Friday, October 8th: 5 a.m. wake up, 5:30 departure, 6 a.m. meet and hit the road in a two vehicle caravan. Gained an hour by hitting the Central Time Zone and arrived at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and the Hilton Hotel before noon! Since I had packed nearly everything that wasn’t nailed down during the week, I was pretty sure I had everything we needed for the trip - and then some.
We got a really good rate at the hotel through one of those online price things, but when we arrived we found out that it would cost almost as much to park our minivan as it would for the three night stay! Yes, nearly $50 a day for parking. We banged heads, unloaded vehicles and headed for lunch to discuss our options. Hitting an old favorite we dined at
Portillo’s in Schaumburg - and it was a little slice of heaven. We even made plans for parking that would cost less than $10 a day; you guessed it, we didn’t park at the hotel! All was well.We hit the race expo before dinner and then I took the family out west to visit some dear old friends. It was a long day that ended when we got back to the hotel at 1:35 a.m. Saturday morning!
Saturday proper went quite well. Slept in a bit, got everyone ready and headed back into the city for some time at the Field Museum.
It had been nearly 10 years since we last visited, so there was a lot to take in. And, after walking ourselves silly in the museum we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner at Buca di Beppo. Had a great meal with everyone then back to the hotel for a night of sleep before the race. And so everything was set for a great race day. Lots of food and well rested . . .
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