Some said it was because this was Friday the 13th. Whatever the reason, today did not go as planned! In fact, Plan A was replaced by Plan B, and that didn't work either. The major road that we needed to take through Iowa (passing through Waterloo and Cedar Rapids) was being used for evacuation and emergency use only. If there had been some alternate route that we could have taken, it wouldn't have done any good because I-80 heading east to Davenport and our hotel was closed as well. The DOT said there was no way to get to Davenport.
Plan B. We decided to go through Wisconsin and head to Rockford, IL. The office staff made phone call after phone call to find a hotel. They booked the Radisson in Rockford, IL. We changed our lunch stop and afternoon break and continued merrily on our way into Wisconsin. Until we hit a total stop in traffic on I-90. People were out of their cars and walking in the median and on the highway. It looked like no one was going anywhere. We were able to exit the freeway at that point and take a parallel route. I started a singalong. What songs did our comedian passengers choose? "Cruisin' Down the River" and "Down by the Old Mill Stream." After 26 miles we were able to get back on the interstate where traffic was moving. I collected the song sheets because we were just 8 miles from our afternoon stop at Lake Delton. Suddenly both lanes of I-90 were just crawling, and it took us about 1 1/2 hours to get to our afternoon stop. Our coffee break became our evening meal. From Lake Delton to Madison, I-90 was closed completely, so we crawled along with a bazillion other cars and trucks through small towns on #12. We played a card game. Finally got back on I-90 which moved at full speed. We played Bingo. And at 9:45 PM we finally arrived at the hotel. It feels so good to have a bed waiting for us.
Everyone has been so cooperative and tried to look at the bright side of the day. One man said, "We're a lot better off than the people who got hit with the flood." We didn't see anything dramatic. Fields had obviously been very, very wet, and the rivers were high or a little out of
their banks, but not the kind of flooding that affects homes and property.
So ends a most unexpected first day.
Plan B. We decided to go through Wisconsin and head to Rockford, IL. The office staff made phone call after phone call to find a hotel. They booked the Radisson in Rockford, IL. We changed our lunch stop and afternoon break and continued merrily on our way into Wisconsin. Until we hit a total stop in traffic on I-90. People were out of their cars and walking in the median and on the highway. It looked like no one was going anywhere. We were able to exit the freeway at that point and take a parallel route. I started a singalong. What songs did our comedian passengers choose? "Cruisin' Down the River" and "Down by the Old Mill Stream." After 26 miles we were able to get back on the interstate where traffic was moving. I collected the song sheets because we were just 8 miles from our afternoon stop at Lake Delton. Suddenly both lanes of I-90 were just crawling, and it took us about 1 1/2 hours to get to our afternoon stop. Our coffee break became our evening meal. From Lake Delton to Madison, I-90 was closed completely, so we crawled along with a bazillion other cars and trucks through small towns on #12. We played a card game. Finally got back on I-90 which moved at full speed. We played Bingo. And at 9:45 PM we finally arrived at the hotel. It feels so good to have a bed waiting for us.
Everyone has been so cooperative and tried to look at the bright side of the day. One man said, "We're a lot better off than the people who got hit with the flood." We didn't see anything dramatic. Fields had obviously been very, very wet, and the rivers were high or a little out of
their banks, but not the kind of flooding that affects homes and property.
So ends a most unexpected first day.
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