We woke up really late again, well, Kyle woke up late. I woke up around 9am and got up, brushed my teeth, and explored the rest stop. Carrying on with my current obsession of mapping everything, I walked around and mapped every tree, picnic table, manhole cover, barbecue stand, bench, and lamp in the rest area. It’s a very nerdy thing to do, but it’s quite a satisfying feeling when you’re done, and looks pretty cool on the map.
Once Kyle was up and ready to go, we did our routine fill up of the tire which was at 15 PSI. Unfortunately this routine step didn’t go as routinely as it should, since the tire wasn’t filling with air for some reason. We quickly realized this was because the part of the pump that creates a seal with the tire stem was completely mangled and basically unusable. This would now be the second Slime-branded air pump that had broken on us, which further cemented our hatred for the brand. Before we realized it was the seal, we tried the rear tire as well to see if it was a tire issue or a pump issue, and after taking the pump off the stem of the rear tire, it got stuck down and was releasing air from the tire, uh oh! Kyle held down the stem while I got the paper clip from the car (a tool that has proved useful a number of times now) so he could try and un-stick it. With the paper clip, he was able to jiggle it around a bit and successfully get it unstuck before too much air got out.
We hit the highway at the rocking speed of 55mph, the legal minimum for that part of the highway, on our way to the closest gas station 6 miles away to fill up with air using one of their air pumps. We got there successfully, but couldn’t find any air pumps. Luckily there was a car wash behind the gas station (which had a really long line, Americans love their car washes) that had two air pumps that we were able to use, they were pretty cheap as well at only $1.25 for 3 minutes of air.
Once filling the tires, we looked for a tire shop to try and get the tire looked at and either repaired or replaced, depending on the damage. Unfortunately, we quickly realized all the tire stores were closed due to Easter Sunday, and unless we went to a giant chain store, it was unlikely we’d find anything open. We decided it’s fine to leave it another day, and headed to the closest O’ Rileys to see if they’d replace the pump again (remember, we already got it replaced once) or alternatively to just buy another one.
At the O’ Rileys, we were upfront about the fact that we’d already got it replaced once, and so were very surprised to find they were more than happy to replace it, no questions asked. We felt it right to buy something while we were there to kind of make up for the fact that we’re continually warrantying this pump, so we picked up some microfibre towels and a can of RainX spray to try and help a bit with water on the windshield.
We then headed back to South Bend where we were a few days ago, and along the way stopped at a gas station to clean the windshield and apply the RainX to it. Once we got to South Bend, we tried to do a little bit of DoorDash, but found it wasn’t really busy enough for us to stay very long so we got back on the road and headed towards Milwaukee via Chicago. On the way, we turned onto a toll road but for the first time on this trip we were unable to use it due to the road having physical barriers that only open once your EzPass Transponder is validated. Most toll roads have bill-by-plate, which reads your plate automatically as you drive through and sends you the bill in the mail later. Because of the barrier, we had to find a spot to turn around and then re-enter the navigation with “avoid tolls” enabled.
We were on our way to Chicago when a crash on the highway caused a huge traffic backup, and we were able to save a substantial amount of time by taking some backroads instead. Doing this also allowed to us to come across some horse and buggies riding down the road which was pretty fun to see. Taking this alternate route into Chicago also put us into some weird back alley industrial area with some of the worst roads ever, and a really odd, empty feeling.
We were headed to an Asian Fusion restaurant named Fire Bowl Hibachi on the north side of the city which looked good and had good reviews. We got there around 8pm and found some street parking nearby, which I pulled into, then put the car into reverse to back up into the spot (since I’d pulled too far forward into a tow away loading zone), when someone drove in behind us and put on their hazards, while I was still backing up! Kyle hopped out of the car and just asked them nicely if they could also back up into the second spot so we had space to back into the first one, which they did all while giving Kyle a dirty look for some reason.
We walked a few blocks to the restaurant and took a look at the menu, each picking out a dish. Kyle got the Chicken Garlic Noodle while I got the Chicken Fire Bowl. Google Maps said they were open until 10, which is part of the reason we picked it, however when we ordered the staff member told us they were closing in 15 minutes, at 8:30. I assumed this was due to Easter, but we were so hungry we didn’t really mind and just got our orders to go and would eat them in the car.
About 15 minutes later we got our food and headed back to the car to eat it. Even though we paid $40 USD both dishes, it was definitely well worth it as it was very good, and the portion sizes were massive. We each ate about one third or maybe only a quarter of our dishes before feeling full and having to put them away to eat tomorrow. While eating, we found out a storm was headed our way, so we decided to try and get out in front of it and make it to our rest area before it hit.
On our way to the rest area, Kyle’s uncle in Illinois called and they had a good conversation about potentially going and seeing him tomorrow. Both his uncles are mechanics, and so we wanted to potentially get some help from his Illinois uncle with a strange noise we’re hearing from the car when going over any kind of bump or even just slight dip in the road, where it sounds like a rattle or something loose in the back corner of the car. From Kyle’s research, it could be a ball joint of sorts, but we’ve tried to recreate the sound when parked and can’t, and visual inspections haven’t yielded anything wrong. Unfortunately, we learned that Kyle’s uncle recently broke his leg and as such would not be able to take a look at the car, but we’re still able to go and see him and give him and Kyle a chance to catch up, along with giving us a place to stay for the night. Additionally, his neighbour is apparently happy to take a look at the car so we can still get some good advice.
We successfully made it to our rest area on the Wisconsin border at around 10pm, with no sign of rain yet to fall. We hung around for a bit and I started writing today’s entry while Kyle went for a walk. It’s now just past 11pm and the rain has started to come down, and there was a single loud clasp of thunder that echoed around us, so I’m definitely glad we’re parked now and can wait out the storm in our sleep. Tomorrow’s goal: Milwaukee, then Madison (capital of Wisconsin), then McHenry to see Kyle’s uncle.