Monday, July 9, 2007

You darn kids with your makeout parties and your flaming carbombs.

It's weird being back in a big city for an extended period of time. Getting used to all of the little backwards suburbs we see scrolling past us for the brief amount of time we have the privledge of using their roads; all of the delapidated towns we've passed through, where you could imagine the inhabitants giving directions in their coarse, country drawl, using the charred remains of Ma and Pa Grocery/Tractor Parts/"Party" store as some nostalgic landmark you feel should have some significance to you; it is a little taxing on the.. whatever you wanna call it. Michigan is a tarp draped over a bungee pit, with colleges pinning it down on all edges to keep it from vanishing into obscurity.. oh wait.

The past two days we cranked out close to two hundred and fifty miles. It sometimes seems that we're lazy and don't want to do huge distances in a day, but then I realize that we are fully loaded with packs, and then 100 miles in a day seems like a much bigger endeavor than originally projected. We made it from Ypsilanti, MI to Gary, IN in two days, where we were picked up.

We are staying in a nice suburb in northern Chicago called Evanston. It's not quite the white picket fence, two-cars-in-every-garage, Johnny-America place, but it's just close enough for me to feel spoiled on the trip. But screw it, we needed a nice break. We've gotten plenty of tours around the city so far, but haven't really been downtown. It's a great place- like a New York City Jr. Today we went to the Art Institue of Chciago and Christ on a salt lick, they had a HUGE Jeff Wall exhibit and I almost shit myself.

The day before, Niels (Reed's uncle, who has been the most generous host I could imagine) took us sailing on Lake Michican in his boat. Yeah, it was awesome. More awesome than what you were doing that day. We also went to see Transformers with Andrew (Reed's cousin, and an awesome guy in general), and then home to sleep. Great day.

I never realized the lack of support, and in all actuality, the abundance of skepticism at our actually completing this trip. It reinforces what I've thought for awhile, but could never bring it into any light.

Biking for long periods of time gives you a lot of thinking time. Which is awesome. You can sing songs, but eventually you end up repeating one stanza over and over again and then you go crazy.. but if you really concentrate, you get a chance to think about a lot of things. For instance, I've been able to re-evaluate a lot of relationships within the spectrum of people whose first and last name I know. It's been enlightening, although with this new form of introspection, I've gained a more objective view on life than I initially thought. I've found it easier to trust myself.

I'll write more tomorrow before we leave, because I am tired as all sin

No comments: