Colorado: day 2

Had a nice breakfast at the Poffs and hit the road about 10:45am. We got part way through PA before we hit a major downpour. Matthew was fine in the CRV, being an all-wheel drive vehicle; I had some trouble with hydroplaning, so I had to decease my speed significantly. I was so relieved that Lyssa was with Matthew. After about 20 minutes of intense, stomach-clenching, body-tensing navigation through the scariest rain I've driven in, I found myself on the west side of the storm and was able to slowly catch up to Matthew. 

We hit Ohio sometime later, complete with another rain storm (not quite as bad); uneventfully passed through IN; and finally made our way into IL. We stopped for a sunset dinner at on the wayside service centers and made friends with a local kitty (much to Sushi's chagrin). Lyssa and Sushi got some much needed leg-stretching and blanket-wallowing time and then we were back on the road. 

Finally making our way into IL, we started looking for a place to spend the night. Matthew wanted to make it to the west side of the southern suburbs of Chicago; so we drove through late-night traffic on 12-lane interstate 80. Both of us were tired and ready to stop; however, the pace and amount of traffic kept us alert, especially when we saw sparks flying out from a car in the left lane a little ways in front of us. As gained on the car, we discovered a sedan driving 80 miles down the interstate, dragging a bike in its wake. And by dragging, I mean on the road, parts and sparks flying off, dragging. And no one was responding... I instinctively knew that Matthew was going to try to get the driver's attention so braced myself for a chase. Sure enough, off he went, flying up on the car's tail and flashing his lights. The car drove a few hundred yards and then got over one lane. Matthew kept tailing him, flashing his lights. This happened through all six lanes and then the car took off on a north-bound road at an interchange. In the meantime, I'm doing my best to keep up with the now 85mph speed Matthew was taking. He had the GPS, after all, and there was no way I was going to lose him in the mess of roads we were driving. So move over, Chicago traffic, NJ is coming through... (Using my NJ training well :)))) At the last second, Matthew swerved back over to avoid the exit that the car had taken and almost left me northbound into Chicago. Once my heart rate returned to normal, I called him up and told him to please let me have the GPS next time he decided to engage in a car chase in a major intestate exchange...

W finally found a hotel and after checking in, made our way to our room. It was like a bad movie- cigarette smell, a dirty bathroom, stains on the sheets, filthy floors, and dinged up, sticky furniture. I agreed to stay only because it was after 1am and Lyssa was so ready for her bed. We were grateful that Lyssa had her own portacrib and we had our bedding from home. Nevertheless, I didn't sleep well at all that night, terrified of bed bugs and that someone was going to come shooting their way into our room. There are times I really don't appreciate my overactive imagination...