Day 3 just barely dawned. It was dark and rainy, but we were on vacation! No time for gloom. The woman that tried to break into Bonnie & Clyde's room the evening before was at breakfast, and she didn't even say hello. She did provide entertainment for everyone in the breakfast room by alternately pacing and staring transfixed at the Weather Channel. We overheard her conversation with the desk clerk about her having to travel to Chicago in the torrential downpour. Although all of us would be heading out in the same weather, all declined to participate in the drama.
Today would be another 8+ hours of travel. We would be reaching another time zone, visiting an auto museum, and dining at two of our favorite food emporiums. The rain followed us for a bit, but we drove out of it fairly quickly. We could see amazing lightning off to the East, and the skies were heavy with dark clouds. Bonnie and I learned just how difficult it is to capture lightning bolts with our cameras.
According to our Triptik, we should have gained an hour around Joliet, IL. According to our cell phones, we actually did. Donald immediately changed the GM clock, another of his responsibilities. He's got technical skills.
Some of us were really looking forward to seeing Historic Auto Attractions in Roscoe, IL. It's a private museum with antique or unique cars, movie memorabilia, and some unusual, quirky collections. It sounded like a good way to spend an hour and get some photos and break up the day. Susie got us to the museum, located in a small industrial park. I would like to report that it was a fantastic stop, a great find, one of the highlights of our trip. I would like to recommend it and say we saw things we never thought we would see. Unfortunately, we arrived there before opening time. We looked at the size of the steel-sided one story building, thought about waiting in the GM for twenty minutes, in the sun, and unanimously decided, "Nah."
We went on our merry way, and reached our next highlight, Cracker Barrel, for an early lunch. The skies were again heavily overcast when we got out of the car, and the restaurant greeter held the door for us and informed us that there were going to be heavy downpours and 70 mph winds. Oh boy! Only a tornado warning could have made that news better. Yes, it rained during lunch, but 70 mph winds? That must have been a marketing ploy to get guests to stay and shop. We had wind turbines and cranberry bogs and cattle to see, we weren't about to hang around in Janesville, WI for hours.
We checked in to the Comfort Inn Albert Lea, MN at 4:35. Hey, that was our third state today. We got disappointing news at the front desk - the Golden Corral, our highly anticipated dinner destination, closed "years ago". The desk clerk told us about Diamond Joe's, a casino "just over the line" in Idaho (our potential fourth state), about an hour away. Casinos mean buffets. Off we went, full of hope. Thirty minutes later, we checked our location with Susie, and discovered we were lost. Well, if not lost, then we were on the wrong road. We gave up on Diamond Joe's and headed back to Albert Lea, where we found Trumble's. It was adequate. While we waited for our meals, we looked around, and realized that we were in the remodeled Golden Corral. The irony.
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