Portage, Wisconsin to Luverne, Minnesota
August 5th
Distance: 445 mi
Time In Truck: 9am to 8:30p
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Our next leg: Crossing South Dakota...
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Crossing America: Day 5
Oakbrook, Illinois to Portage, Wisconsin
August 4th
Distance: 176 mi
Time In Truck: 2pm to 5pm
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SIDEBAR-Hours after we left Chicago they got slammed with a major storm:
Severe storms rattle Chicago, suburbs
Thunderstorm watch remains
By Dan P. Blake, Steve Schmadeke and Jeremy Gorner
Chicago Tribune staff reporters
7:01 AM CDT, August 5, 2008
Clean-up efforts were under way Tuesday morning after a line of severe thunderstorms moved through the Chicago area Monday night, downing trees and power lines, starting fires, peeling off roofs, briefly closing down both Chicago airports and ending a Cubs game after two rain delays.
About 225,000 Commonwealth Edison customers were without power.
A severe-thunderstorm watch was in effect until 9 a.m. for Grundy and Livingston Counties, the weather service said.
A little over 2 inches of rain fell at O'Hare International Airport during a six-hour span, the weather service said.
Powerful winds and apparently lightning destroyed part of the roof near the main entrance of St. Charles North High School in the far west suburb, which led to water damage to the hallways, guidance center and potentially a portion of the library, said School District 303 Supt. Don Schlomann. Members of a youth baseball group in the building when the storm struck were safely evacuated by the Fire Department, he said.
Power and gas service was shut off to the high school Monday night and structural engineers were scheduled to assess the damage Tuesday to see if the school can be ready to open when classes start Aug. 27, Schlomann said.
Summer school classes at Glenbard East High School in west suburban Lombard were canceled for Tuesday due to a power outage, according to the school's Web site.
Lightning may have sparked fires at a Batavia barn and single-family homes in Hillside and unincorporated Downers Grove, fire officials in those areas said. Powerful winds accompanying the storms knocked down power lines throughout the area and ripped the roofs from a Hillside commercial building and at least a half-dozen homes in the Hickory Oaks subdivision in Bolingbrook.
As of 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, some 225,000 Commonwealth Edison customers were without electricity in northern Illinois due to the weather, according to Jeff Burdick, a ComEd spokesman, who said utility crews had already restored power to more than 175,000 customers since the storms began earlier Monday night.
Of those currently without power, Burdick said, more than 100,000 were in the Chicago area.
Burdick said more than 270 crews, consisting of two to four people, have been working around the clock to restore power, but it was expected to be a multiple-day effort.
In Chicago, there were numerous downed power lines and fires at single-family homes and apartment buildings that were weather-related, said Larry Langford, a Chicago Fire Department spokesman. Many of the fires were "roof or attic" fires, indicating that lightning may have played a role in the blazes, he added..
Langford said the fires, which were put out quickly upon the firefighters' arrival, caused no serious injuries. Firefighters, however, had to rescue several people trapped in their cars under flooded viaducts at various locations on the North and South Sides, he noted.
As of 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, crews from the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation responded to reports of 1,104 damaged trees, 132 malfunctioning traffic signals, 55 damaged street light poles and 92 downed wires. The department said there were also 194 city blocks without working street lights.
A trained spotter reported a tornado touched down in Elmhurst, weather service officials said, but Elmhurst officials said the report was incorrect.
"There was no tornado that touched down," said Elmhurst Police Sgt. Bob Tannehill. "We just had some heavy winds come through the area—some trees down, nothing major, and some downed power lines."
Elmhurst authorities said the minor damage was not confined to any single area of town. No injuries were reported.
Spotters also reported funnel clouds in other west suburbs and officials in Schiller Park said their town suffered wind damage.
In Michigan City, Ind., high winds caused a tree to fall on a car, killing a 23-year-old Michigan City man, authorities said.
About 8 p.m. in downtown Chicago, a calm, warm, humid evening turned into a frightening lashing of wind and strong rains. Tornado sirens could be heard at Wrigley Field, where the Cubs game was delayed twice by the rain.
Thousands of fans were evacuated to the stadium's concourse. Officials warned fans through a public-address system and on the scoreboard to get into the lower levels of the stadium, but thousands remained in their seats. Several fans ran out onto the field and slid on the rain tarp before being pulled away.
There was heavy tree damage in south Maywood and Broadview. Many roads were impassable because of the fallen tree branches.
"This happened so fast," said Broadview resident Roberta McGill, who was taking pictures of a large tree branch that fell on the parkway outside her home. She and her daughter, Nia, 14, saw the sky turn black and green and quickly headed to the basement to wait out the storm. "We hate to lose that tree. That's a lot of shade."
A couple of blocks away in Broadview, Azariah Israel arrived home just after the storm to find a large branch from a backyard tree down across his deck. "It could have been worse," he said.
