IL Day 12 - Across the Pond to Blighty
IL Day 12 - Across the Pond (again)
So the last day in Clinton arrived and typically the weather improved and actually got up into the low 80s though MIL’s house takes a long time to warm up so that the benefit was only felt by going outside, finding it too hot and returning to the cooler (and darker) inside.
I did see what looked like a Hairy Woodpecker, a much bigger bird compared to the Downy Woodpecker we saw the previous day.
Sparkly Ant had stayed over in preparation for running us down to O’Hare - which was a much more pleasant trip than the coach as it meant we had good company. On the way down there we saw at least one more nighthawk, a long progression of redwing blackbirds, grackles and starlings. Not to mention at least one turkey buzzard, one red tailed hawk and not far south of Jolliet what looked to be an eagle of some type; it certainly was quite different to the other raptors we had seen so far. There was also something falcon-like which might have been an American Kestrel - then again it could have been several other thing as well. Not too far from O'Hare we had a good view of some raptor being very harassed by a much smaller bird that kept diving it and striking it for the whole minute that we were able to see it. Also, over one of the rivers near Chicago there was what looked like a river boat, two stories but lacking a paddle wheel. As the brown sign mentioned River Boat Casinos, we speculated that it could be one of those. I had a Philip Jose Farmer moment and wondered also what Mark Twain would have thought about it.
Check-in was quick and painless and very efficient - unlike the TSA drones who de to have been trained to bad tempered and grouchy to all life forms.
Our plane on the way back was new. So new that they had two engineers from Thales working on some of the systems in-flight. As a nervous flyer you can imagine how I felt about that!
But the flight was not too bad - from a set of values containing plunging into the ocean, explosive decompression and engine failure and we reached Heathrow to good weather and got through immigration and customs in record time. Then back to the London Borough of Mordor and the cries of Swifts overhead. Oh and jet lag. Lots and lots of Jet Lag.
So the last day in Clinton arrived and typically the weather improved and actually got up into the low 80s though MIL’s house takes a long time to warm up so that the benefit was only felt by going outside, finding it too hot and returning to the cooler (and darker) inside.
I did see what looked like a Hairy Woodpecker, a much bigger bird compared to the Downy Woodpecker we saw the previous day.
Sparkly Ant had stayed over in preparation for running us down to O’Hare - which was a much more pleasant trip than the coach as it meant we had good company. On the way down there we saw at least one more nighthawk, a long progression of redwing blackbirds, grackles and starlings. Not to mention at least one turkey buzzard, one red tailed hawk and not far south of Jolliet what looked to be an eagle of some type; it certainly was quite different to the other raptors we had seen so far. There was also something falcon-like which might have been an American Kestrel - then again it could have been several other thing as well. Not too far from O'Hare we had a good view of some raptor being very harassed by a much smaller bird that kept diving it and striking it for the whole minute that we were able to see it. Also, over one of the rivers near Chicago there was what looked like a river boat, two stories but lacking a paddle wheel. As the brown sign mentioned River Boat Casinos, we speculated that it could be one of those. I had a Philip Jose Farmer moment and wondered also what Mark Twain would have thought about it.
Check-in was quick and painless and very efficient - unlike the TSA drones who de to have been trained to bad tempered and grouchy to all life forms.
Our plane on the way back was new. So new that they had two engineers from Thales working on some of the systems in-flight. As a nervous flyer you can imagine how I felt about that!
But the flight was not too bad - from a set of values containing plunging into the ocean, explosive decompression and engine failure and we reached Heathrow to good weather and got through immigration and customs in record time. Then back to the London Borough of Mordor and the cries of Swifts overhead. Oh and jet lag. Lots and lots of Jet Lag.