Day 21: Evanston-Chesterton

Last night I stayed up until 1:30 AM to finish two blog posts and then went to bed. After all we didn't have to get up that early. I put my tent in tyne shower to dry because it was very wet. It went quite alright, because the next day it was as good as dry. Also Felix and myself did some washing to clean all our stuff we managed to get dirty the last couple of days. Only drying wasn't a option because the van with our bags would leave at 10 AM. Winda and Patsy were kind enough to unpack our wet stuff at the next camp ground and hang it out to dry.

This morning I got to talk to a (girl)friend of mine and my parents via Skype. Not to long because we were excepted at the Buckingham Fountain in Chicago. All the velomobiles in one big line in front of a very large fountain with on the background the skyline of the city, a very nice picture if I may say so. We also had some typical Deep Dish Chicago Style Pizza. It looks like a pie, that's how thick it is. Not as crunchy as a regular pizza, but my piece (with sausage and sauce) was very good. Also I find the people in Chicago to be more intrusive the the other places we visited. One person was sitting in Marcel's bike and another put her foot on in to take a picture. With Josef's bike someone sat on the nose of the bike.

Americans and flames. From big to small… they all love it. I also noticed that when we drove through the less posh area's with relative more black people, that they were more enthusiastic then 'city people'.

The route through Chicago mainly took us by the cycle path next to the lake. The quality was generally okay (except for the occasionally big hole in the road) and it winded left and right. That made it more fun (and also a little less fast) to cycle on. The ride was relatively short, only a 100 kilometers, so we could take it easy.

During our ride there were five Dutchman and Mike (a American). All the instructions I supplied were in Dutch and Mike wondered what the words meant. So I taught him a little both Dutch. He now knows 'links', 'rechts' and 'rechtdoor' (left, right and straight). Only the difference between right and straight are a little bit difficult because there is only one extra s in the word.

The night in the hotel and the short ride were very nice. At the end of the afternoon (around 5:30 PM) we arrived at the camp ground in Chesterton and I was well rested. After I took a shower and wrote some blog posts we had dinner. The camp ground didn't allow alcohol so we had some 'cold tea' (ahum, beer) which was offered to us by a colleague of Machiel. I noticed that most of the camp grounds do not have a place to do the dishes or a regular wash. Sometimes we just do it in the sink in the rest rooms. And when you are finally clean the mosquitos come and eat you. My leg looks like the moon now. The daily ritual for going to bed is cleaning all illegal residents. There also are a lot of animals who make a hell of a noise in the woods. Fortunately the do not want to suck you dry.

Tonight I oiled my chain for the second time this trip. I know, it had to be done sooner but I had other priorities like, eating, showering and sleeping. Tomorrow we begin our final seven days and the the big count down can begin. Washington DC, here we come!

• ‹ previous
• 88 of 209
• next ›