All my bags are packed...

I'm ready to go...

Well, we're ready...because I packed. If it was up to da Zigster, packin would entail throwin a clean t-shirt and pair a jeans in the suitcase.

Howsomever, us country bumpkins, along with a couple of our country bumpkin pals, is a-headin to the big city in the Ay Em. And as ya'll know, big-city-type clothing is a bit more...ah...shall we say...refined?

They'd look at us kinda funny if'n we showed up at that there valet parkin place in our overalls, doncha know?

Anywho, we're headin to Chicago. I can't wait, because I've never been there. And I do love big cities. Oh, I'd never wanna live in one, but I loooove to visit 'em.

I also can't wait because, quite honestly, this past month was like the Capitol City of the Great State of Suckage 'round here. Major suckage. Sickness. Floods. No toilet. More sickness. Da Zigster's ManVan gettin crunched. More flooding. No hot water (and we still don't have any). I'm tellin ya...the first thing I'm gonna do when we get here...



...is take an hour-long, hot shower. Well, maybe not the first thing. But ya can betcher ass I'll get a couple of 'em in, somewhere.

Looks kinda swanky, huh? And, didja notice...it's right on a river. heh

I tell ya...I've been Little Miss Planner this afternoon. I've got a whole list of places that we wanna see and things we wanna do. Now I just need to plan just exactly how we're gonna do it in...oh...roughly 28 hours. Minus the 6 or 8 we sleep. And the 2 that I'll use up in the shower.

Jeeezus, though...The Field. Shedd Aquarium. Navy Pier, Chinatown, the Conservatory...all the touristy places. I'd also love to find a really great blues joint and prowl around in some of the off the beaten path places. We're just not gonna have enough time to do it all. But we can get a taste, maybe. And do it again sometime.

Oh...and we're gonna get to meet

Leslie

! Though we've never had a face-to-face meetup, I feel like I already know her.

The Tale of the Travel will follow. Complete with photos!

Providing I don't forget the friggin camera.

Ooooo...this is gonna be soooooo fun!