Thursday November 4, 2004
I took the early morning 7:00AM flight to Chicago since the next available flight would have arrived late in the evening and would have meant finding my way in the dark on unfamiliar roads. By the time I reached the rental car outfit by shuttle bus and picked up my rental minivan (no other cars available although I had booked in advance and diligently confirmed the day before) it was already late in the afternoon.
The USA ULTIMA club get-together venue is located on the westernmost edge of Chicago, in St. Charles and I figured that I would take my time getting to my hotel, so I took what appeared to be the most direct route on local roads. The traffic turned out to be horrendous - too close to full blown "rush hour" I guess and I ended up taking a good two hours to get to the hotel.
I grabbed a bite to eat and decided to head back into the city, hoping to show up at the monthly meeting of the Chicago Porsche club, which fortuitously was scheduled on the same day as my arrival and of which I was aware, since it is regularly announced on the Porsche news list that I belong to. I planned to surprise a long time friend and active Porsche club member that I generally meet at the annual Porsche Club of America "Parade" and who I was certain would be at the meeting.
The meeting announcement said "8:00ish" so I left the hotel around 7:10PM hoping to make a stylishly late appearance. I did not envisage a totally uncooperative Chicago traffic system and neither did I anticipate the distance or time it would take to get to the meeting from my hotel. I ended up at the meeting very frazzled and unstylishly late at 9:30PM.
My drive into the city was in bumper to bumper traffic and all the while there, I was sure that the meeting would be over by the time I managed to get to it.
I did however surprise my friend when I made my way into the fairly dark establishment and walked up to a large group of people at a closely packed line of tables surmising - because of their closeness - that they must be together and probably belong to the Porsche Club, so I proceed to ask if they know of or are the aforementioned group. While my eyes attempted to adjust to the dim light and take in the ambience of the place, I hear my name incredulously being called out and realize that my friend is sitting right next to the person who I had asked.
One planned surprise had miraculously worked out and hopefully was a positive portent for the next few days. I left the meeting shortly after midnight, having had a wonderful time and was safely in bed at around 2:00AM, thanks to the very light traffic on the freeways heading out to St. Charles.
