Hello All,

Ray and I have made it safely to the windy city. We had a wonderful visit in St. Louis with Nate, Christie and Benjamin, there will be pictures soon. Scout is getting along very well with the traveling, he sleeps most of the time in the car, and snores loudly! On our way from Tampa to St. Louis we stopped at the George Dickel whisky distillery in Tennessee, Ray bought a bottle of their barrel select, we are excited to try it when we get to Portland. (*For Jo- the barrels from the aging of the Dickel whisky are shipped to Scotland and used to age Johnny Walker)

It was cold when we pulled into Chicago, a front had just moved through and we watched the clouds swirling around the top of the Sears tower. We arrived at rush hour but met much less traffic than we anticipated, the drivers here are pretty crazy! We are staying with a good friend of Ray's from high school, Chris and his girlfriend Marina. Their neighborhood is so beautiful, full of brick and stone front, multi-story apartment buildings. One of Ray's first comments coming into the city was that there was so much more character here than in Tampa, I agree.

Today the plan is to wait in line for some hot dogs at a place called Hot Dougs that is famous throughout Chicago, it was even featured on an episode of Anthony Bourdain. I am planning on getting the lamb curry dog or the jerk buffalo dog and then the classic chicago dog. I will be sure to describe it in luxuriating detail.

We are leaving Chicago this afternoon and driving the short distance to Fort Wayne. I am excited about seeing my hometown after several years of being away, if only to feed my nostalgia. We are going to stay with Uncle d*** and Aunt Karen and we can't wait to see them and have Scout run around on the land.