I was in a hailstorm.
For all your covering-buildings-with-crappy-looking-old-plywood needs.
They let me pitch my tent in a beautiful little pine grove on their property. We were having tea last night when I mentioned that I hadn't played a guitar since I left New York. Charlie brought over a never-been-used guitar he had sitting around, and I sung them the few songs I know, including Pancho and Lefty, which happens to be one of Charlie's favorite songs (he recorded me playing it on a little dictaphone). This morning Margaret cooked us breakfast, featuring some eggs from her very own "happy chickens" (although one of her hens has started trying to crow).
He belongs to Curt, the nephew of the folks I stayed with last night. (Curt once rode his bike across the US, with a buddy half of the way and solo the rest.)
Brought to you by the LaPorte County Pioneer Cemetery Commission
To my wonderful mother and all the others out there, including all my new moms on this trip.
From left to right: Chris, Anne, Janelle, and Chris (there are many more family members who weren't in the kitchen at the time: Chris and Chris have six kids and a bunch of grandchildren). One of Chris's sons had seen me back down the road a ways and told Chris I was heading his way, so he came out as I was passing by and invited me in to have Mother's Day lunch with them. He also chased me down after I left to give me a package of home-grown beef sticks. And today's New York connection: Mom-Chris, whose maiden name is Wyckoff, is, in all likelihood, descended from a fellow Brooklynite.
Christina and Troy called the neighbors over when I showed up, and we all hung out until bedtime.
Top row (left to right): Winston (the cat), Cassadie, Emily, Derek
Bottom row: Lisa, Carey, Cailynn, Christina, Troy
Troy had to head out to work before the crack of dawn, but I got to spend some quality time with the ladies of the house this morning while Christina was cooking breakfast (and packing me lunch), and also during Cassadie and Cailynn's post-breakfast pogo stick session.
Anita (top middle) and her mother Virginia (bottom right) saw me walking by and invited me over to have a beer at their Mother's Day/birthday cookout.
At least it felt that way. Janice and John are the first-cousin-once-removed-in-law and first-cousin-once-removed, respectively, of my friend Ned from New York. I basically got to be their surrogate child for the night, filling in for their son Doug, who is the same age as me. John fixed me a cocktail as soon as I arrived and prepared a delicious dinner, and Janice did my laundry, made me a big breakfast, and sent me off with about fourteen pounds of food for the road (I almost needed a sidecar to carry it all).
They're not always so big on pedestrian accommodations here.
The barrels are designed to absorb the impact of a car that's heading into the concrete wall. These barrels were empty, which is unusual. Read more!
I wonder if that means I'm getting close to some kind of jurisdictional boundary?
To Raul Rebeles, a construction worker who fell to his death from the Chicago Skyway. It's built on a column supporting the Skyway.
The visible part reads "Illinois-Indiana Stateline Monument". Which is weird, because this was a good distance from the state line.
I can't find specifically what this means in Chicago, but I assume it's something like this.
Also, is that Lance Armstrong's signature or a graffiti tag?
My plan yesterday was to make my way up to the University of Chicago and try to find somewhere to stay with some students there. As I was approaching the campus, I got an email from my friend Lyle, a forwarded email from his friend-of-a-friend John, saying that John's friend Joe would host me for the evening in Hyde Park. Thanks to everyone in that chain of acquaintances for helping to secure me lodging for the night!
And a wonderful night it was. I got to hear Anna (left) play the cello while Lily and Rachel (right) made a peach-pear cobbler and Joe cooked up some sardines. We had some great conversations over dinner and beer/wine, and Joe asked me some really good questions about my walk that made me think a little deeper about what I'm experiencing.
P.S. Joe is a published author!
John, Joe's friend and Lyle's friend-of-a-friend, took me out to breakfast this morning and interviewed me for his blog. He's also done a few cross-country bike trips, and even wrote a book about one: Bars Across America: Drinking and Biking from Coast to Coast.
I love informational signs about mundane-but-overlooked parts of daily life.
From Wikipedia:
In a controversial move on March 31, 2003, Mayor Daley ordered private crews to destroy the runway in the middle of the night, bulldozing large X-shaped gouges into the runway surface. The required notice was not given to the Federal Aviation Administration or the owners of airplanes tied down at the field, and as a result sixteen planes were left stranded at an airport with no operating runway, and an incoming flight was diverted.
just go to a marina and look at the boat names. Case in point: Why Knot.
