We covered the twenty miles due north on US-45 fairly easily, and ended up closing the window wings, and rolling the windows up about 80% to ward off the chill in the night air. The route had us jog west for five miles on I-80, then we found ourselves on I-355 North, a toll road, to get us around/through Chicago. Even at that late hour, with virtually no traffic, it was amazing how much heat Chicago's concrete holds in, as both our engine temps, and our willingness to open the windows back up could attest to.

Rachael's driving was becoming erratic as we worked our way from toll booth to toll booth, so finally I flagged her over, and demanded that she let Skippy drive the rest of the way.

At 12:15 AM, I got a call from Dale, stating that they were at the second checkpoint, and needed the address to the motel, so they could punch it into their navigation.
"Anyone else there?" I asked.
"Just Joe Barry's 56, and a van full of the Hot Rod guys!"
"Ok...get us checked into both rooms when you get there."

We jumped off the toll roads, and onto poorly lit, narrow, undulating two lanes canopied by lush foliage for the last twenty-two miles to the checkpoint, If Aaron hadn't been there calling out rights and lefts, I certainly would've been lost, as tired as I was. Once at the Fun-Wash, Aaron and I had to wait another twenty minutes or so For Boone, Rachael, and Robert to show up. Learning from the Indy fiasco, Robert decided to load up Aaron on the spot, and head off to their motel, rather than risk another long drive following me around. It was 2:25 AM when we left the second checkpoint, and we still had thirty-three miles to the motel.