Epic Road Trip Part 1: Three States in One Day

July 6, 2016

Goodbye Wisconsin! On to Chicago!

In Chicago, I was picking up my friend Ben, a grad school friend of mine who was there visiting a friend of his named LeAnne. I had never met LeAnne, but Ben has told me wonderful things about her, all of which turned out to be true.

Ice Cream in sea shells in Chicago! With Ben and LeAnne

I got to LeAnne's apartment mid-day, and the three of us hit the street! We walked her neighborhood (lovely), complained about the heat and humidity (one of my favorite activities) and got lunch at a Greek restaurant (where none of us felt compelled to convert to Greek Orthodox in order to marry the waitress.)  We also visited a Chicago library (another of my favorite activities) and got ice cream on the walk back.

Back at LeAnne's place, we relaxed on her comfy furniture, then all too quickly, had to say goodbye. We were trying to get to Ft. Wayne, Indiana by 6pm.

Ben and I got in my car and sped off into the Chicago suburbs, barely glancing over our shoulders at the skyline rapidly receding behind us. This is a sentence I would like to say is true, but it is not. Instead, we got into my car and sat in traffic for several hours, getting plenty of time to look out the window at the skyline, take pictures of the skyline, take selfies of us looking at the skyline, do a mad lib, and generally begin our time together by being irritated.

A deceptively lovely skyline. As seen from the car window. Notice the absence of any type of motion.

When we finally broke free of the hell that is Chicago traffic, and drove through charming and lovely Gary, Indiana, we made another discovery: we were changing time zones, and therefore, were now another hour later than planned.

The most beautiful part of Gary, Indiana: the empty highway

So, we made it to Ft. Wayne not by 6pm, but still in time to enjoy a delicious homemade dinner with my college roommate, Sarah, and her husband Doug, and their adorable son, Tyler. We were happy to be out of the car and get some tasty lasagna in our bellies. Yet again, I had a wonderful evening catching up with Sarah, and getting to know Doug and Tyler. Day three, three states, three new friends.

Tyler and I quickly became friends