Sunday, August 20, 2006
Marengo Sunrise
Those who know me know that I am not an early morning person.
I had an 8 o’clock class my first year at Oberlin College in economics, which became my major.
But it was my last 8 o’clock.
During my four terms in the Illinois House during the 1990’s, I don’t think I ever attended one of those breakfasts where people lobby legislators.
I needed my sleep, even if I didn’t know why.
(I found out I have sleep apnea. It’s a condition in which I stop breathing many, many times each night. I would wake up many times each night as a result. My doctor told me that my brain was telling my body, “You’re dying. Wake up.” So, I would.
(I remember sleepiness taking its toll when Lee Daniels was Speaker of the Illinois House. For some reason, he decided to let the Democrats talk us all to death and would keep us in session for hours and hours, often, past midnight. I’d got into the nurse's office and get some shut-eye during the boring debate and, if a vote were ever close, out I would come to prove I was still around.
(One night, after a particularly grueling couple of days, I went into to Lee’s chief of staff Mike Tristano and told him I was leaving at midnight from now on. I told him I needed at least 8 hours of sleep and that’s when I had to leave if I had to be back on the floor at 9 AM.
(“You can’t do that,” he said pretty forcefully.
(My answer was, “Watch me.”
(And, you can guess what I did.
(Now I have what is called a C-path machine that pushes 10 pounds of pressurized air into my nostrils and, if I don’t drink too much liquid after 6 PM, can actually sleep through the night and awaken feeling almost rested.)
So, today, I present below what this morning’s Sunday sunrise was like on the eastern edge of Marengo on Route 176, but you’ll have to wait until after the travel log.
Friday, former State Rep. Penny Pullen and I drove to a conference center on the west side of the Missouri River in South Dakota for a Saturday meeting of the leaders in the referendum fight to affirm legislation designed to challenge Roe v. Wade. It took us almost 11 hours driving straight through, except for stopping for gas and a Johnson bratwurst at Wisconsin Dells.
After crossing the Missouri River at 4:10 in the afternoon, when our role in the meeting was over, we drove to about as far east as one can go and still be in South Dakota.
We had a meeting two miles west of the Minnesota border with South Dakota State Representative Roger Hunt, the sponsor of the bill being voted upon this fall.
Then, we got gas at a Shell Station, which doubled as a casino.
I didn’t see any patrons.
We ate at a McDonald’s right next to another of what South Dakota calls a “casino” (basically a video poker parlor controlled by the state, rather than the mob).
I must admit that I found it a bit shocking that Ronald McDonald was standing right next to the room with the casino. It seems to me that this just de-sensitizes kids to the word casino, which is emblazoned on the front of the building.
A local policeman (one of 3 at McDonald’s who had just walked in from the store with the casino in back) told me that the casinos in town were “no problem” and that it was the reason South Dakota didn’t have an income tax.
(So, whenever anyone tells you Illinois has a low income tax, tell that person that South Dakota’s is a lot lower.)
Since it was about 8 PM, we decided to drive to Rochester before stopping for the night.
When we got to Rochester, I felt good enough to keep driving so we decided to try to drive straight through.
We found a 24-hour Citgo gas station at La Crosse, Wisconsin, with no one anywhere to be found.
(Remember when the Crystal Lake City Council would not let Sam’s Club open a self-service gas station unless an attendant was watching people pump gas? Having once filled up at a Sam’s Club station in Joplin, Missouri, with no attendant in sight, that struck me as a nonsensical requirement then and, having been at a completely deserted gas station early this morning that—guess what—worked perfectly fine, Crystal Lake’s make-work requirement seems ever more ridiculous today.)
But, there was a drawback. No bathrooms.
So, we went to the motel next door and found the longest row of motorcycles in front that I have ever seen, plus the biggest bat I have ever seen flying. (No, I did not get a photo of the bat or you would see it here.)
Then, it was back over the “local traffic only” streets to the interstate and through more Minnesota fog. (Does anyone but me think that a lot of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes look more like ponds?)
I got hungry about 3 AM, having salivated on the way through northern Wisconsin about a repeat of the Johnson’s bratwurst I ate at Dells on Friday for lunch.
Unfortunately, the service station serving them wasn’t open.
However, across the street, we did find a Denney’s Rock and Roll-themed restaurant staffed with young Russian men. (We had a South African young lady serve us in South Dakota.)
That was fine, even if the waiter didn’t know what corned beef hash was. (It wasn’t on the menu anyway.)
I got a little nap in Wisconsin and by the time we got to western Boone County dawn was breaking.
As we crossed Boone County on Woodstock Road, which in places was as bad (thump, thump, thump, thump) as was I-90 in parts of Minnesota, the sun got closer to the horizon and the fog that had dogged us all night started to burn away.
We came down Deep Cut Road and got to Marengo just in time for pictures of the sun rising above the clouds and corn.
It was 659 miles one-way.
That’s a long, less than two-day trip.
Not quite as far as Washington, D.C., but within about 30 minutes as long.
= = = = =
The top picture is of the South Dakota Shell Station-Casino. Next is the connected strip mall with the Sinclair dinosaur, casino and McDonald's restaurant. Below is the picture of Ronald McDonald on the left and the entrance to the casino on the right. With the La Crosse Citgo gas station sign in the background, the photo is of all the motorcycles lined up for a multi-day charity fund raiser at the motel next door. Finally, you see what morning looked like this morning before I would ever get up. First in western Boone County on Woodstock (which we in McHenry County call "Kishwaukee Valley") Road and, finally, at the little cluster of stores on Route 176 on the eastern edge of Marengo right across from the ditch I got dug in the 1970's to help alleviate flooding in Union.
