A Kind Of Freedom

With the dual petrol tanks filled, I left Cleveland and headed west. Somehow in my itinerary I'd given myself a few more days than I'd needed to get to my next checkpoint. Maybe it's just that the country isn't quite as big as I'd imagined, or maybe I'd been calculating the distances at lower speeds than what I'm getting away with, or maybe a combination of the two.

I'd decided that morning to go to Chicago. My friend Ramsey lives there and a few people had told me that the city was really worth going out of my way to see. Looking at the GPS, I turned north and headed to my mate Josh's place in central Michigan. We didn't get to hang out for very long when I'd picked up the truck, so I decided to surprise him. And Michigan is a pretty drive.

We headed to Grand Rapids that night, which reminded me a little of Geelong, and enjoyed $2 whiskey and Cokes. Well after midnight we took his boat down to Lake Odessa. The moon was almost full and the lake was as flat as glass. The water was also warmer than the night air. We spent half the time standing as the boat idled along, enjoying the sensation of flying before laying back in the seats and looking out for meteors in the night sky of the Northern Hemisphere. It was something special.

The next day I arrived in Chicago and I was blown away. It's easily the most beautiful city I've ever seen. I've spent lots of time walking around and taking in the beauty and the atmosphere. Chicago is very much like an elder sister to Melbourne. Lots of similarities to my home town, but she's bigger, older, and more experienced.

Tomorrow I head south and should cover a fair bit of ground. It's going to be one of the biggest single-day stints I'll be doing on this roadtrip.