Let's start with Chicago. I loved it. Looking back it's always easier to focus on the positives rather than the negatives. Now that I've spent some good quality time with my family and friends out here I am not missing them nearly as much, but I am glad to be closer to them. I am missing the people from Chicago that made it such a good experience, and just the vibe of the city life there as well. I don't miss the cold however. But alas I am here, I am here for a reason and a well thought out one at that. And it's been fun getting here. But before I start writing about my travels let me just say I feel blessed to be here, blessed to have so many good people that I care a lot about in my life and particularly blessed to have formed such strong friendship bonds with so many people in Chicago that I otherwise would not have met had I not gone out there. I love you all and it pains me sometimes that we cannot always be within a close distance of each other.
Now, onto the adventure stuff. So I left Chicago in an exhausted haze. First off, i knew my time was limited in Chicago so therefore I felt that sleep was something I could do later and Chicago, not so much. The last month was full of fantastic times. I did a bus and train trip from Chicago to Boston stopping off at many areas along the way to stay with close friends that I don't get to see that often. Then it was my birthday (Nov 8th) shortly thereafter which I had off. The day after that I came in and put in my notice to leave. 3 days later I moved out of my apartment and into one of my favorite living situations of all time...me and for women in their 20's. It was only temporary, although, I think it could've worked long-term. The main thing I liked about it was they were all awesome and we all got along really well as roommates. Plus it was kinda fun to do the guy stuff around the house (unclog the sink, fix the smoke detector, help carry luggage upstairs, etc.) During this time I was right around the corner form my buddy Ben, commuted to work with my co-worker Sammy and was just out late seeing peeps, even if I had work in the morning. I also went to the Michigan vs. Ohio State game at the Big House and had a blast of a weekend with some very good friends. I found a new appreciation for Michigan. Then I had a wild and rockin goodbye party 2 nights before I left where a lot of very important people for me showed up. I got drunk. On my last night I participated in a bachelorette party with my roommates. It was pretty cool.
I woke up exhausted after a month of not having any proper balance in my social life but well worth it. That's when I walked up to a breakfast spot at 5:30 am and met Asaf. Asaf was a guy in his early 40's let's say. he put together a craigslist rideshare from Chicago to Seattle and was a cool dude. He worked as an FBI special agent for almost 20 years and was doing political work now. He shared probably some FBI intel that he shouldn't have with us but he was also holding back. He was also perfectly fine with me sleeping for a couple of hours on the way up to Minneapolis. Good guy. From there we picked up Stephanie and then Andy. both really cool people. just some folks in their early 20's going on an adventure. Andy was just going to Seattle to check the city out and see if he could get something going for himself. He had decided to try sailing out at one point and sailed for months across the Atlantic Ocean and then spent a little time in Europe. he had killer stache as well. Stephanie was the oldest of a big family and going to check out the west coast as well but also going to meet up with a guy that she had met while she was blueberry farming/picking in Maine. Needless to say these were some interesting people and just as good-hearted and interesting.
We drove 2100 miles in 3 days with Asaf doing all the driving and cutting us a deal on the cost of everything. A truly great gesture for 3 unemployed kids essentially. Our first night was in Fargo, North Dakota. Andy and I shared a room but him Stef and I went to one of the local bars called The Penalty Box. I was wearing a Columbia outdoor jacket, giant boots and jeans with a beanie. I figured it wouldn't be too bad. When we walked in everyone looked at me because I was the first in. I quickly realized half of them had camouflage sweatshirts on. I guess we stood out. It was good night though. There was a cigarette vending machine and a black jack table right next to the bar. I made $1 last me 15 minutes at the table.
Next day it was -16F when we set off. We were told with the winds it could get up to -100F sometimes. Time to get the fuck out Fargo. We drove straight through North Dakota and Eastern Montana to Bozeman, MT. Not a whole lot to see along the way. It was still interesting though, the nothingness that is and how flat it was. I always told myself in all my travels I will never be going to North Dakota. Nothing to see there and I was totally content with that idea. I now remember North Dakota very vividly and had a very good time there actually. It's funny what roads life takes you on sometimes. Bozeman was very cool. Awesome little college town with a big ski bum mentality. Great downtown and we went out to get a couple drinks with the free shuttle service from the hotel. We had a good time and Andy finagled a ride back for us with a group of people leaving the bar lead by a tipsy blonde in a pick up truck. It was pretty sweet.
We finished our trip off with going through Western Montana, Northern Idaho and all of Washington including the Cascade pass to Seattle. Easily the best day of driving and that pass through the Cascades was one of my favorite sights I have ever seen. they dropped me off in Issaquah where my Aunt Sarah picked me up after work and then treated me to fantastic meals and homeliness. She gave me her daughter's bedroom and made her sleep on the couch. It was great to see her, my 3 cousins in Seattle and my new favorite little guy Brody. I got to establish a little Uncle Doug time with him. Plus I had a solid day of exploring Seattle for 14 hours and then stayed with my friend Alana and got to have a good catch up with her. Seattle made quite the impression on me.
Next I took a cozy little train ride to Portland and spent the next week there. I stayed with 4 different people because I wanted to spend some good quality time with people and I would say i certainly did that. i saw a lot of good friends and really got to check in with each of them as well as establish some new memories. Plus i convinced Pat to come up for a couple of nights which of course, lead to some beermigos debauchery. Sassy's we love you. And that wasn't even the wild night. Then we cruised down to Eugene where I spent about 4 days just taking it super easy and relaxing with some people there that I hadn't seen in a while. A nice meal with Pat's parent's occurred and i was glad to see that his Mother's health was doing much better. Pat also had a holiday party that of course, we showed up in full force for. then a rideshare down to the bay. Crazy times. That rideshare was interesting. the people were nice but they were intense and could not drive. they stalled the car in the middle of I-5. bad news bears. But I got down safely and accounted for and just in time for the holidays.
The holidays were great. I'm the oldest of 10 cousins and my Mom is the oldest 5 kids. We all only get together on Christmas every other year. We are loud and obnoxious and this year we had a beach house in Santa Cruz for a week. Goodness gracious. I had to take a day off man. it was great though. this was the first time where everybody was on some sort of adult level and everybody just felt comfortable talking with everybody at all times. I had a lot of fun and it made me realize how much I missed my family and was glad to be back.
Now basically I've just been chilling. I've been seeing family and friends a lot but I've also been sleeping in a lot and making sure to get certain things done before I leave. i have a whole list and like usual I'm a little behind. Overall though I'd say I'm doing well. I feel good about where I am and what I'm going to be doing. I just need to try to appreciate the moment more if I can. I'll keep everyone posted through this mostly but I also will be getting my I-Pad fixed so I'll hopefully have easy access to Skype when I leave the US in 3 weeks.
On a little side not my Uncle got me this gift of this book by John Wooden. Widely considered the greatest coach of all time. He gave a lot of great advice in it and some of which I'm trying to get in the habit of. One thing he talked about was how love is very important and it's involved in every good thing we do. So I say to you all that I love you dearly.
