Sowing the Seeds of Traffic

Worshipping from upper deck
Thousands pack Sears Centre for Easter service in Hoffman Estates

For three Easters, we've struggled mightily to make it to my parents' house on time, only to be foiled by the traffic jam created by Willow Creek's 35,000 Easter Sunday churchgoers. Yesterday, though, a new approach dawned on us--avoid Willow Creek completely by jetting out to Route 59 instead of taking Barrington Road.

Our nifty plan pretty much worked, too; 59 moves pretty quick on a normal day and with none of the new shopping centers that have popped up in Streamwood and Bartlett open for business, the lights were almost all green. Except for one...

As we approached I-90, the light just before the highway caught us. Thirty seconds passed, and we expected to be on our way. Then another thirty. Then several more. Yet cars continued to stream out of the side road, which I eventually realized was the exit from the new Sears Centre.

Turns out that there was no escape. We got away from Willow Creek, but Harvest Bible Chapel, which rented out the Sears Centre for a service attended by nearly 11,000, snared us in its traffic instead. At least we were near the front of the pack that got caught in the post-service jam. I can only imagine that the words of the folks trapped in cars caught more than a mile back on the one-lane, no-way-out-but-through portion of Route 59 were something other than prayerful.