Our 300-mile journey from Wisconsin to Joliet, Illinois (about 40 miles southwest of Chicago) was a tough one through the centre of the city in pouring rain, heavy road construction, horrendous rush-hour traffic, toll roads, two accidents and all against the clock to get to an RV park where the office closed at 7 p.m.

Taking the motor home through toll roads will be, in future, avoided at all costs! Maneuvering a 40-foot beast with a jeep behind, across four lanes of bumper-to-bumper traffic, squeezing through narrow toll lanes and having to scramble to find the right coinage to pay for the privilege of using the road, was, at times, harrowing. That, and as is always the case, no one wants to let you in and everyone wants to get in front of you! All kudos to Captain Mike for a stellar performance behind the wheel with only a few un-repeatable utterances!

At 6:59 p.m. we could see the RV park where we were scheduled to stay for four nights but it was at this moment that the GPS system decided to have a “senior moment” and take us around in circles! We called the park and the owner informed us that it was now 7 p.m., that the office was closed and we had to go elsewhere whereby he hung up! I guess he’ll have to retake the customer service course one more time! Mike always had a bad feeling about this park as no credit card information was taken, no confirmation number was given, and one reviewer on the website complained about how difficult and uncompromising the owner had been during her stay, how right she was!

Fortunately for us, there is a second RV park in Joliet which could accommodate us and which has a casino, offers a free breakfast in its hotel and has lovely grounds in which to walk Miss Poppy!

Sorry about the poor photograph but I took this skyline picture of Chicago today from the back of the jeep through the grubby car window!