Reflections in the Windy City

Survival Guide to Traveling Cross Country

Rule #4: Do not go down to the Navy Pier in Chicago and ask for donations to continue on your trip. The cops will be called on you by the Segway guy. **No Mom I’m not low on cash, I just wanted to see what it would be like; it’s interesting how people will treat you because of how they assume you are. **

Rule #5: Sleeping in Grant Park may seem like a really cool idea, no one else is around there you’ll be alone but the bugs are brutal. If you decide that you have to well then, there is a secluded spot behind the Lincoln statue that is open Bring Bug Spray though.

The Windy City, Chi-town, and Home of Kanye West, Chicago is a great city. I can definitely see why people love it there. At first I was a little skeptical after a quick run in with the police and a slow start. After talking with my cousin KB on the phone I found some great things to see and do. The one thing I had to do there was check out the FAMOUS Chicago style deep dish pizza. Unless you want to start your own Man v. Food show take a friend because even a small is going to lead to leftovers. It was tasty a different crust strangely similar to a pie crust rather than the traditional Pizza crust I’m used to, but overall it’s a two thumbs up. Sorry though NY pizza is still my favorite it’s like how Dad’s Ribs are always the best. Home is where the Stomach is.

After Gino’s I spoke with my friend E for a while over by the fountain that is in the Married with Children theme song. Somehow this trip has turned into a flashback theme song trip, I’m not sure how but it has certainly added some fun things. After this blast from the past I went to check out Millennium Park where big Egg is. This sculpture is brilliant. It is gigantic and I like how it’s not just an oval regular egg. I felt like it was me I know I know I’m an egomaniac but seriously. All the other eggs are the same, yeah some are brown, some white, some have cracks, some even get decorated for Easter (my friend E I was talking to is awesome at that by the way do not challenge her to a contest) but in the end they are all shaped the same. An Oval. But me and those similar to me the makeup is a little different from the norm. Our thought process and how we look at things is not and will never be oval. That fact there, I believe, will help us to be truly happy and successful. *Raises Glass* Here’s to the Millennium Eggs out there. The cool thing about the Egg is that you can see yourself in it. If you’re ever there certainly check out the fascinating mirror tricks the egg plays on your eyes in the center I took pictures of it, but this is something you want to see up close and in person.

The egg was not the only place I was able to reflect. Around 2am an older gentleman came up to me. Said his name was Sam something or other and that it was his 53 birthday. I didn’t look at his ID but gave him the change in my pocket, we spoke for a quick a little while and he told me he’d been homeless in Chicago for his entire life. Talking with Sam I realized how blessed I truly am. Some people who are in a similar situation to me will look at their lives and talk about how much it “sucks” how “horrible” their life is. It seems to me these people cannot see how truly bad things can be. Sam has never known a real home, had no one to get him out of the stupid things he did, and for the most part had trial and error as his only teacher. Something as simple to me as a quick bite to eat or a place to go home to is like breathing to me and it’s one of his hardest daily tasks. It’s truly a sad situation. I try to put things into perspective, but I’m guilty of it too making fickle things that I don’t have seem enormous. Something I always tell a friend of mine is “Look at all the things you have rather than the things you don’t”

Chicago was a good time. I couldn’t really find a place to stay so I ended up heading out to Minnesota the entire trip is seven hours so I decided to get a head start. Drove for about an hour and a half and took a nap at a rest area. Around 7am I headed to Minnesota and the Mall of America.

One Mile at a Time.