Day 10- Nashville, TN to Chicago, IL (Home Sweet Home)

Sunday I sprung out of bed and more than ready to head home to Chicago. The road trip was a blast and I really enjoyed all the food, catching up with old friends and driving through cities and states I've only ever heard about. However, 10 days of exploring and driving is tiring and long--we both felt like we had been gone for a lot longer than 10 days but at the same time it seemed like we could have used a lot longer in each city! Next time, if I ever plan another trip like that, I would do less cities with more time in each of them in order to get the full experience.

The drive home through Tennessee and Kentucky was beautiful. The rolling hills and mountains were covered in green trees, speckled with sprigs of this bright purple flowers and grazing cattle. It was breathtaking at some times. We ran into a couple snags on the way home. We got "lucky in Kentucky" thanks to Ally's sophisticated phone equipped with GP; we were able to avoid a huge traffic jam by getting on a parallel US highway and getting back on the interstate past whatever was blocking it up.

Also in Kentucky, we were driving along I-24 when we encountered a billboard for an "adult store" and joked about going. Then we turned out heads to the left and saw a giant sign preaching "HELL IS REAL." While we were laughing, two pieces of giant styrofoam that were sitting in the middle of and stirring around the highway flew up into the car. Ally was able to avoid one piece, but the second hit the front of the car. Once out of the pickle safely, we both looked at each other and said "We almost went to hell!" I'm convinced it was a warning from the heavens that we should never joke about going to an adult store. Ally thinks the contrary, that we should have gone because if we did, we wouldn't have hit the styrofoam. We'll agree to disagree on this one.

A few uneventful hours later, as we drove through Louisville, I joked about busting out my peanut butter, smearing it on some bread, then shoving it all in my mouth in order to pronounce "Louisville" correctly.

While most of Indiana wasn't that interesting to look at, I was fascinated as we drove through a wind farm, staring at the giant pinwheel-looking machines. I can't remember if this was before or after we drove through the city of Indianapolis, when I may or may not have playfully flipped the bird in hopes that Peyton Manning and the Colts would see it. Immature, yes, I know... but come on, like YOU wouldn't have done it?!

I think it was also at this time when we started driving along the part of the highway named "The Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds Highway." I mean, I can understand a few hours back when we were driving on the MLK Jr. Memorial Highway, but Babyface? Jeez... I guess they'll give a stretch of highway to anyone (unless it was part of the "Adopt a Highway" project and he bought it for himself).

When we reached Illinois and approached the Chicago skyline, I remembered all of the reasons why I love this city best. We may not have crawfish, giant shrimp, excellent BBQ or Mickey Mouse, but we have a lot of other great things (one of which is not warm weather right now). We appropriately ended the road trip by celebrating with a Chicago-style hot dog. Can't get that in any of the cities we visited (unless there is a Sonic, but it's not the real thing!).

Most importantly, Chicago is where my apartment is and I couldn't wait to sleep in my own bed that night.