A window reportedly broke on the 40th floor of the John Hancock Center at 875 N. Michigan Ave. Chestnut Street and Michigan Avenue were closed to traffic. Flooded streets were reported in several suburbs from Tinley Park to Elgin.
Winds of 94 m.p.h. were reported at the Harrison-Dever Crib, about 3 miles offshore in Lake Michigan.
The weather temporarily halted flights at both Chicago airports, according to the city's Department of Aviation. By 9:45 p.m. air travel resumed at O'Hare International and Midway Airports. Nevertheless, flights late Monday night were experiencing delays of up to one hour at O'Hare and 90 minutes at Midway with scattered cancellations.
During the tornado warning, which ended a little before 9 p.m. Monday, O'Hare travelers were temporarily moved to a lower level at the terminals, officials said. More than 350 flights were canceled during the height of the storms.
At Wrigley Field, the game resumed about 10:30 p.m. but was halted again and, subsequently, called due to another round of rain and lightning that began shortly after 11 p.m.
In Bourbonnais, a tornado warning forced the Bears to halt their practice at about 8:30 p.m. and clear the field.
On Tuesday, the Chicago area should see partly sunny skies with a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Some thunderstorms may produce heavy rainfall, according to the weather service. High temperatures in the mid 80s are expected and winds would be coming from the north around 10 mph.
Tribune reporters Hal Dardick, Josh Noel and Ted Gregory, freelance reporter Victoria Pierce and The Associated Press contributed to this report. dpblake@tribune.comsschmadeke@tribune.comjgorner@tribune.com
Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune
August 4th
Distance: 176 mi
Time In Truck: 2pm to 5pm
View Larger Map
SIDEBAR-Hours after we left Chicago they got slammed with a major storm:
Severe storms rattle Chicago, suburbs
Thunderstorm watch remains
By Dan P. Blake, Steve Schmadeke and Jeremy Gorner
Chicago Tribune staff reporters
7:01 AM CDT, August 5, 2008
Clean-up efforts were under way Tuesday morning after a line of severe thunderstorms moved through the Chicago area Monday night, downing trees and power lines, starting fires, peeling off roofs, briefly closing down both Chicago airports and ending a Cubs game after two rain delays.About 225,000 Commonwealth Edison customers were without power.
A severe-thunderstorm watch was in effect until 9 a.m. for Grundy and Livingston Counties, the weather service said.
A little over 2 inches of rain fell at O'Hare International Airport during a six-hour span, the weather service said.
Powerful winds and apparently lightning destroyed part of the roof near the main entrance of St. Charles North High School in the far west suburb, which led to water damage to the hallways, guidance center and potentially a portion of the library, said School District 303 Supt. Don Schlomann. Members of a youth baseball group in the building when the storm struck were safely evacuated by the Fire Department, he said.
Power and gas service was shut off to the high school Monday night and structural engineers were scheduled to assess the damage Tuesday to see if the school can be ready to open when classes start Aug. 27, Schlomann said.
Summer school classes at Glenbard East High School in west suburban Lombard were canceled for Tuesday due to a power outage, according to the school's Web site.
Lightning may have sparked fires at a Batavia barn and single-family homes in Hillside and unincorporated Downers Grove, fire officials in those areas said. Powerful winds accompanying the storms knocked down power lines throughout the area and ripped the roofs from a Hillside commercial building and at least a half-dozen homes in the Hickory Oaks subdivision in Bolingbrook.As of 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, some 225,000 Commonwealth Edison customers were without electricity in northern Illinois due to the weather, according to Jeff Burdick, a ComEd spokesman, who said utility crews had already restored power to more than 175,000 customers since the storms began earlier Monday night.
Of those currently without power, Burdick said, more than 100,000 were in the Chicago area.
Burdick said more than 270 crews, consisting of two to four people, have been working around the clock to restore power, but it was expected to be a multiple-day effort.
In Chicago, there were numerous downed power lines and fires at single-family homes and apartment buildings that were weather-related, said Larry Langford, a Chicago Fire Department spokesman. Many of the fires were "roof or attic" fires, indicating that lightning may have played a role in the blazes, he added..
Langford said the fires, which were put out quickly upon the firefighters' arrival, caused no serious injuries. Firefighters, however, had to rescue several people trapped in their cars under flooded viaducts at various locations on the North and South Sides, he noted.
As of 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, crews from the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation responded to reports of 1,104 damaged trees, 132 malfunctioning traffic signals, 55 damaged street light poles and 92 downed wires. The department said there were also 194 city blocks without working street lights.
A trained spotter reported a tornado touched down in Elmhurst, weather service officials said, but Elmhurst officials said the report was incorrect.
"There was no tornado that touched down," said Elmhurst Police Sgt. Bob Tannehill. "We just had some heavy winds come through the area—some trees down, nothing major, and some downed power lines."
