My Quick Trip to Chicago

I crammed quite a bit into this past Friday (9/18). On the road by 7:15am to pick up my step-dad in Maquoketa. Our mission: Get to Chicago to watch the Cubs and Cardinals at Wrigley Field. 1:20pm first pitch. We faced several challenges... a couple hundred miles of road, Chicago traffic, a ticket blunder and an active bladder. In the end, all was good. The Cubs pounded the Cards, 8-3.

Coming in to the day, I thought Mother Nature was going to be the biggest obstacle. There was extremely heavy rain throughout Iowa and Illinois on Thursday and Friday. I thought there was a very good chance we were making a 400-mile round trip only to see the game postponed. Turns out, the weather was pretty damn good. Things had gone pretty smoothly as we entered the Chicago city limits. I did endure a 15-minute wait in line at Starbucks, and my step-dad was needing frequent potty breaks due to a diuretic/water pill he was taking. As we eased into Chicago's bumper-to-bumper traffic, that's when the fun began.

A mere 15 miles to the ballpark would end up taking about 2 hours. We hopped on a Blue Line train out by O'Hare International Airport thinking this would be the most convenient... and maybe it would have been if I hadn't forgotten the tickets back in the car. I realized this about 45 minutes into the train ride. There was no way to get back to the car and make the game in time. I frantically hopped off at the next stop and called the Cubs box office. Thankfully, they said they could print off another pair of tickets at the ticket window. Ok, disaster avoided. But now first pitch is getting close and my step-dad has to piss again. We got off the Blue Line train to hop on the northbound Red Line to Wrigley, but not before we walked a city block out of the way so my step-dad could piss in a Burger King.

It was about 1pm now and we still had a few stops before arriving at the ballpark. I told my step-dad I would get off the train and sprint to the box office to get the tickets. 1:10 now... 10 minutes 'til first pitch. Train pulls up to the Addison stop. I'm off, sprinting past the thousands of fans milling around the ballpark. I get the tickets, run back through the crowd and finally locate my step-dad (surprisingly not pissing). We walk into the park and the lead-off hitter is in the batter's box. We've made it. I take a breath, order a $8.25 Bud Light and watch a ballgame.

As I said, the weather cooperated... until the drive home. We drove home through monsoon-like conditions, rolling into Maquoketa about 1am.

Want to hear more from Bill? Take KRNA with you everywhere you go with our free RadioPup app or listen live at krna.com.