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Glad to be back By Mike in Politcs Plus August 11, 2008

We arrived in steamy, hot, West Memphis, Arkansas at about seven o'clock Saturday evening.  It was 98° ,but it felt more like 138°.  We left next morning at about seven o'clock and arrived in Chicago at four o'clock that afternoon.

At three o'clock Monday afternoon(for the 7:00PM game), we headed out to the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) at Midway Airport to board the L. train to the Roosevelt transfer point, where we took the many, many, stairs to catch our L. train to Wrigley where we climbed more stairs downward to the stadium.

My daughter worked three days on eBay to find tickets for a sold-out Monday night game, between the Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs.  She won the bid of $160(two tickets that originally sold for $32 apiece) for Lower reserved end seats.  Happy anniversary mom and dad.  Unlike Minute Maid, Wrigley Field restrooms are all located downstairs.  My wife was not impressed with the concrete ramps, not even when I told her, it was built in 1914 and Babe Ruth and Ernie Banks played at the stadium.

About the fifth inning, with the Astros leading 2-0; we heard a loud crack of a lightning bolt and then the buckets of rain started coming down. We were under the protective roof, but we gave up after a 30 minute rain delay and decided it was time to head back to the hotel.  Unfortunately, so did, much of the crowd.  As we're waiting for the delayed L. train, we could see from our vantage point, the good work.  the police were doing bypassing all the cars around the stadium.  All of a sudden, we heard a loud, tornado warning siren go off, and then the pushing and shoving started as we boarded the L. train.  About an hour later we finally made it to our car, we're heard on the radio that the Chicago area had experienced three tornadoes, with winds up to 90 miles an hour.  Luckily, Bridgeview, Illinois (where we were staying) did not suffer any damage.  We later heard that 250,000 people had lost power in Illinois and Indiana, where to tornadoes landed.

Wednesday night, we decided to go to the White Sox- Tiger game. What in difference, as we drove up a few hours before game time and got pretty good seats in the outfield.  The parking lot was easy to get in and get out, much like Minute Maid.

The GPS system was a lifesaver, made us feel like we knew where we were going.  Once we missed a turn because of the traffic, but the old GPS recalculated and got me in at a different entry point.  The Toyota Prius got 52.5 miles per gallon, now if only my bladder could do that well.  I think we made every rest stop to and from Illinois. Hats off to the caretakers of those rest stops.  What a good feeling to look over to GPS screen and see rest area 15 miles or 12 minutes.

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