Rainy Day Bike Rides and Voting Early in Chicago

Our efforts to enjoy the great outdoors Monday were stymied by an intermittent rainfall. At one point there seemed to be a window of opportunity, so we harnessed the bikes on the 4-Runner and made our way to the bike path at Caldwell Woods. Right when we got there the sprinkles galvanized into a full-fledged downpour, and chased us into the nearby SuperDawg Drive-in. For those of you who haven't been to SuperDawg you can't consider yourself a real Chicago hot dog aficionado until you have made eye contact with the dancing hotdog atop the drive in while sating your appetite. While some may prefer Portillo's, these two pooch purveyors balance in my mind to create a finely tuned fulcrum of the Chicago dog experience. It's rare that a return trip from O'Hare International Airport won't feature an exit at Nagle and a jaunt to SuperDawg near the intersection of Milwaukee/Nagle/Devon. So as Lucas eased into a carseat nap, Jackson was chomping at the bit to down some of the goods from this culinary wonderwerk. No worries for those reading today who are keeping a tally, Jackson's lunch wasn't a dog - his fare was a grilled cheese with fries and a portion of a chocolate shake. A few hours later we did wheel the bikes out of the garage with the boys in their seats. The weather decided to cooperate and we wanted to join the growing chorus of early voters so we greenly made our way to perform our civic duty at the Edgewater Public Library. With five minutes to spare before the 5pm closing we walked in, showed our state id's to cast early ballots. With Lucas balanced on my knee my eyes welled up with tears as I saw Barack Obama's name at the top of the ticket. So with Jackson at her side and Lucas on my knee we joined the growing ranks of early voters. Leaving the overly warm library auditorium and buoyant with the future we hope our small efforts will visit on our boys and our country we made our way back outside, straddled our bikes and rode to the lakefront to scratch a path somewhat south along Lake Michigan with no particular destination in mind. Perhaps the clear skies at the end of the day are an omen of good things to come. That's what we are feeling here at The Real Estate Lounge Chicago.