Post 11- Final Post, Chicago to Martha's Vineyard

So it has been a while since I last posted, the reason for this is that I have been keeping a journal and relearning the freedom of writing by hand, plus I have not always had convenient internet access. I have written nearly forty pages since I left Chicago so I am only going to give you the bare bones of what happened:

I left Chicago heading South along the Lakefront Pike Path, to Gary, Indiana. It was an industrial nightmare and there was a lot of glass on the street that I had to avoid. I went to South Bend and stayed with a couchsurfer there. He showed me Notre Dame campus and I walked around.
I left towards Toledo the next morning and when I got to Elkhart, I met a man in a parking lot who wanted to know all about my trip. I told him about it and then he said he wanted to give me a free chiropractic adjustment. I got his business card and tried to find his shop but it I got lost, so I headed back towards the center of town and called him telling him that I wasn't going to make it, but that I really appreciated it. I left town and about a mile down the road, there he was in his suburban, stopped at the same light as me. He pulled over and gave me a free adjustment on the side of the road! I couldn't believe that he would take the time out of his day to do that. He then handed me something rolled up and said, "I want you to have this". When I looked at what it was, I saaw that it was a wad of cash. Tears welled up in my eyes and he explained to me that people don't take the time to slow down and that what I was doing was incredible and he wanted to support my cause and my spiritual journey. He then left just as fast as he came and I got back on my bike with the biggest smile on my face. I rode my bike to Pokagen state park, and had the campground to myself. I walked down to the lake and found a private dock; I had a bottle of wine, a loaf of amish bread and the setting sun all to myself. When I went back to my campground, I saw little lights flickering on and off in amongst the trees. I saw this phenomenon once before, at a campground on the Mississippi , but this time I felt like there were little spirits watching over me, trailing their traces of light behind them as they floated around me. That day was magical, it brought me back to that place in myself that I found in North Dakota: there was nothing else in the world that mattered at that moment. This was the meaning of my journey.
I left early in the morning and rode through countryside crossing into Michigan, and Ohio; had a several dogs chase me and asked for directions to town until I reached the outskirts of Toledo and called my host, Adrienne. Toledo was boring and my host was out of sorts, I stayed with her and her parents. I had an uneasy feeling but it went away when their huge dog finally started to like me. In the morning I went to the post office to see if my eyeglasses had arrived, I had my friend Ian send them from Eastern Washington. They weren't there, and I had to bite my tongue because I really needed to be able to read again. I hoped that I would just get them one day.
I rode to Sandusky that day, but I had to hitchhike across highway 2 a few miles to get over the inlet there. I found a fire station a couple of miles away from Cedar Point Park to set my tent up at. I was in the midst of the roller coaster/ water park capitol of the world.
After saying goodbye to the nice fire fighters that put me up for the night, I left town headed to Cleveland. I somehow made it to Cleveland by noon and I called Jamie's friend, Dan. I met him at his house and we started drinking a couple of hours later, I knew that we would get along because he was drinking Sparks. We went to a place called Whiskey Point on the lake and climbed to the top of an abandoned lighthouse, and drank Sparks. While I stayed in Cleveland, I felt like I was in Portland, mainly because of the area I was in, Lakewood. Also Dan and his friends did everything together, we played volleyball, baseball, went dancing, sang karaoke, ate amazing food, drank at bars, and I even went swimming in Lake Erie during a rainstorm. It was a great time, but the weather turned gray and the rain came down in torrents so I changed my plans and decided to take a bus to Pittsburgh 100 miles away and visit a friend, Ret.
I went to Pittsburgh and while I was there, I hung out at the bar she worked at, met her friend Chris, practiced juggling, and went to the Andy Warhol Museum. Ret and I also ate the largest slices of pizza that I had ever seen. I put my bike back together (I had to disassemble it to get it on the bus), and headed in the general direction of Philadelphia. I originally was supposed to go to Buffalo and take highway 5 East to Boston, but this sounded like more fun. I found a crazy route through the hills of Pittsburgh out of town and ended up in Mckeesport. I saw a bike path sign and somehow had found the Great Allegheny Passage Trail. This route goes all the way to Washington, D.C. It would take me mostly in the right direction, so I just decided to follow it for a couple of hundred miles.
I went through Cumberland, into Williamsport, Gettysburg, York, lost in Amish land, then into Philly for a couple of days to see the Liberty Bell and some history. Went to Jersey City from there, took the Chinatown bus to Boston, then rode my bike to Wood's Hole and took the ferry into Martha's Vinyard where I have been for the last ten days.

