From Rockford, Illinois we were hoping to make it to hoping to make it to Fargo , North Dakota in one day but the Fates decided to intervene. It should have been a 9 hour drive but with two people sharing the driving and with starting out by 7 am, we thought we were all set.
The morning started off with a realization that there were probably toll roads between Rockford and Fargo – we were alerted to this by TomTom, the GPS system we had. We said that we needed to avoid toll roads because neither of us had any US money on us and the banks would be closed until, we assumed, 10 am so we had to rely on my handy-dandy credit cards.
Well, TomTom decided we need to track all over Illinois in order to avoid toll roads, so, not knowing where they did and did not have toll roads, we needed to follow his instructions. Instead of going northwest, we realized we were heading east. About 10 am, we decided to call it quits, find a bank, and get back on the road. Lake Geneva had a very nice US National Bank so we stopped there.
Ellie said to the teller that she needed money from her credit card. The teller tried the first card and said it didn’t work. Ellie handed over the 2nd card and that didn’t work either. Now, you need to understand that Ellie’s husband is a high up mucky muck at his bank and he deals in international credit cards. She had asked him specifically if she could use any of her cards in the US and he had said “Yes”. Well, he lied! It turned out that card 1 had been cancelled and superseded by card 2, then card 2 was cancelled and superseded by card 3 but Ellie has never seen card 3. Also, the credit card that was taken by the cashier yesterday and cut up – well hubby had lost his card a few weeks ago so had called it in as lost or stolen so Ellie’s card had been cancelled too – but he forgot to tell her that! We were thankful that we didn’t get arrested for using a stolen card. I won’t reveal what she is planning for his cards on his next trip!
I gave the teller my card and once again, it worked so we had cash and we were good to go. We headed back on the road and aimed TomTom towards Minneapolis-St. Paul. We also made sure that we got 2 rolls of quarters! We decided that we liked Minnesota for, among other things, their traffic signs – all the roads were very clearly marked and it was easy to figure out where to go.
On our way to Minneapolis-St. Paul, we stopped in Hudson, Wisconsin, to get gas and stretch our legs and grab a coffee at the MacDonald’s next door to the gas station. We sat out on the patio for a bit and talked to a mom with her 2 children, Madison and Hunter. Mom and the kids went into the restaurant for a potty break and we headed to the car. There was an elderly lady in the parking lot who wanted to go to St. Paul but the person who was explaining was not getting through to her at all, even though we could see the road and the turns required to get back on I-94. We said we were heading that way and to follow us so she did. We lost her about St. Paul so we assumed she found her exit and was okay to get home or wherever she was going.
We had decided to head towards Fargo, North Dakota and see how far we got. When we reached St. Cloud, Wisconsin, we had had it so we pulled into the first motel we saw. We went to get out of the car but when I went to grab my purse, I couldn’t find it. I moved everything from the back seat, checked the trunk, and looked under the seats but no purse. I almost had a melt down at this point. I had the only money, the only credit cards that worked, as well as all the registration and insurance for the car! My heart was in my mouth.
We headed into the hotel and approached the desk. There was a lovely young woman named Amelia on the desk. We told her what had happened and she very thoughtfully found the McDonalds near the Minnesota/Wisconsin border and started to call each one. At the third one, they said they had a patio. When she asked about the purse, they confirmed that someone had turned in a purse. Thankfully, we had enough gas to get back to Hudson. We arrived at the McDonalds and got my purse. The person who turned it in hadn’t left their name or number so I don’t know who my guardian angel was but I am most appreciative of their honesty. I like Wisconsin. Ellie and decided we weren’t in any condition to drive any further so we found the nearest motel, checked in and crashed.
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