Volleyball for Four Days in Chicago

Elise is ready.

There is a volleyball tournament ongoing here in Chicago at McCormick Place.

My 14-year-old granddaughter, Elise, was drafted to play with a Texas team coming to the tournament.

She played an entire season back in Austin with a different team, so tonight’s team seemed as though playing as an ensemble was still in the “gelling” stage.

Elise had games at 4, 5 and 7 p.m.

She will have more games tomorrow at roughly the same times.

The last 3 games against the Wisconsin team Elise’s team won, which was nice.

The first set of games against the Los Angeles team did not go as well.

It was difficult to gauge how many teams were playing inside McCormick Place. I tried to count one row and could not see past 7 different sets of teams playing on temporary courts.

I’ve been to McCormick Place for an automobile show and I’ve attended two BEA (Book Expo America) shows at the Chicago facility. Usually, the BEA takes place in New York City, but every so many years they bring it to the Midwest.

The weather here has been very smoky due to the wild fires burning in Canada. There is rain predicted for tomorrow and that may carry the smoke out of the area. Everything is gearing up for the NASCAR race that will put cars on Columbus and Lake Shore Drive and Roosevelt and other Chicago city streets for a race that will see the cars traveling 120 mph through the streets of the city. Much of this race goes on near me, so, as you can imagine, getting around during this preparation is chaotic.