The Not-So-Windy City

So, if I post more frequently, maybe I won't have to rack my brain so hard to come up with details from my travels! Profound thought, eh?

After my last post while I was still in Goshen, IN, I pedaled around town for a while. I rode through the campus of my alma mater, Goshen College, and past the church I attended during those two years, Assembly Mennonite. It was quite the trip down memory lane. I was quite familiar with just about every square inch of that campus after working with the grounds crew out of the facilities department. I could guide you to every outdoor trash receptacle and every indoor plant that needed water around campus.

The next morning, I woke at 5am to make sure I could be packed and ready to go to breakfast with my friend Charles at 6am. After grabbing a bite to eat at The County Seat, we hit the road in a light rain. That's right, we. Charles rode with me for a while! We rode to his parents' place, where we took a break and we went our separate ways. Luckily the rain didn't stick around for long. I pressed onward through the drizzle in time for things to clear up near Lake Michigan. I followed highway 12 around the south side of the lake through some heavy industry and really awful roads. As I entered the city, I let my friend David know that I was close, so he came and met me on the bike path that follows the lake shore and we biked to his place, where I spent the night. That is, only after a quick dip in the refreshingly cool waters of Lake Michigan. It was nice to have that kind of cooldown after a 111 mile day.

The next morning I got up earlier than necessary because my body doesn't like to sleep past 6am so much any more. After lying around for most of the morning, I finally left the apartment to go meet Zach, a current Hesston College student, for lunch. We met at Millennium Park, so I got a chance to take my obligatory picture with the big silver thing. Everyone that visits Chicago needs a picture with the big silver thing (officially titled Cloud Gate, but popularly known as The Bean. I prefer The Big Silver Thing. It reminds me of the classic 80s movie Flight of the Navigator). This was my first touristy visit to Chicago. I drove right past the south side dozens of times while attending Goshen College, but never really visited the city. Zach and I decided we should get deep dish pizza while I was in town, since it is Chicago and all.

I pedaled around the city a little more and got to see my friend Morgan that just happened to be traveling through town a that same time. That was a nice surprise. Eventually I had to ride back south to David's place to get my gear, then back north again to head towards the current residence of another friend, Erini. While there, we decided to use her Wii to weigh me, because they said I looked little (relatively speaking). We told it my height and age, and after stepping on to the Wii balance board thing, it told me that I am obese. I think I'm a living argument against using BMI (body mass index) for anything. At one point my health insurance was hiked 10% because of my BMI. I kind of wanted to ask the insurance agent if he wanted to go for a bike ride.

After my encounter with the Wii and catching up with Erini and Travis, I headed towards my friend Lowell's new place. Yes, this is the same Lowell that I stayed with in Michigan. I got to join him on his first night in his new apartment in Chicago.

This morning when I pulled out of Chicago, Lowell joined me for a while. Lowell and I were cycling buddies while I lived in Kansas, and I would join him occasionally when he would bike from Newton to Wichita State University for class. On this occasion, he did not have his road bike with him, so he was riding an old mountain bike. I know Lowell is a fully capable cyclist, but he really had to work hard to keep up on his creaky bike that wouldn't shift into some of it's gears. I felt bad for him, having to work so hard, but I appreciated the company and the escourt out of the city.

A ways down the road after leaving Lowell, I pulled over to refill water and make sure my GPS wasn't taking me on to any roads that would make me unhappy later. As I was paying for a beverage, the clerk struck up a conversation with me about the whole cycling thing, and ended up donating a little to the "Help Feed Neal" fund.

Now I'm off towards a campground just on the other side of the Wisconsin/Illinois border for the night.

By the way, I am trying something new with pictures. It's a pain to upload them one at a time to the blog, and an even bigger pain to upload to facebook, so a friend suggested using Google Picasa. Below is a link. I just put everything from my camera on there, so there are a lot of very similar pictures. Sift through and only pay attention to the good ones. If there are any.

http://picasaweb.google.com/109453829912116812581