Trail Grazer: Day 2: Chicago to Sioux Falls

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Day 2: Chicago to Sioux Falls

I woke up this morning and realized I had an awesome dream and wanted to run downstairs and tell my parents... and then I realized I was in Chicago at my friend's and not home. Yes, I cried a little, but then got my day started and off I went!

I grabbed a box of instant coffee packets from Starbucks because I knew I had a long day ahead of me and wasn't sure if I was going to be in the middle of nowhere or not! It then took me 2 HOURS to get out of Chicago! Rush hour traffic there is awful. The roads are HUGE like Houston and the drivers are all insane. I think they should stick to riding the "L".

My dad called me to warn me about blizzard conditions in Minnesota and he gave me alternative directions, but I wound up just driving to Minnesota because I saw blue skies ahead and thought "what could go wrong?". Well, as soon as I saw snowplows and salt trucks in Wisconsin, I knew I was in trouble!

Well then it turned to this....
(Really high winds and snow blowing across the road)

And then it turned to this...
(Whiteout conditions)

It was pretty scary because you'd go from being able to see everything to being in a white tunnel of snow . That's when I decided it was time to get off the road.

I had lunch in Wisconsin and was looking forward to having dinner in Sioux Falls-- until the road was closed! It turns out there was a 20 car pileup earlier in the day and the road had been closed for 3 hours! I got gas and they had opened the road back up when I was done. I got to Sioux Falls and decided to call it a night because the roads were so hairy and they had closed I-90 west of Sioux Falls and all of the overhead road signs said "treacherous conditions- travel not advised". I was kind of bummed I couldn't make it to Rapid City, but I think it's for the better. 5 more hours of driving in this weather would have sucked.

I don't think they actually have paved roads here - I think they are all made out of snow! There is so much snow that you can't see pavement, they have big bulldozers plowing the streets, and businesses have shut down! I must say that the Walmart was open and talk about an interesting crowd haha. I was bummed that the Barnes and Noble was closed because I finished my book on "tape" today (Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point") and don't have another one and I'm only halfway across the country! I guess I'll swing by tomorrow on my way out or just buy one on my phone.

Tonight I'm just relaxing- I was thinking about going to the movies but that requires me going out in the cold so I think I'm just going to lay low and hit the hay early!