Day 2

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Hello all, Kybo and I have just arrived in Chicago on day 2 of our adventure Yesterday didn’t go quite as planned because of a last minute car repair we only got to leave for Columbus at 5 in the afternoon and therefore didn’t get to Columbus until late. We plan to stop there again on the way home when we are less pressed for time because we will have caught up on lost time. The journey to Columbus on the rural route 70 where for miles and miles there was naught but nature and a road visible was incredible once traffic began to thin later in the evening before dark descended the drive became very enjoyable, and after seeing many sights and taking tons of good pictures darkness arrived. We continued uneventfully for another hour or so when rain began to hit our windshield, very quickly a few drops became a downpour but after about 10 minutes of bravery and persistence the storm passed. and we made great time to Columbus arriving at 12:30 AM. Once in Columbus we met up with Kybo’s friend Charles who goes to Columbia State, and stayed the night at his on-campus apartment. The next morning, today we only overslept by 2 hours once we got up at 11:30 AM we wanted to grab a quick, fun, and filling brunch before we left so Charles took us to the route 1 of college park, in Columbus the name of the street is High street and just like in college park it is the main road where everything is, only its probably at least twice as big. We went to a local ‘almost-not-quite’ fast food joint called Raising Canes where they use “only the finest ingredients” to make fast food thus the above categorization. After befriending a couple of the locals and exchanging facebook information we left only 3 hours behind schedule with Chicago as our destination. Traffic today was unusually thin probably because we apparently overslept the Columbus rush hour, we traveled for the first 4 hours in relative comfort when I accidentally turned the wrong way onto a different route, I immediately caught the mistake but before we pulled back onto the highway we decided to get gas and use the restroom, on our way out we were told by a really nice guy that the pressure on one of out tires was really low which led to lots of fun. 45 minutes later with re-inflated tires and confidence we continued the journey to Chicago still on 70 west for the majority of the time. Unfortunately the camera ran out of batteries something we kept forgetting to buy at the next very rare gas/pit stop, we really regretted forgetting after passing a few incredible sights, imagine seeing a grassy plain stretching as far as the eye see with nothing but clear wind and sun between the car and the clouds, which also look amazing unobstructed by modernity’s influence. At the last leg of our journey we found ourselves racing against a storm to get to my cousin Ellen’s house in Chicago. When we opened the window now instead of lukewarm air coming in, there is a frigid breeze outside as the sun was setting we were traveling down the last leg of our journey passing countless farms, the occasional dirt bike track, and miles of grassy plains riddled with telephone or electricity poles for countless miles clearly visible in the bright light and clear beautiful weather. We discovered today that although there are many trucks on the road they all try to stay in the right lane generally and are usually counter to popular opinion fairly polite We had just passed the last large bridge we were to go over before we arrived at Ellen’s house when I realized that we had traveled about 800 miles since we left, and After getting to Ellen’s our total mileage would stand at approximately 810 miles. Wow that’s further away than almost any other drive I have been involved in, incredible. As I finish writing this blog I want to impart to you the image that I will forever associate with Chicago. As we were pulling into the city the windshield provided the perfect frame for the picture in front of, there was fog on the bottom of the buildings and storm clouds quickly billowing in, then slightly above the fog arose these goliath towers with a certain aura visible around them where the fog is not quite as dense. To our right we saw the last of the farmlands rolling green plains give way to the highway system and an enormous bridge in the distance. All with the distant sounds of cars traveling behind us, this is truly a wonderful way in my opinion to travel.
Goodbye until the next time

Alon Diamant-Cohen