Post 10- Chicago

The first thing that I did when I arrived was go the the bike shop called "On the Route". Jon and Margaret told me to meet up with their friend Heather, who in turn had a friend named Chris that works at the shop. He wanted to know all about the trip and wished that he could do it, but he was very helpful and even gave me a bike map of Chicago. I then ate dinner and met up with my host, Justin. He was the most active person that I have ever met, and he was also able to give me a place to stay on short notice. We went 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 wrote 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. I met one of Justin's friends, Jaimy Klinko who invited me to stay at her place for a couple of days. I was relieved to have another plaee to stay because I hadn't made arrangement with anyone else yt.
I packed my things in the morning and brought my things over to Jaimy's apartment. Then I met her and Issabella (the girl she nanny's) for lunch. After eating, I headed for downtown but didn't make it more than a few blocks before I bumped into a famous eatery, Jay's Beef. So I got a hot beef sandwich and ate my second lunch. I took Milwaukee Ave towards the city, which cuts at an angle and has a bike lane of sorts. The first thing that I saw was the Sears Tower, and then I headed to Grant Park. I had a good time there, checked out some crazy sculptures ("THE BEAN"), mediated for a while and practiced my juggling. I had dinner with Heather and her roommate and we met up with Chris at the bar they work at, The Shire. I made it back to Jaimy's, stayed on the futon and slept in. I had contacted another guy, Michael through the Couchsurfing network and he agreed to let me stay through the weekend.
I found a Polish resatuarant that was highly rated, ate the sampler platter with meat galore, and Michael greeted me at his house. We made some food, and then met up with Stacey, his girlfriend. We went to the local bar by her house and had a good time. the DJ was horrible, he basically just had a laptop with a horrible play-list, so we just went home.
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. I got a ride home from one of Justin's friends. Friday was also fun, I rode around the Navy Pier and then went to Critical Mass (thousands of bicyclists that take over the streets for a few hours). I then met up with Jaimy for dinner and drinks, and stayed at on the futon again. Jaimy told me about her friends that live in Cleveland so I was happy to have another place to stay. I ate breakfast with Jaimy 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 got arrived, there was a State Fair going on and we didn't notice that the parking lots next to the Fair was where the house music was happening. We finally figured it out and as we entered, there was a Drum and Bass section, House and Techno sections. 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 the 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, they actually decided to just go home, but I wanted to dance so I just got out there. I had a good time and walked three miles home because the train was under repairs.

Post 9- Davenport, IA to Chicago, IL

It was Friday, August 21 and I wanted a cup of joe, so Eric suggested that I go to Red Band Coffee. I took the beautiful bike path to downtown and walked into the small art deco building but there were no seats, only piles of large burlap sacks full of beans from all over the world. I ordered a black coffee and they ground my own serving on the spot, using a fresh paper filter. I watched the black gold drip through the filter into a large lab beaker. It was by far the best cup of coffee that I have ever tasted, but they didn't serve breakfast so I had to finish my cup there and look for a breakfast joint. I found a small diner in the center of town, ate and then walked across the "bridge to nowhere"- a multi million dollar pedestrian bridge that stretches over the road towards the mississippi.
I wandered around, found another casino paddleboat, drank free coffee, ate theur buffet and then Eric called so I met him down at the River Music Festival volunteers' booth. We helped load case after case of beer and soda into huge bins then filled them with ice and started drinking. Unfortunately, the sky turned dark and the rain started, which came down in torrents. The beer was free as long as we were volunteering, so we mingled with the other volunteers and drank, drank, drank.
The rain stopped shortly after 5pm and people started to line up to buy beer; I had met Jon and Margaret in the meanwhile. They were a very nice couple who decided that they were going to buy me breakfast in the morning, and I couldn't say no. My shift ended so I grabbed a few more beers and headed out to go see the opening bands. It was mostly country with a rock twist to it, so I just floated around with Eric, Jon and Margaret, enjoying the festival and people watching. Its' funny the crazy people that show up when something is free: zitty teenagers, mullet sporting couples, and lots of bikers.
The Blue Oyster Cult was the headlining act, so I pushed my way up to within four rows of people from the stage. They were very impressive, especially for their age. I danced like a maniac and eventually left my coveted spot to go find my new friends. We left the show with a couple of Eric's frat-looking friends and went to a bar where I met a couple of nice girls, talked to them for a while and left after consuming way too much alcohol. Oh well.
In the morning, I somehow woke up just before Jon called and he was very hung over. They took me to a place called the "Shed" and I ordered the Hungry Man's breakfast, which consisted of a huge slab of ham, a large sausage, bacon, two pancakes, three poached eggs, an english muffin and homefries. I actually couldn't finish the last couple of bites. We took a picture outside with a large corn sculpture and they dropped me back at Eric's. I packed my things and was on the road around 11 am.
I went across the river and started to head west on the bike path. It was a glorious day, and I stopped at a park which had a workout station. A few more miles down the road and I found a map of the area, it turns out that I had been riding in the wrong direction for about an hour; so I took the most direct route to get to the Hennepin canal trail, I-80. I would have to say that it saved me tons of time, but in hindsight, was very stupid and dangerous. It's not only illegal but very scary to have cars pass you at 70 miles per hour, even though there was a huge shoulder that I was able to stay on.
I finally found the Hennepin and as I entered, there was a sign that read, "trail closed". Trail closed! I wasn't impressed by this, so I just went on anyway. About a mile down the road the trial was completely washed out and I had to push Bella around a muddy, steep path the other hikers/bikers had carved out. It wasn't all that bad, and I continued on down the crushed limestone path. The day went by relatively smoothly after that, and I was very happy to have the solitude back that I enjoy so much. There ware osprey that would take off in front of me as I passed their perch; they are so graceful as they fly. I even saw one spear a small fish with its beak, these are the things that make me appreciate my country and also just being alive. I made it to a campsite at lock 17 and set up for the night. There was a small group next to me that I befriended and they offered up their beverages. People are so generous, especially the country folk that I meet.
The next day, I hopped onto route 6 because the bike path was a little slow and I was worried about destroying the tread on my road tires. I made it through several Illinois towns and eventually came to a more populated area along the Illinois River. I found a nice spot off the bike path but left for another site because of the large amount of glass and trash in the area; there were also four wheeler tracks everywhere and I just didn't want to be bothered by local drunks. Instead, I found a small clearing along the bike path and set up there. The trail at this point is called the I&M Canal and is a part of the reason why Illinois is the most populated state in the midwest. They used it to barge materials all the way from Chicago down to the Illinois river, and the Hennepin Canal extension was supposed to bring goods all the way to the Mississippi.
I rode the I&M to its' end, which links up with the Centennial Trail; this took me to within about 20 miles of downtown Chicago but it just ends. I found a road that took me to a suburb that had a library and I mapped out a route into downtown on Ogden street, then up towards Logan Square which was where my couch was waiting for me.