driving into the sunset

Today consisted of waking up to Rosebud's delicious homemade banana bread, breakfast on the roof (picture below!), the rock and roll hall of fame, and then driving westward across Indiana and changing time zones to get to Chicago! The picture to the left is driving on I-90 west through Indiana, which took a couple hours or so, and the sunset colors were amazing. It was kind of cool to drive into the sunset going westwards because it lasted that much longer.

We're staying in Lakeview in Chicago with Kevin's friend Scott, and he lives pretty close to Lincoln Park and Wicker Park. We're having breakfast tomorrow morning with Leah and Tiffany, co-workers from PIRG, and I can't wait to see them! They are traveling cross country as well, with Seattle as their final stop since that is home for Tiffany. Since we arrived tonight in the dark, I don't really feel that aware of my surroundings yet. I've been in Chicago before for a few hours back during the college hunt period in high school, but definitely didn't get to see much of the city. I'm excited to have the next two days (or day and a half) to explore the city.

After Chicago we are staying a night in Des Moines, Iowa with Mike (a co-worker from Repower America) before heading to South Dakota for the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore and Wind Cave National Park. SD will start our northern route of camping in National Parks, before we hit Seattle. We will be stopping and camping in Yellowstone in Wyoming, and then Montana from there. I think I will be in Glacier National Park in MT on my birthday (Sep 13), which hopefully won't be too cold! From Glacier we're driving through some of Idaho to get to Washington. I'm not sure how much time we're staying in Seattle and Washington yet, as I still need to confirm a farm out on an island off the coast. In Portland, Oregon we will be staying with a friend of mine, Michelle, from studying abroad in Costa Rica. From Portland we'll go to Crater Lake, and hopefully be working on a farm beforehand for a few days or a week depending on the help they need. Then we'll be in California for a couple weeks...trying to go to as many places as we can up and down the coast and do at least one volunteer stay on a farm in southern California.

OK this is as far as I can go for now -- it's only day two and things are bound to change. I think that when we leave Chicago, it will really hit me that I'm doing this and that I'll be living out of my car for many, many weeks. It's going to be a challenge, but I'm ready for it. I'm going to be seeing our country and learning an incredible amount about myself and what America really is. There's something about the open road and the freedom that comes with it that is inspiring. Although it does make me question how our country has developed to favor automobiles and not public transportation. I do wish I was able to do this trip via trains and buses, in an affordable and convenient way.

Anyway, I tend to digress. Let me know if you have suggestions of places to visit, places to stay (for cheap or free ideally haha) or if you are going to be in any of our major destinations.

Kevin's quote of the day: "I can't believe we're actually doing this, there's something about the night-time that puts it all in perspective."

'til next time :)