[Plainfield]

I just got back from a road trip to see the Tennesse Smokies and the Smokie mountains. I am a huge Chicago Cubs fan, and have been visiting the minor league teams to see if our future looks any better then the present. I admit that I rarely go on long car rides, and I have never driven through other states before. But I really like my new car, so I thought it would be a fun ride.

As we left the Chicago area and got into Indiana I started to notice that people seem to drive differently. It seemed that people were so much 'nicer' if you can drive 'nicely'. This continued in Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina. For instance on the highways almost everyone drove in the right lane, unless they were passing another car and then they got back into the right lane. It sounds small, but I am so used to driving in the Chicago area where we all know about that rule, but rarely ever follow it.

Plus I loved the 70 mile speed limits in those states. It was a fun and peaceful ride from Indiana all the way to Tennessee and to North Caronlina when we went into the Smokie Mountains. Well, driving in the Smokie Mountains might not have been peaceful---but it was fun!!!

I did enjoy the road trip and tried to count the number of Camaros that we saw on the way. For the entire trip we only saw about 15 other Camaros. Plus, the Tenneessee Smokies swept the Lookouts in a three game series, which made the trip all the better.

I was slightly disturbed by the number of cars and trucks in those states that had vanity front license plates. I have to have a front license plate in Illinois, but WHY would anyone put on a vanity license plate if they didn't need to? All the cars looked so much better when you left the front alone.

When we were driving back last night, you could tell when we entered Illinois again. It was every man for himself on the highways. Pass on the left, pass on the right, weave in and out of the lanes. It felt like a video game.

I guess as someone from Illinois, and the Chicago area, this has always been normal, but after a few days away, it took a while to get used to again. It was like driving with a bunch of late crazy people.

Has anyone else noticed that people from the Chicago area seem to drive like idiots? This question is coming from someone in the area that really thought that was just how everyone drove.