Day 24: Event in Galena, IL

19th Century "Video Player"

Day 24: Event in Galena, IL. Travel today found us traveling thru an area of abject poverty followed by unexpected beauty a few hours later.

We left South Bend a bit behind schedule with the specter of Chicago looming in front of us. From all accounts I could find, Chicago’s South Side was a place to be concerned about and that US 20 was difficult to follow thru Chicago. We didn’t find either to be true.

The difficult part of the journey was thru northwestern Indiana and the 40 miles or so leading to Chicago. Driving thru Gary, IN was the most depressing situation we have encountered so far. It is a scene of abject poverty; burned out buildings, boarded up businesses, trash and debris everywhere. Factories that once employed thousands now silent. The only businesses that seemed to survive/thrive in the area were the oil refineries. Ahh, the smell of petroleum so early in the day.

Navigating thru Chicago turned out to be simple. The road was well marked and with my sign spotter Sal Strom, we got thru the dreaded Chicago with ease. Was worried a time or 2 that one of the potholes would swallow our car; otherwise, it was pretty smooth sailing.

Once we cleared Chicago, we were back in green hill country. We didn’t expect to find tall hills in this part of the country so we happy to find rolling hills and beautiful farm country. When we finally arrived in Galena, we were amazed at the town. Will publish some images in the next few days. Let’s just say we were surprised at what we found.

We were running a bit behind due to some delay in Gary (sat for nearly 20 minutes waiting for a train to move off the US 20 crossing). We arrived at the Galena library at 5:23pm for a 5:30 event. Our experience at doing these kept stress to a minimum as we set up for the event. We eventually had 6 people attend, 3 of them local writers whose books were adorned in the second part of the event. We had a great time talking with our guests and learning lots of fun facts about the area.

Thanks to Larissa at the Galena Public Library for inviting the authors to our event. Connecting with them and their literary works added much to the richness of the event.

Being tourists today, following up on suggestions from Larissa and our guests.

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