Chapter 11. Illinois has a silent “S”
The first thing that I did when I rode into Chicago was go the the bike shop called "On the Route". Jon and Margaret told me to meet up with their friend Heather, who then told me about a friend named Chris that worked at the bike shop. He wanted to know all about the trip and wished that he could do it, he was very helpful and even gave me a bike map of Chicago. I got some lunch, ate the best Thai food I ever tasted and met up with my host, Justin. He led an extremely active social life, and he was also able to give me a place to stay on short notice.
We rushed to get to a comedy show called Barrel of Monkeys put on by a group called the Neo-Futurists. They do thirty plays in sixty minutes and they are all plays that children have written and were adapted by the comedians. It was one of the funniest performances that I have ever seen, I actually hurt from laughing for so long and was just short of peeing my pants. I met one of Justin's friends, Jaimey who invited me to stay at her place for a couple of days. I was relieved to have another place to stay because I hadn't made arrangements with anyone else yet. My plans were so up in air. I packed my things in the morning and rode over to Jaimey's apartment, unloaded and she had to leave quickly, so I grabbed Bella and we went for a ride through town. I met Jaimey and Issabella (the girl she nanny's) for lunch.
I took Milwaukee Ave towards the city, which cuts at an angle through town and has a disjointed bike lane. I spent a good part of the day looking at skyscrapers, as Chicago has the first one in the world, and it fascinates me to no end to study Architecture.
I had dinner with my first Chicago friend, Heather and her roommate and we met up with Chris at the bar they both work at, The Shire. I made it back to Jaimey's, stayed on the futon and slept in the next morning. I had contacted another guy, Michael through the Couchsurfing network and he agreed to let me stay through the weekend. I had some time to kill before he was home, so I looked for another unique place to eat. I figured that I hadn't been anywhere with any culture other than The Cities, so I was obligated to eat as much delicious, foreign food as I could. I found a Polish restaurant that was highly rated, ate the sampler platter with meat and more meat galore, and then Michael greeted me at his house, a half mile away. We met up with Stacey, his girlfriend and went to the local bar by her house. We had a great time just talking about my trip and my life decisions and theirs, the DJ was not very good so we left. There was a Couchsurfers' event that night at the Neo Futurists, which was organized by Justin. Over a hundred people showed up for the event and I was seriously impressed by another great show, this one was for the adult audience and had bits of nudity, and props thrown in to the audience. So funny!
Friday, I rode around the Navy Pier and all its' crazy amusements and then went to a bicycle event called Critical Mass (where thousands of bicyclists ride in unison to take over the streets of major cities).
This event felt like a pinnacle of what I had been doing that summer (living and breathing everything bicycle and adventure related), and the timing couldn't have been any better. I felt the real community of my fellow bikers and talked to random people who just happened to be next to me at the time. I didn't plan to be there, I heard about it but I just so happened upon it. A secret smile planted itself on my face, I was again at the right place at the right time. People were hanging out their apartment windows to get a peek at what was going on, our massive bike parade brought people out onto the streets. Cops were surrounding us at most intersections but were mainly just trying to keep the order, and the cars from getting too much road rage. We definitely pissed off more than a few motorists, but what can you do when you are overrun by a gang of thousands? At one point, I really had to pee because I had been drinking whiskey out of my water bottle the whole time and I got off the bike for a second to whizz in the shrubs but a cop spotted me and blared his siren. I ran back to my two wheeled steed and pedaled off, half drained. It was not a good idea to leave the safety in numbers for too long, especially being in an unfamiliar city. We got lost in South Chicago for a few miles but finally made it to the shore of Lake Michigan and disbanded.
I then met up with Jaimey for dinner and drinks, I just didn't have the energy to make it back to Michael's apartment. We cuddled that night, it felt good to touch another human, I hadn't had any touch in a very long time at that point. Jaimey told me about her friends that lived in Cleveland so I was happy to have another place to stay further down the road. I ate breakfast with her at the apartment and then went back to Michaels' house. Me and Michael got cleaned up and went to the International House Music Festival. The funny thing is that when we arrived, there was a State Fair going on and we barely noticed that the parking lot next to the Fair was where the house music was happening. For a huge festival, there weren't very many people there. I counted maybe a hundred people. The music was great, there was a Drum and Bass stage, House and Techno stages. The DJ's were actually really good, and we stayed for a few hours.
I was going to go the the Bike Messenger Prom that night, but I decided to hang out with Michael and we went to a club to go dancing with some of his friends. I was able to borrow a nice shirt from him and it turns out that we are both a shoe size 44, European. The music at the club was like a video game on crack, and un-danceable so Michael went home and I went with his friends to a place called the Lizard Club, which they in turn actually decided to just go home, but I wanted to dance so I just got out of the car right there. I had a good time that night, danced like there was no tomorrow and walked three miles home because the normally running train was being repaired.
Michael had two beautiful Russian Couchsurfers stay that Sunday, I slept on the couch that night. Eugenia and Aleksandra both taught English in China, and had hauled massive amounts of shoes with them to Chicago during the duration of their vacation. They were both easy to talk to and very sarcastic; I invited them to join me for dinner but they were tired from the days' activities and I went by myself to the famous Kuma's eatery.
When I walked in to this darkly painted place, I noticed that they were playing obscure, B-rated gorey films and blaring death metal and the staff were all very obviously goth/punk dressed in all black. They have what is called the Rock and Roll Burger and several variations of gigantic one-pound patties on golden sweet bread buns. I asked the server to surprise me and she brought me her favorite, which had house-made chioptle sauce with carmelized onions, jack cheese and huge pile of fries all on one giant plate- I ate the entire thing in about ten minutes flat. I paid something like thirteen dollars for the meal and it was worth every stomach-stuffing penny.
Chicago was fun, too much fun and my wallet was draining, I had to leave or I wouldn't have enough funds to make it to the East Coast and fly back to Seattle. All this was all due to my ever-expanding network of Couchsurfers' friends. I was sad to leave but excited for the next adventure. There are too many other things I didn't mention in detail like wandering around museums and taking a boat ride through the canals, practicing my juggling in Centennial Park, visiting "The Bean" and so on.
One final notable thing about the city is that I had a habit of wearing my sandals, not my bike shoes so as to not be clipping in to my pedals, I had massive legs at this point and would blow away the bike messengers at every stop light, as they liked to race from light to light.
I left Michael’s at around 8 am the next morning, weaving my way once again through the congested streets of Chicago and onto the Waterfront Bike Path with the wind blowing at my back. It took me along that open expanse of brownish colored water called Lake Michigan nearly 25 miles until I approached South Chicago and Gary, Indiana. I was now dealing with a side wind again, but North Dakota trained me sufficiently enough to just pedal at a steady pace.
As I moseyed on through Gary, I was not impressed by the unkept streets and trash littering the sidewalks in some parts. The whole area is kind of an industrial nightmare, so the town only feels like an extension of some nasty chemical company. There could be some nicer part of town that I wasn't aware of, but as far as I could tell there wasn't a "nice" part of town.
I tried to follow my street map, but at some point I had no idea where I was as I left Gary headed East for South Bend, Indiana. I stopped at some random company along the side of the county highway and asked the receptionist where the hell I was. She had a little map of the area, I was relieved to find out that I was indeed travelling along the correct road.
As I left the building, a man wearing a business suit who looked like former football player approached me and asked where I was heading and my reply was simply, "Boston". The expression on his face turned to one of surprise and he exclaimed, "you have got to have some big balls to do that; I wouldn't be caught dead on a bike unless there's a motor in it!" I laughed for a second with him and sort of at him and rode out of parking lot.
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