Road Trip Diaries Day 10: Hittin' Chicago. (Careful, it might hit back).

     Chicago is f**king mad. Mad. Bicyclists dart out between traffic, ice cream trucks sell drugs, and the roads are both lacking in paint and determined to ruin the shocks on cars brave enough to travel them. Unprotected left turns require frequent dashes out in front of oncoming traffic, and the place is f**king mad.
     But hey, it sure has personality! Salsa music drifts into the alleys from garages as people work on their cars, downtown is full of pizza you need to eat with utensils, and there is actually a real Tastee Freeze that looks like it is straight from the 1950s. It is impossible to ever be bored in Chicago, even if it is rather rough around the edges.

In a Nutshell: Overview of Day 10
Route: Iowa City, IA to Chicago, IL
Miles Traveled: 223 today, 3,194 total.
Hours in Car: 4 today, 54.5 total.
Coffee Consumed: Caitlin: 0 Today, 11 total. Cortney: 0 today, 5 total.
Food Highlight of the Day: Katie's amazing healthy homemade breakfast. She made me some trail mix, and blended up a smoothie of coconut milk, banana, peanut butter, and chia seeds, with a few ice cubes for texture.

So healthy.... and so tasty

Quote of the Day: I actually don't remember anything in particular from this day, so I'll share an earlier one that hasn't been shared yet (from Bozeman, MT): Random stranger on street: "Don't believe her! She's a vegan!" 

Chillin' in Chicago

    As I have said, Chicago is mad. So staying in my friend's apartment and watching 3 or so straight hours of 30 Rock suited us brilliantly! We'll be there soon when we fly to New York, may as well get hyped up about it. Caitlin and I are crashing with our old high school friend Amanda and her boyfriend Brian, and we've barely left the futon except for pizza. It was that famous deep dish pizza though. I got a plainer vegan version, but they all got a huge deep pan full of the kind of pizza you might need to eat with a spoon. It totally merits the use of utensils. 

     There's something nice about not being a tourist. I do know there are a lot of sights in Chicago. The waterfront is gorgeous- very different from the pothole pocked roads up in the residential areas (at least, residential for the non-wealthy). There are skyscrapers to climb and parks to stroll through along Lake Michigan. And perhaps some day I will do all that. But sometimes, sitting on a futon in a chaotic apartment with creaky old floors and watching TV with friends is an even better way to enjoy a destination. Especially if it is pouring rain outside, which happened as soon as we got here and had to leave the dry security of the car. 

     I'm going to keep this blog short, since the simplicity of friendship does not take too much explaining. It's good to see where people we care about are living. Bonding in a creaky apartment full of moving boxes is so legitimately twenty-something. It is cozy and colorful and full of both the crazy and the mundane adventures of making a life in this world. 

     I do have some pretty photos, though. See, this present tense stuff I'm writing is a lie and I've actually already moved well beyond Chicago, from which we flew to New York. And on the flight from Chicago to New York, I got to see the great mad city from above, a metropolis perched on a lake that would dwarf it if not for that city's crazy and indomitable personality. 

     Alright- this may be a short and rather boring blog, but I am about to fall asleep thanks to that whiskey chai I thoroughly enjoyed a while ago. Glad I survived you, Chicago!