23 September. Picked up a board and some stuff at Home Depot - had an breakfast at Epples, and excellent breakfast spot, then got a 2 drawer wooden filing cabinet to use as a printer stand. Then off to Joseph's dorm (New Graduate Residence Hall, which houses mostly undergrads) just before noon. We put the new stuff in his room then all went off for a box lunch at a hall which looked very much like the great hall in Harry Potter. After that we got in line to find a seat in the Rockafeller Chapel and attend the entry to the College and ceremonies and speeches. Then the whole of the new students and family processed in loose file to the Hull Gate. Joseph went through and was ceremonially an attending student. We said our goodbys and filed to the right and a big reception.
We got back to the suburban and found we had timed the parking meter just right - only 2 minutes left.
Dead tired we drove the length of Lakeshore Drive and visited the Navy Pier giving Jenny another Chicago experience. Leaving the pier we got a little lost and drove half of downtown Chicago underground. Luckily when we found our way to the surface we discovered we were fairly close to the hotel.

Tuesday, 24 September - had another excellent breakfast at Epples. They even remembered what we had ordered the previous day, then off to O Hare airport where Mona and Jenny caught a flight back to Mcallen... no problems this time. I drove back to Sheboygan, WI for a few days of vacation.

Wednesday, 25 Sept. - getting a plan together to visit the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan. Got a Michigan State map and ended up making a reservation to take the Badger the last coal fired steam ferry in USA to cross from Manitowoc, WI to Ludington, MI.

Thursday, 26 Sept. at 1 AM we set sail and slept aboard for the 4 hour trip, had breakfast in Ludington, MI drove N. and crossed the Mackinac Bridge to the U.P. then west to Escanaba where we spent the night.

Friday, 27 Sept. drove N. breakfast in Gwinn found the old SAC Airbase in Sawyer and toured their little museum. On to Marquette MI short visit with a realestate guy - to Houghton/Hancock, just made it to the SUMI Finlandia Univ. bookstore. Spent the night at a modern lodge just a few miles out of Houghton.

Saturday, 28 Sept. Drove to Mercer, WI and spent the night with Donnas sister and her husband at their summer vacation trailer.

Sunday, 29 Sept. drove to Tipler WI a tiny unincorporated place. Had a second breakfast in the tavern there. Drove to the nearby park then back to town and met up with the other Parker family members then took a blitz tour of favorite fishing places then to the little cemetary and had a plain and decent funeral and internment for Marvin Parker, Donna's husband. There was a reception at Eilweens after which we drove what seemed to be over 100 miles to Spooner, WI arriving at dark and making a short visit to what was left of the Don Schmidt cabin. Spent the night at the Northwest Motel, an excellent stop.

Monday, 30 September - Donna drove to Sheboygan, arriving in the late afternoon. Tuesday, 1 October - I had my first chiropractic visit to see if I could get any relief to my left shoulder damaged in an auto accident on 12 August. Did various errands.

Wednesday, 2 October - Did various errands and late in the afternoon had a look at the St. Rose of Lima church where many of my relatives are burried, then after a non-stop tour of the town of Random Lake, we found St Patricks church on county trunk A, which is where I was baptized, and is very close to my maternal grandfathers farm.

Thursday, 3 October - Did various errands and later in early afternoon had a second chiropractic visit. Somewhat better results this time.

Friday, 4 October I left Sheboygan, Wisconsin in drizzling rain, heading south, around Milwaukee then headed west to Beloit and south half way down Illinois, retracing my route coming up through St. Louis, then straight south stopping for a few hours sleep at a motel in Little Rock, Arkansas

Saturday, 5 October - continued of just before 8 AM on through Texarkana and Houston to home in McAllen, TX arriving at 10:20PM.