Long story short, I didn't go.
I have a rule that if I set out to do something fun, and it's no longer fun, then I stop doing it. I certainly don't believe in giving up because something is "too difficult", it's just when I'm paying money to do something fun and it starts feeling like work... well, I just can't justify spending money to do work.
The only route I could possibly have taken to get the Flite Test's HQ in time was driving through Chicago, Gary IN, and taking Ohio's tollway. I paid $1.90 to enter IL, which I knew about and was fine with. But then I hit a toll booth well before Chicago and paid $3. I asked the toll booth operator when the next toll was and how much, when he said in 15 miles and it was $1.50, ... well paying a bunch of tolls, driving through a bunch of cities, trying to follow set directions, and hoping I don't miss a turn just didn't sound like fun. I'm not really the type to plan "vacations" anyway. That's just not me.
In all honesty, I was more looking forward to the drive home portion of the trip. Just driving back roads and taking my time. So I decided to just skip the long boring drive at the beginning. I think I would have been too exhausted to fully enjoy the open house anyway.
I ended up turning off of the interstate and I had an amazing day of driving back roads all day through Illinois and Iowa. I didn't take a map with me on purpose. Again, that's just not me. So I ended up taking a rather long but very scenic way home. Which was a blessing because I ended up driving over the scariest bridge I've driven in my life and I happened upon President Grants house and a civil war reenactment. Which I only drove past because staying up over 24 hours straight is exhausting.
Moral of the story, if something isn't "fun", then turn it into something fun. That's what I did. Also, nothing ever goes as planned. At least not for me.
![Stick out tongue :p :p](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)