Chicago was beautiful (I mean, just look at that skyline) and we had one helluva day.

**A version of this post was published for The Ellsworth American at fenceviewer.com**

What a first day on the road! Beth and I made it to Chicago in one piece and learned a few things about each other along the way — like Beth’s refusal to discriminate, she has a lead foot on both the gas and the brake. Here are our driving stats from the first day:

• 1.5 tanks of gas for more than 550 miles through two states over seven hours. Not too shabby.

But that’s just the beginning, because once we got to Chicago it was a whirlwind of Beth’s family and a wee bit of tourism on the side (t’was my first time in Chicago). Here’s the lightning round version of what we saw/did in eight hours in Chicago:

We … saw Beth’s mom, toured her house, visited Beth’s grandma, saw her great aunt, fawned over how sweet they are, rode the L train, met Beth’s sister, drank tea with her sister, laughed with her sister, rode the L again, (deeeeeep breath) saw Millennium Park, saw Crown Fountain, tried to see Cloud Gate (aka The Bean), were stopped short of The Bean because they were filming a fashion commercial, finally walked around The Bean, (deeeeeep breath) visited the Chicago Cultural Center, walked down Michigan Avenue, craned our necks at the Tribune Tower AND made it back to the L and then the car all in time to make it to dinner across town at a beautiful restaurant with Beth’s other sister and parents. Phew, long day.

Then after a much-needed night’s sleep, we snagged some home-cooked breakfast before getting out the door to head east. I couldn’t have asked for a better first day, so here’s to hoping we can top all that today.

As often as I can, I’ll be posting right here and you can follow the trip on my Twitter at @zach_murdock.