Roadtripping

Hubby Tony and I returned home yesterday from a whirlwind trip to Chicago, where I participated in the next step of my journey with the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative Study.

A normal trip to Chicago would take somewhere between 5-5 1/2 hours. We added three hours to that, because we hopped on and off the Interstate to search out things that were originally on Route 66.

Many of the cities we stopped at had banners or signs:

During our trip we visited quaint restaurants and had some good local food:

In every city we stopped to see the attractions our guidebook pointed out. Some of them included:

Tony and I also made the most of our time in the Windy City. On Tuesday night we went to Navy Pier and looked out onto Lake Michigan. On Wednesday morning we walked to and around Millennium Park before arriving at the hospital. From start to finish the testing process took a little over five hours, but it included more waiting around time than hands-on time. At one point I was able to leave the hospital for four hours. We got lunch, went back to the hotel for a nap, and walked to a beach along Lake Michigan and stuck our feet in the water. After the test was over we walked around some more, then got dinner. At the end of the day my phone step count was four times higher than a normal day.

Thursday morning we left town shortly after breakfast, and except for a bathroom break and stop for lunch drove straight through. It was good to get the first glimpse of the top of the Gateway Arch-that meant we were almost home.

In two weeks I will hear from the researchers, who will let me know if they're interested in me participating in a longer term study. I have no idea what will happen.  I'm keeping the Route 66 guidebook and map, just in case. We just scratched the surface of Route 66 things to see. If I do end up making additional trips to Chicago I want to pick a new set of experiences.

Five years ago: Revamping Lamps