Wednesday August 5, 2020- Chicago and a Flat Tire 🙄

           The day finally came that we could explore Chicago!!!  I have been excited to go to Chicago ever since I made the itinerary.  Scotty took the day off of work so he could go with us. We had such a fun day exploring the city. The kids got a good feel of what it means to be in a big city. We never spent too much time in L.A. so this was a great way to introduce the city life!!!!

  Three weeks ago I bought from Trip Advisor, Big  Bus Tour tickets for our family to do a tour today.  The Hop on Hop off tours happen to be my favorite.  You get to see so much in one day and you learn a ton.  So, the initial plan for our family today was to do a Big Bus tour and spend the whole day exploring the stops.  . . . . Yesterday, I got an email saying that Big Bus decided to cancel all tours until the end of August.  Plop.  I was naturally disappointed.   Scotty and I bounced back by deciding that we could take our family and see as many of the  "Must See" sites in Chicago that Trip Advisor said we should see.    The problem came when I got on the web to get my refund for the Big Bus tour.  They told me that I canceled less then 24 hours of my booking so they weren't going to refund me the money????!@$%##@#$  I was a bit mad seeing that they cancelled on me less then 24 hours before my booking.  I think I should have charged THEM a 50% fee for canceling. :)))  I eventually got someone on the phone and she fixed it for me.  No big deal.  It definitely wasn't time to melt down.  Fast forward to this morning.  We drove into Chicago on a beautiful, cloudy day.  The temperature was perfect for walking all day.                             

After we parked the truck (which was crazy because it is so huge), the first thing we did was create a buddy system.  Taj is a bit like Perry the Platypus on Phineas and Ferb.  He tends to disappear when no one is watching. After we assigned everyone to someone, we were off to explore!!! 

The first park we explored was Millennium Park.  Then we walked around the walkway that passed along Lake Michigan then to Navy Pier.  We explored Chicago 360, Chicago Riverwalk and the Magnificent Mile.  We did a lot of walking.  I had like 30,000 steps for the day (I ran too in the morning).  The architecture is beautiful here.  All the kids commented that they really liked being in the city. I agreed.  I love the city and Chicago was so fun to play in all day with my favorite people.  Even when Pepper and Asher wouldn't stop playing their hitting game:0)  

Oh the wonderful bean!!!!!!  Why is something as simple as a huge metal bean so dang cool????  

Taj got hungry so we took a break for food.  

Navy Pier.  The stores were open but sadly the ferris wheel was not running.  This guy walking with us hung out for a while.  Scotty finally bought him a hamburger then he split. 

The hotel workers in the area were having a peaceful protest here. They were driving around the block, honking their horns while holding up signs.  The kids thought it was a bit unsettling but at least the protest was peaceful.  

The observation deck 360 is really cool.  We were taken up in an elevator 94 floors in the former John Hancock building to get a 360 view of Chicago.  They now call it the 360 Chicago building.  It was really educational. We spent a lot of time there looking at all the buildings and the city and Lake Michigan. Looking at the city from up top we could get a better idea of the geography of Chicago and the buildings and places.   A lot of the tall buildings had pools and gardens up on top.  We noticed that all the tall buildings were in the heart of Chicago.  Then the suburbs are flat with no tall buildings.  This was a great activity.  I'm glad it was open and that we could experience it.  

Back down on the ground in the Magnificent Mile. 

We had such a lovely day even without Big Bus Tours.  When we were done, we walked to the car and drove to a hot dog place that Scotty wanted to eat at while we were here. As we were driving, our tire pressure monitor yelled at us and said that the pressure is decreasing fast.  I looked at it and it said that the pressure was at 45, then 15, then 0.  Oof. We had no idea what happened and we were just 3 miles away from food, so we drove to food and parked there to check the tire out.  We found a huge slit on the side wall of the tire and the pressure was escaping fast. At first we thought that some crazy person from Chicago slit our tires:))))  hahahha Then we remembered that as we left the parking garage, Scotty accidentally hit a curb.  I thing that the curb made the slit and not some angry Chicagoan.  Who knows what happened.  

Scotty said that he wanted to eat first then we could change the tire.  So we all ordered and ate our Super Dogs!!!!!!

We decided to drive carefully across the street to a bigger parking lot to change the tire.  When we got there Scotty  was looking for the special tool that lowered the spare tire. We looked everywhere. We couldn't find it.   When we realized that the tool wasn't in the car, we tried to use other things to lower the tire. No luck.  A cop came over because she was going to close down the parking lot that we were in.  We told her what was happening and she was super cool.  She said that she will close down all the other parks first, and leave this one for last so we could have time to fix the tire.  At that point we called road side assistance to see if they could come and bring the tool.  We wasted 2 hours waiting for them.  Our insurance connected us with 2 different companies and neither of them had the tool that we needed.  It was about 9:30 at that point. We finally decided to have a family prayer.  We asked for help (again). I bet Heavenly Father was like - Oh, it's them again:))). Our last plea for help was when we went up Pikes Peak and ran out of gas.  That story is HERE.  Our campground was one hour and 20 minutes away. Here we were, in a city we didn't know.  We had no family or friends near by to help.  We only had each other and our faith to get us through this.  These are moments that our trip has freely given us. I'm so grateful for my kids and how they step up when it really counts.  Scotty came up with the idea to drive slowly and carefully to our campground.  There was still one wheel back there so we thought that maybe it would be OK to drive with one wheel flat.  We started driving and both of us felt strongly that we should not attempt to drive to our campground. We pulled over into a CVS parking lot.   We YouTubed and decided that it was not a good idea to try and drive on the one tire that was there.  We didn't want to do any internal damage to the truck. After exhausting all our options, we thought to drive up the road to a Hilton and stay there for the night.  Then in the morning the Ford dealership would be open and we could get the truck fixed there.  So we carefully drove into the parking lot of the hotel, parked, and before we knew it Taj had jumped out of the truck and started talking to this guy who was outside having a smoke break.  Graham hurried up to be with Taj and I was close behind.  When I arrived the guy, Ben, asked me if we needed help.  I was puzzled how he knew that we needed help.  Apparently Taj reminded him of his son so he started talking to him. Taj told him that we had a flat tire and needed a tool.  Ben asked Graham what tool we needed and Graham told him that it's the one to lower the tire.  I walked up at that point and he told me that he had a Ford and that he had the tool.  He was more then happy to help us.  He and Scotty spent the next hour lowering the spare and putting it on the truck.    WOW                      There is no doubt in my mind that Ben was put there to help us.  It was not a coincidence that Ben was outside at the exact same time and at the exact same hotel that we were.  I know that Heavenly Father answered our prayers through Ben.   We thanked him and told him that he was an answer to our prayers.  He said that he does a lot of motorcycle riding all over the states and that there have been many times that he has needed help and others have helped him. He was just paying it forward.  What a great example of Loving and Serving.  Again, Heavenly Father has stretched for his hand and blessed us in our time of need.   As I have reflected on this experience I have marveled in the fact that not once did I fear.  I knew that everything would be OK.  I didn't know how, but I knew that Heavenly Father was there watching over us and if I could follow the promptings of the spirit, then we would be just fine.  In these moments of reflection, my heart has been full of love and gratitude for the ability to trust in my God and in my Savior Jesus Christ.  Scotty and I were strongly prompted to go on this trip and God has protected us every mile we have gone.  I am so grateful for the sweet relationship that I have with my God. As a family, we again gave a prayer of gratitude for the help we received tonight.  

Ben.  Our angel for the night.  Thank you Ben!!!