Madison to Madison July 29 Day 40

Jerry...Got a late start again today because Brooke, Molly and I went to the pool while Beverly tried to figure out our La Quinta points. Do any of you get points or the equivalent when you stay in hotels, fly, etc? Our experience has not been great with things like that. The programs always seem to be designed to maximize the number of ways for you're not able to cash in. We were a few points short of a free night in a hotel last night, but were told that after we checked out of the hotel we would have enough (points are not credited until after checkout). Well, we checked out then Beverly tried to get us a free room for tonight. We were told that the points are not credited for 72 hours, so we can't get our hard earned free room until after we no longer need it. 

We left Madison, WI at about noon and drove toward Chicago. Upon entering Illinois we started to hit tolls. I don't know what they do with the money because they don't appear to use it to fix the roads. Anyway, we missed paying a toll so now we have to go online to pay it or get a ticket. I tried to pay extra to the next toll attendant after the missed toll, but she told me that can't be done. Great system.

We ate lunch/dinner at another place from Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, a barbecue place called Smoques. It was good food

 and a third cheaper than the barbecue place in downtown Frederick. We made it to our hotel on Madison Street in downtown Chicago by 5:00 PM. After resting for a bit Molly, Blair and I walked around looking at things for an hour or so. We found the Millennial Park and saw the old Marshall Fields store. We returned to the hotel and got Beverly and Brooke then went out to the Navy Pier. We walked around until 9:30 then watched the fireworks. They were only ten minutes long but very intense and loud because they were

on the water. The large crowd clapped, and boat blew their horns when it was done.

I checked out getting tickets to the Cubs game tomorrow against the Astros. Wow, talk about expensive! The cheapest tickets here are about the same price as the most expensive in Pittsburgh. The Cubs aren't as expensive as the Yankees, but they are comparable to the Red Sox.

Tomorrow we plan to go to the top of the Sears Tower and go out on a boat on Lake Michigan.