On our way back from Goshen, IN, we crossed the North-South continental divide. I had never heard of this particular geographic demarcation, but it turns out that it is simply the edge of the Great Lakes Basin. You pass over a slight rise, and then dip down a few hundred feet to the flat plains left by the receding waters of the Great Lakes.
Later, as we inched our way through Chicago on I-94, it occurred to me that there is also a Second City Divide.
This is where you are no longer driving into Chicago, but are leaving Chicago, and therefore traffic starts moving again at a reasonable pace. On the opposite side of the highway, you can see your compatriots slowing to a standstill as you pick up speed. This divide I envision more as a dip than a rise – you drive down into the logjam of the city, and then begin climbing your way back up out. It occurs at about Cortland Street.
When I drive to Wisconsin I always enjoy the thrust and parry that is driving through Chicago. Of course, it reminds me of when I used to live there and how I enjoyed a love/hate relationship with this great city.
I loved it.
It hated me.
I was driving with someone who hates Chicago traffic, and was therefore tense and anxious. Me, I just let myself go with the flow, part of the stream of humanity running through the city. I love Chicago. It is a terrific, challenging, politically weird, beautiful, polyglot community.
Word.
And I like to think of the traffic as a challenge. Not one I usually won, but the fun was in the battle!