Christmas was definitely coming, the temperature suddenly dropped dramatically; from balmy one day to freezing the next. Andrew and Daena took us to see homes decorated with lights in amazing displays in the richer suburbs, although there were many lovely ones in every street. Folks pay workers to do their houses up and some of those roofs are high.
A single woman next door named Melissa asked Andrew to attend twice a day to the stray dog, Max, that she'd found a month before. The trouble was she left him in a cage in a small room for the rest of the 24hrs each day. We couldn't bear it so Andrew attached his lead to a secure run to give him some exercise and sunshine; trouble was 'someone' cut the lead - now the chase was on and he was sure hard to catch. Andrew and Daena exercised him in the adjacent dog park but he squeezed through the bars and took off into the night...... Meanwhile every night he found a new way to break out of his cage and wreck the room. A lovely obedient dog who'd been well trained. Whew!
I had found that the Denton branch of the Dickens Fellowship was only an hour away. Then Jill, Daena's mum was going up there over night to tape a TV show and she kindly let me join her. So I was able to meet up with some of the key members of their group in a coffee shop in the Denton Town Square by the old couthouse. They were very excited to meet a Dickensian from New Zealand. We swapped stories about our histories, our meetings and then I told them a little about New Zealand. These folks frequently tour in Britain but had not been 'down under'. Sandra, the secretary, took me to visit a few of the sights in the brief time that we had, including this lovely old 'Victorian' home. Why do Americans use the term 'Victorian'?
We'd bought a Toyota Sienna van, (2004), so that we could drive to and from Chicago to celebrate the festive season with Daena's family. That is a 1556 km drive and I was fairly apprehensive about it; such a long way and I'd been having back problems even on short trips. However the van was warm and comfortable and the drivers did a great job, swapping every 2 hours.
We made good time, driving north through to Wichita in Kansas, (and, no we didn't meet up with Dorothy, nor the Tin Man, Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion or even experience a tornado though they are currently striking other parts of the US).Here we met with one of Andrew's pro-life mentors, Troy Newman. He showed us around their offices, once an abortion clinic, that they had been able to shut down.
It seems that much of this 'work' is a racket, where desperate, vulnerable, women are coerced into this 'final solution', to line the pockets of the unscrupulous while seriously endangering the womens' own lives. I met a sad woman whose daughter had been killed in one of these legal abortions.
The place was in a disgusting state when they bought it; absolutely filthy and nothing like a hospital or health clinic. No more details here but ask me if you want to know more about this.
Driving west through Kansas we hit Kansas City which lies on the border with Missouri. There we saw rolling prairie with lots of trees everywhere in the fields, all denuded by now of course, and all greyish-brown with some snow on the ground and very little undergrowth. Tall slim silos could be seen next to barns on many of the farms. Unbeknown to us we passed by very close to where my niece, Kristy Swift's in-laws live and where I think she lived when she too married an American a few years ago.
The motoring conditions were excellent on the freeway, (so called because it is not a tollway), and although the driving was relentless, having the two drivers made it all much more do-able. vAfter motoring for around three hours in the dark we stopped at a McDonald's, where as you may know there is free Wi-fi, and used this to locate some nearby accomodation. 
Missouri seemed to go on and on but eventually at St Louis, (pronounced Lewis not Lewy), we crossed into Illinois then suddenly the landscape changed. Now we saw very few trees; only a few standing next to farm houses and huge, red barns together with fatter, squat silos. The other defining feature of the landscape here are the vistas; all around the land is flat and the horizon is extremely low so that you can see for a long way in any direction and there appears to be so much more sky. Many of the fields contain the remnants of a corn harvest; grey, sad stubble. This must be good arable land where every bit is well utilised. Now and then we have spotted nuclear power stations with their characteristic fat chimneys and in other places, fuel burning ones, all with billowing clouds of water vapour pouring forth, forming clouds, and this makes them easy to spot.
Chicago is in Illinois and lies at in a very strategic position, which has been a large factor in gaining its prosperity. And it certainly is wealthy. When you consider that the city was founded at roughly the same time as Wellington in New Zealand and has now grown to 9.8 million. It is a monstrous city filled with elegant, tall and giant buildings, many taking up whole city blocks, these structures go on and on as you drive north, up the side of Lake Michigan, (pronounced like Michele not Mitchell, as I have discovered). Jill had lots lined up for us and her family over Christmas and the days we were there. She took some of them to overnight at a swimming pool hotel.
We'd arrived on Peter's birthday so Daena, who had flown up to Chicago the day before, was kind enough to bake a cake for Peter. He was quite chuffed.
The day we were given a tour of the city by Andrew's mother-in-law, Jill Stanek, the Lake was grey-brown and whipped up furiously with large, frothy waves.
I visited a church called Hope in the morning with Andrew; it was very similar to our own church.
On Sunday afternoon Daena's brothers arrived with their
families and we had Christmas Dinner then with them. Christmas meant the traditional breakfast at the Double Yolk restaurant for the family - so there we were, eleven of us, all eating double-yolkers, well for all but Levi.
As we drove we were overwhelmed by the staggering number of magnificent sky scrapers, such an assortment of ages and designs. You really have to respect the people who achieved so much in only 180 years.
On our tour we visited China Town and it really was like old China. I bought some bau here; these are those white, soft, steamed buns which have pork filling.
Next up was the 'must do' Deep Dish Pizza Restaurant, 'Lou Malnati's', a big speciality here in Chicago.
That afternoon we drove East to Indiana where Jill's parents live beside a picturesque lake.
This is also where Jill's family have lived for generations and we were driven around the lake and shown some of the especially memorable places. Her granddad, Jack Hollar, is very skilled in woodcraft and has produced many lovely pieces of oak furniture, including a highchair that converts into a rocking horse and a desk.
The following day I went alone by double-decker train into Chicago so that I could see some of the architecture close up and also the Art Institute of Chicago which has an immense collection and is currently showing an Impressionist exhibition. There, I also saw some gorgeous Chigal windows and what I was very pleased to get up close to was the famous painting called 'American Gothic' which is so often satirised. Soon enough it was time to be heading south again, this time via a night in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This time there were five of us in the van plus all the gear. The roads were clear of snow after the blizard so we were safe and made good time. And were thankful that Levi travelled exceptionally well.
Chicago, we've been there and back again and all before 2013.
