Lessons I learned on my trip to Chicago

This week Ann and traveled by car to Chicago from Kansas City - about 500 miles one way. Here are a few things that I learned.. in no particular order..

• State governments waste money by putting the name of the "current" governor on the state signs. "Welcome to Illinois" would have been sufficient and reduced the need to change the sign when a new potentate is elected.
• I get better Chicago style pizza in Kansas City.. actually I buy it frozen from a restaurant that markets in our area. The crust on the pizza I had in Chicago was dry and the pizza was mostly cheese. This New Yorker was not impressed.
• Chicago is a really big city with a great downtown area. I forgot what it is like to have a vibrant city filled with people, business and shopping. My hope is that the downtown area of KC will one day be described that way.
• Illinois is as flat as western Kansas - at least along I-55. This was a stark contrast to the rolling hills that we traveled along I-70 in Missouri. As we got closer to Chicago there seemed to be more trees but it still seemed very flat.
• Downtown Chicago has some wild one person wheelchair lifts. The buildings are very old and many have been adapted with lifts to help people like Ann navigate anywhere from two to six steps. At Lawry's Restaurant she need two such lifts.
• The folks who design "handicapped accessible" hotel rooms really don't have a clue. They need advice from people in wheelchairs to help them understand how little things like grab bar and closet placements should be done.
• Chicago has great bagels.. especially at a place called e-Leaven. These tasted more like the New York ones that I grew up with. The ones in KC are from Einstein Brothers and taste good but not as good as these.
• Illinois is a slow state. And by that I mean the speed limit is 65 MPH.. at least on I-55. I was glad to get back to Missouri where the limit is 70 on I-70. It is a small thing but significant as Kansas seeks to expand their limit to over 70.
• And lastly, I learned that the doctors have accepted Ann into the stem cell surgery trial. The next step is to get approval from our insurance company. You can keep up with her status in this here. We are very excited.

I am glad to be back in Kansas City. We may not be the Second City (actually Los Angeles is now second) but KC is the Number One Small City.. or is that Large Town?