Last week I had to use the Illinois Tollway on my trip to St. Charles to pick up our Kia Soul. I had not driven in Illinois for decades and the “new” tollway system was a surprise to me.

I was used to the old toll booths where you tossed money into a bin and received a green light to continue. I had assumed that I would have to go through a “manual” booth as I was pulling my twin-axle trailer. Boy, was I behind the times!

There are no more toll booths. Instead, license plate readers take a photo of your car as you go through each toll plaza. At the end of your trip you log into the Illinois Tollway website (illinoistollway.com) and pay your tolls on-line.

I used the “Pay by Plate” function, but you can also create an account where the fee will be billed automatically to a credit card.

To pay, I had to: 1. Create an account. 2: log in. 3: Add a vehicle, including year, make, model, and license plate. 4: Search for an invoice.

A message popped up stating I had an unpaid invoice and advised that I review and pay the same. The invoice contained a record of every plaza I had passed through and a charge for each segment between the plazas. Since I had used the tollway two days, having stayed overnight at my sister’s place in Elmhurst, the charges were also broken out by date.

You have 14 days from the time of your trip to pay the invoice, or my sister says the authority will send you a very nasty note demanding payment, along with a penalty amount.

I must say I do not like having all the information required to be entered into an on-line database. On the plus side, this system makes the tollway more convenient as there are no stops in traffic at toll plazas. That is the trade-off.

My two day toll was $27.80. Considering I traveled a few hundred miles, pulling a large trailer, this did not seem to be too bad a fee. Here is my e-mail confirmation of payment from the tollway system:

Payment for Violation Confirmation
Thank You For Your Payment

Payment Confirmation Number: 02025A
Payment Submitted on: 12/01/2023

Below is a summary of your payment.

Cardholder’s Name
Gerald G Fields

Total Charge to Credit Card
$27.8

My take-away: If you have to use the Illinois Tollway, create an account before your trip and pay immediately when you return home.

In holiday news, we drove to Wapsi Pines Tree Farm and cut our live tree for this year. Here it is, shaken and wrapped, in the back of the RAV-4. Probably the last utility trip for the RAV. It has been a mighty handy vehicle for things like annual tree transport.

Once home I set up the tree. Next come lights. Then ornaments. That will pretty much finish my holiday decorating; Pam affixed a number of wreaths on the porches and gates this week. There are a few items Pam hangs inside the house too. (Out of reach of cats.)

Friday we drove to New Hampton (in the Kia!) for routine dental cleanings. On the way home we tried a new restaurant, styling itself as a pub. The food was fine but not exceptional. As we don’t eat out much these days, a restaurant stop is a highlight for us. However, having been to pubs in the UK, this one wasn’t quite that caliber.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny

There were 8 neighborhood cats at the outside feeder this morning. Roaming cats are going through cat food like crazy. Cold weather has apparently cut down on the number of rodents available to satisfy their hunger. Plus, I always try to maintain fresh drinking water for the cats, squirrels, and the occasional bird.

Card notes are being completed; some cards are already in the custody of the USPS. Will be interesting to see if their sorting machines totally mutilate this year’s greeting.

Happy Trails.