Illinois – Museum Take 1

August 27th, 2015

There isn’t a whole lot in Illinois. In the south a lot of rock formations and tons to do around the St. Louis area, the middle is more farm land, and the north has Chicago. Abby and I agreed that a slow start to the day would be best, with a morning of chores since both she and I had plenty to take care of. For some reason, I didn’t think of public transport as a great idea, and a better alternative would be to bike 18+ miles, after already biking 25 miles the previous day. Sometimes, I am not a smart man. Waking up on my glorious bean bag bed, I stumbled awake, remembering what its like to sleep in a real house. I could stand up, stretch, and a bathroom was only a few feet away. Abby made a delicious breakfast and we did our own chores to pass the morning. Come around noon time, I washed up, packed my bag, and set out. Abby would just take the train like a normal person, and I would bike the 18 miles to the south side of Chicago and meet her at the Museum of Science and Industry. Believe it or not, the time to bike vs the train is about the exact same. The only difference being Abby had to also transfer to a bus, and I had to deal with having legs made of rubber for the rest of the day. I don’t know why the obvious idea of just taking the train didn’t occur to me, but, oh well, the bike ride was awesome, and I got to cruise almost the entire length of the River View Trail. We met up Morry’s Deli, a few blocks from the Museum for lunch, food that I quickly inhaled for both its amazing taste, and the hunger only an 18 mile bike ride can induce. A normal deli with a great selection of baked goods and dirt cheap prices. Wandering over to the museum, I locked up my bike. Lying on the ground around the bike rack was a cable cut clean, a cable strikingly similar to the one I used to lock up my bike. Confidence inspiring. Entering the museum, whoever designed the layout must never had heard of handicapped people. With stairs to go down for tickets, only to go back up for the entrance, my legs were overwhelmed with joy (not really). Thankfully, Abby works for the Art Institute of Chicago, meaning she gets free entry to all the museums, and tickets for friends! There was also the added benefit that her boyfriend, Alex, works here and provides tours for the German U-Boat from WWII, also usually paid, but free because we know him. Another score! To get to the submarine, it was a maze of information and displays. Pressed for time, I had to keep myself from reading everything. The room with the sub felt like something out of an evil villans lair. Giant concrete pillars loomed on the sides, extending to arches over the ceilings. Poised in the center was the sub in all its glory, complete with blue lights projecting below it, to give ambiance. It was kept as original as possible, including the bullet holes on the upper deck from its last battle that resulted in its capture. Pretty sure I could have broken my jaw if I let it fall any farther open. This was so cool! With a multitude of displays leading up to the tour, and plenty after, we began the tour of the inside of the sub. Entering the sub, whoever designed the layout must never had heard of people being taller than 5’ 9”. The doorways were small, with pads above them for those of us on the longer end of the spectrum. The tour was beautifully choreographed with lights and sound effects perfectly timed as Alex spoke. We saw the small beds that were always in use. As one shift worked, the other slept, and vice versa. The kitchen about the size of the interior of a car, supplied round the clock food for the crew of nearly 60 men on board. The two bathrooms on board weren’t exactly private. In fact, one was used as storage for food for the first half of the trip. The crew literally had to eat their way to the use of a second bathroom, by which I mean toilet. No showers were aboard. We through the sub, from the stern to the bow, stopping along the way at the navigation and engine rooms before ending at the front torpedo bay and bunk house. Throughout the tour I was amazed at the design and engineering of it all. This whole sub was designed, and manufactured with slide rules and no robotic machining. That’s astonishing! Tour complete, we wandered about the rest of the displays before seeing the rest of the museum while we had time. There was a space exhibit, which is always fascinating. Celebrating the various space programs America has had in its brief history, as well as private space flights that have taken place like Virgin Galactic. Another room included all the amazing powers of Mother Nature. With a huge tornado creator. Legit, they had a huge wind tunnel opened up with air that you could control the speed of to create your own tornado. It was awesome! A tsunami generator, tesla coil and giant friction display rounded out the amazing room. Finished up, we met up with Alex and headed to the next stop, the US Cellular Baseball Stadium, with a quick stop for dinner. I would again bike, while Abby and Alex took public transit. They had to make a transfer, so we decided that would be a good place to grab dinner before the game. It seems like a good idea, and logically makes sense. Until you realize, we’re in the south side of Chicago. If you don’t know what that means, google it. Not exactly the best place to be if you stick out (we did), don’t know where you’re going (I didn’t) or just generally have no business being in. I managed to get slightly lost on my way to Miss Lee’s Good Food. A fact that is pretty normal, except I was a guy, on a bike, with a helmet, in the south side, wandering around. Basically one of the worst ideas I’ve had so far on this trip. Part of getting lost meant I had passed a guy on his bike, who then passed me, and I again passed. On the second pass, he said something, and being dumb, I slowed down to listen. The interaction went something like this: Guy, “Man, I’m fucked up. That IPA shit is strong. Damn.” Me, “Yeah, good stuff.” Tries to leave, unsuccessfully. Guy, “My buddy just got some New York medical, that shit is strong. I’m fucked up man.” Me, “Bull, there’s no medical in New York.” Knowing full well he meant weed. We stopped. He pulls out his wallet. In there is a business card twice folded, hotdog then hamburger. Inside is a nugget about the size of my pinky toe nail. But it looked good. Me, “Ok, that looks like some good shit.” Guy, “Yeah man, it’s got me fucked up.” Me, “Well enjoy it man. Have a good one.” Guy, “You too.” With that, I zipped off. After a few wrong turns, and lots of stares from everyone I passed by, I found Miss Lee’s Good Food. I locked up my bike to a tree just outside of the door, with confidence in my lock as high as a 2 year olds jump. Adorned with rot-iron bars on the windows, thick plexiglass separating the counter from the customers, and even small turnstiles to place the food in for passing over. Menus posted on the wall above the counter, with different selections for each day of the week, and another sign, “No eating inside.” Only a handful of chairs lined the interior. I don’t know if Abby knew what she got us in to, but it’s making for one hell of a story. Abby and Alex soon arrived, and were as taken aback as I. We ordered, the food also dirt cheap, and I went outside to wait. Partially to keep an eye on my bike, but also to get out of the stuffy small store front. A few minutes later, our food was ready, and I set off for the last ride to the stadium to meet back up. Bike locked, I found our agreed upon meet up location. Abby and Alex weren’t too far behind, and Abby’s roommate was there with her boyfriend as well. We inhaled our food and wandered inside up to our eagle’s eye seats. It was the red sox vs. the white sox. Though it seemed the company I was in favored the red sox, I didn’t care either way. It was just fun to sit down, and enjoy a good game, which I can’t say I’ve even been to a professional sports event in many years. With a fun game over and done, we waddled out of the stadium in the crowd, and this time I opted for the subway. A single train all the way back to Abby’s place. We stayed up, and chatted over a few drinks. Abby and I have been struck with the travel bug, and Alex did ton’s of traveling when he was our age. It was awesome to hear the perspective of someone who had not only been in my shoes and had the vantage of retrospect. But also that he had some views I was always curious about and could insight into. After a few drinks and lots of talking, we realized it was nearly 3 am, and we were all exhausted. Tomorrow, a new day, with more fun to be had.