Pat's Adventures in Dialysis

Pat's Adventures in Dialysis, the "I watched the NCAA Final Four, cheering for the Maize and Blue while wearing orange and blue and didn't feel bad at all edition". iPod shuffled to "Float On", by Detroit's own Floaters. "My name is Larry.."

Guess what? I ordered the graduation announcements. I ordered the graduation photos. And we spent the weekend in Champaign, Illinois to look at apartments. Hooray for getting things done! Brian and Shawn picked me up after dialysis on Friday and off we went. We stopped for a late breakfast west of Ann Arbor. I felt weak after eating, so I spent the next several hours laying down / sleeping in the backseat of the SUV. Lol. 56 years old and I'm sleeping in the back seat of the car on a road trip. :-D We make it through Gary and Chicago and head south. We chuckle when we realize Illinois is more than Chicago. Illinois is massive farmland. It puts Ohio to shame with the sheer size of the farms we passed. Big corporate farms o' soybeans.

We arrive in Champaign around 4PM. The trip wasn't that long. The hotel is on the north side of town with a slew of other hotels and a massive shopping area, including a mall with Macys(!), Sears and Penneys. "Love Under New Management", Mikki Howard. She has a great voice and a nice run in the early 90s. Her voice and songs stand the test of time. We get settled in, get dinner. Shawn verifies the appointments and we get ready for the next day.

We start the day with hotels version on breakfast. Shawn calls it barely adequate. It's good for a bagel with cream cheese and coffee. We pull out the smart phones and ipad for GPS duty and off we go. The first order of business is to get University of Illinois gear. Brian wants U-Ill dad stuff. I go for a hoodie. Shawn humors us. Lol.

We looked at five apartments in the morning. We looked at an additional four in the afternoon. None had elevators. Mom got a (much needed) workout. Oh yeah, the weather was spring perfect, getting into the low 70s. "Blues Away", The Jackson's. You know I like the Jackson's. don't judge. ;) Shawn decided on one we saw in the afternoon. It's walking distance to campus and close to a bus stop. Champaign has a very nice public transportation system. The campus is beautiful.. The area has a UM vibe but more laid back. Shawn is excited and we are excited for her. :)

Signing off with "That's the Way of the World", Earth, Wind and Fire. One of the discussions on the road trip was music and memories. I can probably attach a memory to every song. This song rolls me to my freshman year at University of Michigan. <3 data-blogger-escaped-.="" data-blogger-escaped-br="">