From the Chicago airport (which, by the way, is pronounced as Shicago) we headed to Madison, where my sister lives. Just in case anyone doesn't remember US geography, or, like me, never knew it in the first place, here's a map.
Chicago is highlighted with a red arrow
And in more detail — a map of the area where I was.
Madison is highlighted with a red arrow
As you can see from the map, Chicago stands on the shore of one of the Great Lakes — namely, Lake Michigan. When I first saw a somewhat large lake from the plane, I thought "a bit too small for a great lake". It turned out it wasn't one. But as we were approaching the airport, we started to turn over the real Michigan, and I got to appreciate its sheer enormity. Michigan's area is 57,750 km². For comparison, the area of Latvia is 64,589 km². The lake's length is about 500 km, and its width is about 190 km.
In the center is Miguel, my sister's cat. The black one is Joey, her friend's cat.
The drive from Chicago to Madison takes a little over 2 hours, the distance is about 300 km. Now for the first impressions. Everything in America is very big and straightforward. Big cars, big roads, big road signs, big letters on billboards along the highway. They rarely use symbols on American road signs. Usually, it's just text. And there's so much text that it pretty much replaces the traffic rules. For instance, you periodically see a sign: "Slower traffic keep right".
Now imagine how many millions of these signs they have to put up across the whole of America. No wonder building one mile of highway costs up to 9 million dollars. Another very common sign says: "Right lane must turn right", instead of our blue-and-white arrows.
Naturally, the speed limit also looks like this.
I snagged the signs from https://www.trafficsign.us, where you can stare at them to your heart's content, if for some unknown reason you feel like it.
A frequently encountered sign: "Construction Ahead"
A well-known joke in the states that get winter is "We only have two seasons — winter and construction". And that's all because Americans don't just drive a lot, they drive a whole lot. This leads to some curious consequences — no matter how well you build the roads, they still deteriorate from the massive load, especially with the added impact of winter temperatures. In general, back home in Latvia, people absolutely love to bash the government and its work in every possible area, including road construction. If you compare them to the German autobahns, our roads really aren't that great, but compared to the roads in Wisconsin and Illinois, ours are, as they say, on a par. By the way, Wisconsin is pronounced in English like "Wiscansin" and Illinois — like "Illinoy".
Interestingly, the most popular highways are made of concrete slabs — for durability. If the slabs have just been neatly laid, the road is smooth and pleasant to drive on. However, pretty soon, due to passing cars and temperature fluctuations, the edges of the slabs shift, and it turns out the car gets slightly jolted literally every second — a very familiar feeling.
So much for the myth of good American roads. Then again, given the massive distances, maintaining the road network in perfect condition is hardly rational. Interestingly, passenger cars cause practically zero wear and tear to the road surface — the load from trucks is literally thousands or tens of thousands of times greater.
On the way, we stopped at the Belvidere Oasis, which is essentially a building constructed right over the highway. Inside you can find various eateries, massage chairs, and a restroom. Fortunately, it was free, just like every other one I encountered in the US. The Wi-Fi is supposedly free there too, but I had nothing to check it with, and no reason to anyway.
My sister Alina and I
There my sister bought a sandwich from the Subway fast food chain, and I just had a little bite because I wasn't hungry.
This is another Oasis, there are 7 of them in total, but ours looked exactly the same
A bit more about the highways. The exits are always via interchanges, not turns, which allows for keeping speeds high and reduces traffic jams. The drivers, naturally, are polite and always give way when you need to change lanes or merge in. Rumor has it, Moscow drivers are the complete opposite.
Every 10-20 miles on the highways, there is an exit to get to eateries or gas stations. Typically, there are 2 to 4 of them in one spot, sometimes more (see the sign on the right in the photo above). In general, there is a massive number of restaurants, fast-food joints, and cafes in America, a fact I'll be mentioning again and again.
All the gas stations let you pay with a card by inserting it right into the pump. Interestingly, Americans drive on 88-octane gas, while 89, 90, 91, and 92 are considered premium. Granted, our European E-95 translates to a 91 in American terms, not a 95 like you might think.
The cars in the states are somewhat boxy and just generally look somewhat different from ours. Apparently, they have their own school of design.
Upon arriving, we ordered a pizza from what is supposedly the best chain in the region — Glass Nickel Pizza Co. The pizza was tasty, but due to exhaustion and a runny nose that hadn't cleared up yet, I didn't exactly appreciate it fully. I just sensed some spices in the form of some herbs.