>>>>>George --
>>>>>
>>>>> If you have some time on the commute up here, feel free to drop by. I'll even cook up some Chinese for you!
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Jay,
>>>>
>>>>Thanks for the offer, but not this trip. We're flying into Chicago O'Hare, and we're not renting a car (friends are providing the transportation). We'll be staying about 25 miles north of Chicago (Libertyville).
>>>
>>>The offer's open anytime. <s>
>>
>>Thanks, I'll keep it in mind. After last summer's trip (which I dubbed "The Plagues of Egypt Tour" because of what happened), I have the feeling that until we make the move, we'll be flying from now on. Of course, I said that a couple of years ago too, so who knows.< g >
>
>Now, I don't make this offer to just anyone, but, from the title, I might be interested in seeing your pictures from the trip!

Unfortunately, there aren't any. We were driving to Valpo from C'Ville, about a 10 hour trip. Things were right on schedule when we hit Nashville, TN around noon. Then we hit a traffic jam getting onto I-65 from I-24. It took around two hours.

We made it to Bowling Green, KY and decided to take a short break. All of a sudden a violet thunderstorm popped up, so we got back on the road, trying to get away from it.

We're driving along, when all of a sudden there's a lightning strike a couple of miles dead ahead of us. A couple of minutes later, we see what looks like fog coming up. We looked, for some reason to our left, and here comes this semi, smoke billowing out from directly behind the cab. It was apparently on fire and we don't think that the driver realized it. The smoke reduced the visibility to virtually nothing. That's when I gave it the name.< g >

>>
>>>We've been having a lot of Indian summers here. Over the weekend, we had our first hard frost -- at least according to my garden. But, the weather's bounced back again. Torrential rains a couple weeks ago brought down some leaves and muted the colors of others -- but those who relish subtlety will still enjoy the season.
>>>
>>We're in the midst of a cold snap down here. Lows in the lower 30s, frost etc. But, like up there, it's suppsed to warm back up.
>>
>>BTW, this trip is tentatively titled "The 'Payback Is Hell' Tour". We're going up because one of our friends is having a birthday that ends in 0 and last year my wife and the same and we went up there and she got a "good going over" if you know what I mean.
>
>One of my buddies defused one of those situations quite nicely. On his birthday, he dressed up as an old man -- actually a very old man -- and went to the office and wandered around. The people he's worked with for years made a passing glance at him, and just assumed that he was seeing someone other than them. So, when they did finally suprise him with the black balloons and cake, it was a bit old hat. Great to have the last laugh!
>
I have a different plan in mind and actually, the "payback" part is not directed at our birthday friend, but his wife. You might want to head over to www.roxworld.com and check out the "Backdoor" pictures. There's a picture of me there, that I call "Fruit Salad". After seeing that be advised that she (with my wife's help) did something similar to me last year. Then they wrapped me in toilet paper, put lipstick on me, surrounded me with empty beer cans and liquor bottles, put a sign on me reading, "I'm a Party Pooper", and took a similar picture. Last Saturday, I got a card from her, implcating that she thought of me when she read the article that was enclosed. It was from a publication called "The Onion" which is a humor newspaper. The article supposedly was written by an old man and was entitled "Don't depend on Depends". I swore vegeance right then.:-)