Elmhurst authorities said the minor damage was not confined to any single area of town. No injuries were reported.
Spotters also reported funnel clouds in other west suburbs and officials in Schiller Park said their town suffered wind damage.
In Michigan City, Ind., high winds caused a tree to fall on a car, killing a 23-year-old Michigan City man, authorities said.
About 8 p.m. in downtown Chicago, a calm, warm, humid evening turned into a frightening lashing of wind and strong rains. Tornado sirens could be heard at Wrigley Field, where the Cubs game was delayed twice by the rain.
Thousands of fans were evacuated to the stadium's concourse. Officials warned fans through a public-address system and on the scoreboard to get into the lower levels of the stadium, but thousands remained in their seats. Several fans ran out onto the field and slid on the rain tarp before being pulled away.
There was heavy tree damage in south Maywood and Broadview. Many roads were impassable because of the fallen tree branches.
"This happened so fast," said Broadview resident Roberta McGill, who was taking pictures of a large tree branch that fell on the parkway outside her home. She and her daughter, Nia, 14, saw the sky turn black and green and quickly headed to the basement to wait out the storm. "We hate to lose that tree. That's a lot of shade."A couple of blocks away in Broadview, Azariah Israel arrived home just after the storm to find a large branch from a backyard tree down across his deck. "It could have been worse," he said.
A window reportedly broke on the 40th floor of the John Hancock Center at 875 N. Michigan Ave. Chestnut Street and Michigan Avenue were closed to traffic. Flooded streets were reported in several suburbs from Tinley Park to Elgin.
Winds of 94 m.p.h. were reported at the Harrison-Dever Crib, about 3 miles offshore in Lake Michigan.
The weather temporarily halted flights at both Chicago airports, according to the city's Department of Aviation. By 9:45 p.m. air travel resumed at O'Hare International and Midway Airports. Nevertheless, flights late Monday night were experiencing delays of up to one hour at O'Hare and 90 minutes at Midway with scattered cancellations.
During the tornado warning, which ended a little before 9 p.m. Monday, O'Hare travelers were temporarily moved to a lower level at the terminals, officials said. More than 350 flights were canceled during the height of the storms.
At Wrigley Field, the game resumed about 10:30 p.m. but was halted again and, subsequently, called due to another round of rain and lightning that began shortly after 11 p.m.
In Bourbonnais, a tornado warning forced the Bears to halt their practice at about 8:30 p.m. and clear the field.
On Tuesday, the Chicago area should see partly sunny skies with a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Some thunderstorms may produce heavy rainfall, according to the weather service. High temperatures in the mid 80s are expected and winds would be coming from the north around 10 mph.
Tribune reporters Hal Dardick, Josh Noel and Ted Gregory, freelance reporter Victoria Pierce and The Associated Press contributed to this report. dpblake@tribune.comsschmadeke@tribune.comjgorner@tribune.com
Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune
Monday, August 04, 2008
Crossing America: Day 4
Oakbrook, Illinois to Chicago, Illinois
August 3rd
Distance: 40.6 miles Train (Round Trip) and 8 miles on foot
Time On Foot: 6am to 9:30pm
Nicole and I have never been to Chicago so we thought it would be fun to stay at least a full day and explore. It was so easy to get to downtown from our secret hideaway (this place is a diamond in the rough.) Even though we only had a day, we went so many places.
After getting up around 6am to exercise and swim laps, we drove to the nearby Westmont Metra Train Station to catch the 8:40am train. Though we were far out from Chicago, the train was already fairly full. Looking at the passengers (who were primary dressed in blue shirts and baseball hats) we quickly figured out that there was a Cubs game today. The train itself was nice (enough) and we took turns dozing in and out on our 45 minute ride into town.
Chicago Union Station is right across the river from the Sears Tower. Nicole (who would not go up) encouraged me to get in line to see what it was all about. After a series of elevators (both down and up) a 15 minute History Channel movie, a security check, and a photo (which I declined but they took my picture anyway) I found myself at the top of the Sears Tower.
The view from up there is breathtaking and unnerving. When I went up to the top of the Empire State Building I didn't remember being so much taller than everything else around. From the top of the tower I could see for miles in every direction even with haze in the air. It was fun to look around but I was eager to go back to Nicole (I took a photo of her from the top...it's really blurry)
From the tower we walked north to Michigan Avenue stopping for coffee along the way. We walked slowly North visiting gardens and Millennium Park taking pictures and watching children play in fountains.
Chicago has to be one of the most "appealing to the eye" (for lack of a better description) cities that we have ever visited. The rivers, trains, architecture and proximity to a huge lake make this city so beautiful and constantly interesting to look at. It also felt a little more spacious than New York or Boston like the sidewalks were bigger and people's social bubble was also large for a big city.
