Sunday, 28th of April
2013
Cedar Rapids, IA –
Chicago, IL
Miles: 274
Slower morning and
the same routine, a coffee maker in the room. There was a bakery in
the czech village opening at 10.00 am, so we had plenty of time. Blog
writing. J. had something to eat. Pack the car again and leave. Quiet
Sunday morning. We drove to downtown Cedar Rapids, train tracks,
business district with nothing really special. They had sky walks
there (gotta be Iowa thing). We drove to “Little Bohemia” part of
the town, close to downtown, in some way like Detroit (or maybe older
Mid Western towns), some empty lots and quite a bit of space. NewBo
market opening at 10.00. We drove to Czech Village, saw a meat shop
and cafe (nothing) and got some pastries (kolace) in Sykora bakery.
After eating them, we discovered they were not really authentic (or
super good), too bad. The market, pretty new, but again nothing
special. Left the town. Freeway for 19 miles and then back on
interstate 80. We took a break in LaClaire, small town of Iowa and
home of the show American Pickers. The town was next to Mississippi
river, pretty nice and charming. J. went into antique shop. We went
as well to the shop from the television shop (kind of buzz kill),
there were few things and then shirts and souvenirs. Oh well. Still,
it was pretty nice town. We crossed the river and were in the state
of Ilinois. There was a welcome center (a bit out of the way),
overlooking the river, I got a map and saw a sign informing people
about a budget cuts and closed center. It was a bit past the noon, so
we just stayed on the road and were heading to Chicago to visit a
family (for two nights). The road became very boring, flat, we saw
some flooding (big lakes in the middle of the fields). There was
really nothing to see. The road became a toll road. We ended up
paying the toll quite a few times (over ten dollars). We were in the
greater city, not super pretty. Driving and driving. It felt like
forever. Probably close to four o'clock we arrived and were happy to
be done. For the rest of the day we just hang out with the family
(they had two babies). Fun. Fun. Fun.
