Joliet, IL Road Meet - April 2012

[blawp]

Wow...

[hbelkins]

Hey, who's the guy with the 2012 National Champions Kentucky Wildcats shirt walking across the bridge?

Meet went well; this was probably the longest meet tour I've ever been a part of.

Trip started on Thursday for me. I drove to Bowling Green, checking out construction on I-65, the new SPUI under construction at I-65 and US 231, and driving the Natcher Parkway extension. Then after trekking across US 68 to drive the Pennyrile Parkway extension, I headed north and rode the Cave-in-Rock Ferry (the only ferry or bridge crossing of the Ohio River linking Kentucky to its northern neighbors that I'd never been on) and then north on IL 1, US 45 and I-57 to Urbana for the night.

Friday was a gloomy, drizzly and cold day, but I managed to clinch a bunch of counties in northern Illinois and got to see plenty of button copy on the IL 53 freeway, the I-90 tollway, and a few stragglers on I-55. Spent the night in Romeoville (just north of Joliet) and used the evening to download app updates for my iDevices, since I'm cursed with HughesNet satellite internet at home now since we moved to a place where DSL isn't available.

After the meet Saturday, I relied on my GPS to get me to I-80 (basically a first for me since I usually map out my routes and just use the GPS to confirm a location or to estimate time of arrival) and made my way over to Michigan City, Ind. for the night. Saw some button copy in both Indiana and Illinois, and also spotted a cutout US 6 shield on I-80/I-94 between the end of the Tollway and the Indiana state line. I also thought I saw a puddy tat -- I mean a state-named I-80 shield -- but was unable to get a picture to confirm.

This morning I took US 421 south from Michigan City to Indy, then around the north and east sides of the loop to US 52, which I followed all the way to I-74. Used I-275 around to the AA Highway (with a stop for lunch at Five Guys in Crestview Hills) then the AA Highway to Maysville, then south to home. Spotted a large number of US 421 cutouts in Indiana, particularly in and near Delphi.

Accomplishments were clinches of the two new parkway extensions in Kentucky, the Cave-in-Rock ferry, a bunch of new counties in Illinois, clinches of I-355 and I-180, a clinch of I-94 in Indiana and a clinch of US 421 in Indiana.