After gazing at "The Bean" at Millennium Park for a long time, Nicole and I had a Chicago Style Pizza. Though it took forever for them to prepare the pizza, it was worth the wait. There is nothing like it in the Northwest...the portion I ate weighed 1.5 pounds (an easier way to describe portion size our bartender told us.)
From there we walked further north past the Tribune Tower (an amazing building) and creeped into the shopping district where Nicole bought nothing and I was the one who got the goods. We finally reached Water Tower Place and realized that we were exhausted and that we had to backtrack to the station.
We walked back to the river to find that we had missed the last water taxi to Union Station by mere minutes. Because the trains run every two hours we knew that we had to really get going if we were to catch the 6:40p train back towards Aurora. Walking as fast as we could in flip flops we decided to walk along the river all the way to the station. Even though it was a hurried 30 minute walk, we saw some of the most amazing buildings (too many to name) that helped distract us from our aching feet.
Of course we made the train (with 3 minutes to spare.) The train was packed (remember that Cubs game?) I had to stand for a portion of the trip because there were so many people on board. Eventually I was able to sit and Nicole and I took turns sleeping for only seconds at a time. This train trip took an hour this time.
After arriving back to the station we grabbed a meal and returned to our hotel. We each cleaned up and scrubbed our feet (8 miles in flip flops will do a number on your heels.) We both asleep shortly thereafter.
Chicago is our favorite city so far and we hope to come back here (it's a great halfway point for our East Coast siblings) or perhaps bring friends and family for a shopping blitz. I can't believe that I waited so long to visit
August 3rd
Distance: 40.6 miles Train (Round Trip) and 8 miles on foot
Time On Foot: 6am to 9:30pm
Nicole and I have never been to Chicago so we thought it would be fun to stay at least a full day and explore. It was so easy to get to downtown from our secret hideaway (this place is a diamond in the rough.) Even though we only had a day, we went so many places.After getting up around 6am to exercise and swim laps, we drove to the nearby Westmont Metra Train Station to catch the 8:40am train. Though we were far out from Chicago, the train was already fairly full. Looking at the passengers (who were primary dressed in blue shirts and baseball hats) we quickly figured out that there was a Cubs game today. The train itself was nice (enough) and we took turns dozing in and out on our 45 minute ride into town.
Chicago Union Station is right across the river from the Sears Tower. Nicole (who would not go up) encouraged me to get in line to see what it was all about. After a series of elevators (both down and up) a 15 minute History Channel movie, a security check, and a photo (which I declined but they took my picture anyway) I found myself at the top of the Sears Tower.
The view from up there is breathtaking and unnerving. When I went up to the top of the Empire State Building I didn't remember being so much taller than everything else around. From the top of the tower I could see for miles in every direction even with haze in the air. It was fun to look around but I was eager to go back to Nicole (I took a photo of her from the top...it's really blurry)
From the tower we walked north to Michigan Avenue stopping for coffee along the way. We walked slowly North visiting gardens and Millennium Park taking pictures and watching children play in fountains.Chicago has to be one of the most "appealing to the eye" (for lack of a better description) cities that we have ever visited. The rivers, trains, architecture and proximity to a huge lake make this city so beautiful and constantly interesting to look at. It also felt a little more spacious than New York or Boston like the sidewalks were bigger and people's social bubble was also large for a big city.
After gazing at "The Bean" at Millennium Park for a long time, Nicole and I had a Chicago Style Pizza. Though it took forever for them to prepare the pizza, it was worth the wait. There is nothing like it in the Northwest...the portion I ate weighed 1.5 pounds (an easier way to describe portion size our bartender told us.)
From there we walked further north past the Tribune Tower (an amazing building) and creeped into the shopping district where Nicole bought nothing and I was the one who got the goods. We finally reached Water Tower Place and realized that we were exhausted and that we had to backtrack to the station.We walked back to the river to find that we had missed the last water taxi to Union Station by mere minutes. Because the trains run every two hours we knew that we had to really get going if we were to catch the 6:40p train back towards Aurora. Walking as fast as we could in flip flops we decided to walk along the river all the way to the station. Even though it was a hurried 30 minute walk, we saw some of the most amazing buildings (too many to name) that helped distract us from our aching feet.
Of course we made the train (with 3 minutes to spare.) The train was packed (remember that Cubs game?) I had to stand for a portion of the trip because there were so many people on board. Eventually I was able to sit and Nicole and I took turns sleeping for only seconds at a time. This train trip took an hour this time.
After arriving back to the station we grabbed a meal and returned to our hotel. We each cleaned up and scrubbed our feet (8 miles in flip flops will do a number on your heels.) We both asleep shortly thereafter.
Chicago is our favorite city so far and we hope to come back here (it's a great halfway point for our East Coast siblings) or perhaps bring friends and family for a shopping blitz. I can't believe that I waited so long to visit
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