You can enlarge the dawn pictures, plus, maybe, the others, by clicking on the photographs.
I had an 8 o’clock class my first year at Oberlin College in economics, which became my major.
But it was my last 8 o’clock.
During my four terms in the Illinois House during the 1990’s, I don’t think I ever attended one of those breakfasts where people lobby legislators.
I needed my sleep, even if I didn’t know why.
(I found out I have sleep apnea. It’s a condition in which I stop breathing many, many times each night. I would wake up many times each night as a result. My doctor told me that my brain was telling my body, “You’re dying. Wake up.” So, I would.
(I remember sleepiness taking its toll when Lee Daniels was Speaker of the Illinois House. For some reason, he decided to let the Democrats talk us all to death and would keep us in session for hours and hours, often, past midnight. I’d got into the nurse's office and get some shut-eye during the boring debate and, if a vote were ever close, out I would come to prove I was still around.
(One night, after a particularly grueling couple of days, I went into to Lee’s chief of staff Mike Tristano and told him I was leaving at midnight from now on. I told him I needed at least 8 hours of sleep and that’s when I had to leave if I had to be back on the floor at 9 AM.
(“You can’t do that,” he said pretty forcefully.
(My answer was, “Watch me.”
(And, you can guess what I did.
(Now I have what is called a C-path machine that pushes 10 pounds of pressurized air into my nostrils and, if I don’t drink too much liquid after 6 PM, can actually sleep through the night and awaken feeling almost rested.)
So, today, I present below what this morning’s Sunday sunrise was like on the eastern edge of Marengo on Route 176, but you’ll have to wait until after the travel log.
Friday, former State Rep. Penny Pullen and I drove to a conference center on the west side of the Missouri River in South Dakota for a Saturday meeting of the leaders in the referendum fight to affirm legislation designed to challenge Roe v. Wade. It took us almost 11 hours driving straight through, except for stopping for gas and a Johnson bratwurst at Wisconsin Dells.
After crossing the Missouri River at 4:10 in the afternoon, when our role in the meeting was over, we drove to about as far east as one can go and still be in South Dakota.We had a meeting two miles west of the Minnesota border with South Dakota State Representative Roger Hunt, the sponsor of the bill being voted upon this fall.
Then, we got gas at a Shell Station, which doubled as a casino.
I didn’t see any patrons.
We ate at a McDonald’s right next to another of what South Dakota calls a “casino” (basically a video poker parlor controlled by the state, rather than the mob). I must admit that I found it a bit shocking that Ronald McDonald was standing right next to the room with the casino. It seems to me that this just de-sensitizes kids to the word casino, which is emblazoned on the front of the building.
A local policeman (one of 3 at McDonald’s who had just walked in from the store with the casino in back) told me that the casinos in town were “no problem” and that it was the reason South Dakota didn’t have an income tax. (So, whenever anyone tells you Illinois has a low income tax, tell that person that South Dakota’s is a lot lower.)
Since it was about 8 PM, we decided to drive to Rochester before stopping for the night.
When we got to Rochester, I felt good enough to keep driving so we decided to try to drive straight through.
We found a 24-hour Citgo gas station at La Crosse, Wisconsin, with no one anywhere to be found.
(Remember when the Crystal Lake City Council would not let Sam’s Club open a self-service gas station unless an attendant was watching people pump gas? Having once filled up at a Sam’s Club station in Joplin, Missouri, with no attendant in sight, that struck me as a nonsensical requirement then and, having been at a completely deserted gas station early this morning that—guess what—worked perfectly fine, Crystal Lake’s make-work requirement seems ever more ridiculous today.)
But, there was a drawback. No bathrooms. So, we went to the motel next door and found the longest row of motorcycles in front that I have ever seen, plus the biggest bat I have ever seen flying. (No, I did not get a photo of the bat or you would see it here.)
Then, it was back over the “local traffic only” streets to the interstate and through more Minnesota fog. (Does anyone but me think that a lot of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes look more like ponds?)
I got hungry about 3 AM, having salivated on the way through northern Wisconsin about a repeat of the Johnson’s bratwurst I ate at Dells on Friday for lunch.
Unfortunately, the service station serving them wasn’t open.
However, across the street, we did find a Denney’s Rock and Roll-themed restaurant staffed with young Russian men. (We had a South African young lady serve us in South Dakota.) That was fine, even if the waiter didn’t know what corned beef hash was. (It wasn’t on the menu anyway.)
I got a little nap in Wisconsin and by the time we got to western Boone County dawn was breaking.As we crossed Boone County on Woodstock Road, which in places was as bad (thump, thump, thump, thump) as was I-90 in parts of Minnesota, the sun got closer to the horizon and the fog that had dogged us all night started to burn away.
We came down Deep Cut Road and got to Marengo just in time for pictures of the sun rising above the clouds and corn.It was 659 miles one-way.
That’s a long, less than two-day trip.
Not quite as far as Washington, D.C., but within about 30 minutes as long.
= = = = =
The top picture is of the South Dakota Shell Station-Casino. Next is the connected strip mall with the Sinclair dinosaur, casino and McDonald's restaurant. Below is the picture of Ronald McDonald on the left and the entrance to the casino on the right. With the La Crosse Citgo gas station sign in the background, the photo is of all the motorcycles lined up for a multi-day charity fund raiser at the motel next door. Finally, you see what morning looked like this morning before I would ever get up. First in western Boone County on Woodstock (which we in McHenry County call "Kishwaukee Valley") Road and, finally, at the little cluster of stores on Route 176 on the eastern edge of Marengo right across from the ditch I got dug in the 1970's to help alleviate flooding in Union.
You can enlarge the dawn pictures, plus, maybe, the others, by clicking on the photographs.
