Galena

We had one last breakfast at the Tempo Cafe and checked out, rolling our suitcases to the train for the trip back out to O'Hare and the parking lot where I'd left the car. We strapped in and headed for I-90 and Seattle (see extended version below). We left the highway in Rockford and drove through northern Illinois to Galena, which is a neat little town with lots of history (and lots of little shops). It fit well with M's desire to check out a popcorn store she had heard about and my desire to explore the Mississippi River valley.

The last leg of our trip, from Chicago to Seattle, was sort of an off-and-on relationship with I-90 and I-94. Every time we were on the interstate, D would note how long Ms. Garmin told us it would take to get home and wonder why we didn't just follow her advice (Chicago to Seattle is about 2000 miles and 36 hours, if you're a robot). I tended to ignore him, usually because I was too busy turning off the interstate onto some farm road. We were on the interstate from O'Hare to Rockford IL, from Winona to Rochester MN, from Minneapolis to Alexandria MN, from Spearfish SD to Sheridan WY, and Columbus MT to Seattle.