Back To Chicago

Tina's flight back to the UK was scheduled for the afternoon of January 12, out of Chicago. It's about a 5-hour drive from Detroit to Chicago. Sounds routine enough, right?

So, there we were tooling along somewhere between the two on January 11th, under a bright blue winter sky, when we suddenly heard a little "clunk" from somewhere in the engine. However, everything seemed to be working properly, so we drove on. A little while later, I tried to clean the windshield, and the wipers were in ultra-slow motion. That's when I realized that something had happened to the alternator system (which is connected to the electrical system). So, we turned off everything electrical on the car, and drove on.

The idea is that we didn't have much further to go (we had a reservation at the Red Roof Inn in Willowbrook, Illinois) , so hopefully we would make it. That was a great plan... except that the car decided not to cooperate. It finally died about 8 miles short of our destination. After waiting in a cold car for about 90 minutes, we got towed. Luckily, we were able to get towed to a garage right next door to the Red Roof Inn.

The next morning, it turned out that the car had a broken belt pulley. Luckily, the belt was still there, and not damaged. So, 300 dollars would take care of it. The bad news was that it wouldn't be ready in time to get Tina to the airport, so I had to send her via taxi.

The car wasn't done until about 7 in the evening. By that time, I had already paid for another night at the Red Roof. However, the news was saying that a blizzard was coming in overnight, and I had no intention in spending a couple more days in Willowbrook, so I quickly packed up my things and hit the road.

I got home about 3 in the morning. It felt good to be home, and in my own bed.